‘I want to win the Golden Boot’
Goalscorer Shamar Nicholson makes bold declaration
ORLANDO, USA — Reggae Boyz frontman Shamar Nicholson didn’t come to the Gold Cup just for the sake of it.
The Charleroi striker of the Belgian top flight has set himself a few personal targets. His goals are indeed lofty ones, but by the way he has started the tournament, it would not be wise to wager against him achieving them.
“My goals are to win the Gold Cup and to win the Golden Boot,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Nicholson’s lightning goal in the sixth minute of play gave Jamaica an auspicious lead against Suriname in the opening Group C match at Exploria Stadium here on Monday night.
The Boyz eventually won the game 2-0 with Fulham’s Bobby Reid popping up to score a screamer in the 26th minute to close the goal-scoring show.
Nicholson, who first left Jamaica for Slovenian outfit Domzale in 2017, says while he takes aim at becoming the Gold Cup’s top gun, he has wisely avoided setting a target.
“All I know is that I want to score a lot of goals, so I don’t want to set a number and then fall below that… I want to keep that open and score as many as possible,” he said.
The 24-year-old made the perfect start in pursuit of the top goal-scorer prize, scoring in the first game of the tournament. And for that, he is “grateful”.
“It’s a great feeling as a striker [to score] and I am grateful for it,” Nicholson stated.
He was pleased with his effort for the most part, but he will look back and rue at least two other great chances that went abegging.
“It was a good game for me personally, but what I am most excited about is that I was able to put myself in position [to score] and create chances, so the main focus is to work on this [putting away more chances],” Nicholson noted.
He said the dream of topping the scoring chart and helping his country claim its first Gold Cup crown will come as long he stays the course of the fundamentals.
“I just need to stay fit, injury free and continue to help the team, because for sure the result will come,” he affirmed.
Nicholson, whose talent was nurtured at local club Boys’ Town, thinks the talent and camaraderie will fuel the Boyz’ push for regional glory.
“It’s obvious that we have a talented bunch of players, and for me personally, I think this group is a wonderful one…the players have good personalities, and we get along with each other like we have been playing together for a decade, and that is the most important thing,” he said.
Nicholson, who was scoring his ninth goal for Jamaica on Monday night, credits his growth as a player to his exposure to professional environments.
“It [playing in Belgium] has helped me a lot, like, with my confidence, off the ball movements, and the most important thing, how you treat your body.
“For example, your rest time and what you consume and those are the things that keep you going so you can run over 90 minutes in a game,” he ended.