Chong home on Easter break
Published:Saturday | April 8, 2023 | 12:44 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
Talented forward Oquassa Chong has returned home on Easter break. He made a move in January 2022 from Harbour View Football Club to Danish second division club, Esbjerg, and is back home in order to get some much-needed training and preparation before his return to Denmark.
General manager of Harbour View, Clyde Jureidini, said the 23-year-old, who has not been getting sufficient game time at Esbjerb, is set to go through various training routines before he returns to Europe in early May.
“He’s back on a month’s break to try and get some fitness at the club,” Jureidini said, “He has been in Denmark since the beginning of 2022, so going a year and a quarter now, he hasn’t been given the game time that he quite frankly desired. The management team has just been changed at the club (Esbjerg) so he has a few weeks here and then he’ll return in early May to finish up his contract.”
Chong, who has only featured in one game this season for his team, is yet to register a goal, but Jureidini believes his return comes at the right time as he will improve the camaraderie of the players inside the Harbour View dressing room.
“It will be a big boost, I mean, these are his teammates, these are the players he’s played with and they always had a good strong affinity to him as you know he grew up in the club from age 11. So, majority of these players would have played the much of the last decade with him so he’s right at home, which we think he needs. It will help our lads who are trying to get in gear for the playoffs and to get a consistent performance in the premier league,” he added.
Harbour View, currently fourth in the Jamaica premier league standings, are looking to carry over their rich vein of form into the playoffs and Jureidini hopes they will play good, consistent football.
“Coach Bernard has been preaching consistency all season, last season and the season before. We haven’t been getting that, we’ve gotten some good runs and then we break and go again. We are working to get consistent performances in all areas and to get our tactics right, then we identify what needs to be done for us, as a team. So now it’s just to get it right and look to sharpen that as we go forward in the last five matches in the preliminary round,” Jureidini said.