Waite wants European clubs to release U20 players early

UNDER-20 REGGAE Boyz head coach Jerome Waite wants European clubs to release overseas talent for a camp ahead of the Concacaf Under-20 Championship next month.

According to Waite, whose team just returned from a jaunt in Mexico ahead of the championships in that country, there are difficulties with getting the European clubs to release players, who, ideally, he would want in camp at least two weeks before the July 19 to August 4 tournament.

“We would love to get the boys from Europe in. However, some of their clubs wouldn’t want to release them to go through our preparations as they’re going through their various preseason preparations, which they don’t want their players to miss. We are trying our best to see if they can work with us to allow these boys to be together for at least two to three weeks leading up to the qualifiers,” said Waite.

The young Reggae Boyz, on Tuesday, returned from a two-match assignment in Mexico, where they lost 6-2 to the hosts and 2-0 to Guatemala.

According to Waite, while some players acquitted themselves well, it was tough for the majority of the squad to play under the conditions.

“It was in spurts (good performances). Based on the high altitude, the concentration would not be continuous. The more you play, the intensity increases, but I think overall, some players acquitted themselves fairly well, and we tried to encourage them to push themselves. It wasn’t easy and was pretty much difficult.”

Despite losing both games, the veteran coach said he took some positives from the assignment.

“There’s a lot of positives as it relates to the physical, technical, and tactical areas. There’s always room for improvement, and the mental toughness will have to improve going forward. These were practice games for the boys to showcase their talents, and it wasn’t the strongest under-20 national team,” said Waite.

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com