Please don't come around here and speak of ub40

[Me]

Maybe you need to re-read your initial post before you get into "reasoning."

[Mosiah]

So, we are in agreement. Good!

OJ, I may have missed the post, but was someone calling for a wholesale replacement of the current players with local players?!? You named Jermaine Woozencroft, Dino Williams, perhaps Owayne Gordon and Chevone Marsh (Messi) who could possibly get a call up. Do you think I would have many more names than that? Junior Flemming is already on the team, and perhaps deservingly so as a youngster. I would add Corey Burke from Rivoli, a player with enormous potential.

So, telling us about how awful that game was between two of the league’s worst, what does that have to do with the quality of some players in the league? What would a game between Colorado and Chicago look like? If we could stay awake to watch 30 minutes of it!

There are a few things we need to understand. For one, players get called for the team when they play in a foreign league. Many have proven themselves worthy of that callup, even while knowing that may never have happened if they stayed in Jamaica. Errol Stevens and Kavin Brown come to mind, both playing in bush leagues in Thailand and Vietnam. It’s not about the league, it’s about the players. Ask one Jamie Vardy if you don’t believe me.

The other thing to bear in mind is many local players were never highly rated until they touched down in Snowland. Lovel Palmer, Jevaughn Watson, Kemar Lawrence, Andre Blake, Donovan Ricketts, Darren Mattocks, Omar Cummings (feel free to add to the list), not a one of them would have been seen by some a unnu a farin as being worthy of an MLS contract, much less a callup to the national team. Lovel Palmer was known for being a steady, hard worker in the NPL. Did anyone a farin consider him worthy? Jevaughn Watson was on no one’s radar (including mine) for national duties even while deserving an MLS contract. He’s one of my favourite players on the Reggae Boyz right now. Kemar Lawrence was impressing in the local leagues for years but would you, OJ, have considered him worthy of a national callup, an MLS contract, or more? Sporting Central’s manager was telling me from how long that Andre Blake was either the best goalie we had or was about to be long before his brilliant college career. I appreciated the world-class shot-stopping ability of Donovan Ricketts long before he became MLS champion. Darren Mattocks couldn’t make the grade at national U-23 trials for many reasons including his quality of play. Prior to his wonder years at Akron, was he the toast of the Manning Cup? Omar Cummings – not even did know him go school a Jamaica and played for Rivoli United.

The point is this – Jamaica has not halted its production of good players. If you take the time to look past the league (the mediocre/poor teams, the weak coaching, the bad pitches, the horrible commentary, the questionable officiating, the poor stadium lighting, the paltry crowds) you will see that there are players who could play in several leagues around the world. You decide if I am talking about 30 or 10 such players. And if some of them, like Leon Bailey, could get a break in Europe as a young player, the sky would be the limit for several of them. But not everyone has the patience or the ability to appreciate the rough diamonds in a pile of rock stone.

On the other hand, the JFF needs to realise that not because yuh have a farin contract mean yuh good. I could name names here but I don’t like to diss our national players. They did not pick themselves. And this goes for some UB40s as well as some former local players who now play abroad.

Time to get it out of our heads – touching the hallowed soils of Snowland doesn’t miraculously make one good, whether on the football field or in the corporate world. It opens up opportunities for you that allow others to see and appreciate your worth. That’s all it does.

Archive this response for easy reference the next time one of us get bummy when I protest the inclusion of yet another snowballa rucks to our national team.

[Mosiah]

I don't understand why there is an issue understanding basic reasoning, I am not supporting or disagreeing with the captain. Simply put I have seen all the teams in he league with the exception of port ore and Rivoli and its waste of time to fathom any of these players in the current World Cup squad with the exception of Dino and Wozemcroft and they are not even ready yet? The pool is not good. I remember Dicoy Williams at TFC and I thought where them get that from. Now I see it he is the best of a bad bunch...

So, how did Dicoy get to TFC? Did the NPL hold a gun to the head of the selectors there? Was there a quota for Jamaicans they were trying to satisfy?

Maybe the problems lies with the MLS and not whether or not Jamaica has good players.

This one leaves me and scratching my head!

[Mosiah]

OJ? It look like yuh a look chubble. Yuh did watch supa cup? di man dem have some wicked baala ah yaad.

On a serious note; I think the local clubs are coming around to the fact that the league is sub standard and the local players are lacking in comparison to the rest of their counter part world wide. This could be attributed to technology; where one is able two tabs then place them side by side. Thus one can watch RPSL and La liga at the same time. this forces one to say no, no, no we are no where near those guys. What can we do to improve.

Go ahead and tab. I can clearly see already that there is a world of difference between the two leagues.

[OJ]

Good post modish.... Again this is what am saying .. I have watched all the teams with the exception of Portmore and Rivoli and I only saw the players mentioned that could help the national team tomorrow if I was a scout and you said give me 4 names. If you were a mid major or top ncaa school I could say yes talent abounds but as it come to this World Cup qualifiers IMO not much is there that's is not yet identified. So I am not knocking Kemar or Jecaughn, I am not saying nothing good game out of it I am saying I see more bad players than good. For example Rafiek Thomas suppose to be a star right... I would like to know your thoughts on him.

[Mosiah]

Good post modish.... Again this is what am saying .. I have watched all the teams with the exception of Portmore and Rivoli and I only saw the players mentioned that could help the national team tomorrow if I was a scout and you said give me 4 names. If you were a mid major or top ncaa school I could say yes talent abounds but as it come to this World Cup qualifiers IMO not much is there that's is not yet identified. So I am not knocking Kemar or Jecaughn, I am not saying nothing good game out of it I am saying I see more bad players than good. For example Rafiek Thomas suppose to be a star right... I would like to know your thoughts on him.

Here again I would agree - there are more bad players than good in the NPL. Maybe ordinary would be a better word, still.

Rafeik Thomas is a goalscorer. There aren't too many of those in the world. Rafeik has not been able to go to the next level because of his size and rumours of indiscipline. If you know what I mean!

[Me]

World class reasoning by OJ.

[Assasin]

ah ha, good post. Something tell me if I had post the same thing you would do nothing find something to disagree with.

I have been saying similar thing for a while but.......

[Mosiah]

Did I disagree with this?

See, I don't always disagree with you.

(I worry when I don't, however! )

[Assasin]

I wonder why? LOL!!!