‘If players are good enough, they will play’
Hallgrimmson rubbishes favouring international players for national selection
NATIONAL SENIOR team coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, who called a 22-man domestic squad for a two-day training camp at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence yesterday, said that if players show they are good enough, they will be considered for the first team.
The camp consists of some of the top performers in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) so far this season. It will be held every other week for the next month and a half and will culminate with a two-match friendly series against Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago.
However, contrary t o the common belief that the Icelandic coach is not impressed with the level of local players, Hallgrimsson stated that as long as they can show him their quality and tactical awareness, they have a chance of being called to the first-team squad.
“These are players that have shone a little at the start of the Premier League season. I didn’t want to bring in players who have more or less been with us (already).
“So (we are) looking at (having) more depth, looking at the hot players although some players might say they were hot the last two or three rounds. But we just decided to select 22 players,” said Hallgrimmson.
“Everybody now, especially those players here who we are looking at selecting, have the privilege of showing what they can do. So if players are good enough, they will play.
“We have shown multiple times that even if you have not played in a long time, as in the case of ‘Whisper’ [Dujuan Richards], you don’t need to play JPL either to play in the national team.
“So these guys have the upper hand on other players playing all around the world, and it’s their chance to show the national team coach what they can do. So if they are good enough they will play, and we have done that, we have brought in players playing in Jamaica. But it’s all about quality in the end,” he said.
Over the course of the ongoing camp, Hallgrimsson will rotate players in order to get as much of a first-hand look at the best the JPL has to offer as is possible.
Today, the team focuses on build-up play, playing through pressure, and playing through the thirds and Hallgrimsson hopes that at the end of it all, the players will have grasped the concepts they have tried to impart.
“Hopefully, we get them to understand the way we want to play, know the most important thing when it comes to national team games, where they need to have focus and concentration at all seconds throughout a game, the system we like to play and the principles we hold.
“We would like them to learn all of that, and hopefully, we can finish with a good performance against Trinidad, who are preparing for some important games.”
“But this is not a make-or-break camp. It’s the first camp. We will call other players later, but having that extended period of time, the players will have time to show, if not today then tomorrow or in a JPL game next week, or the week after.”