Dooley keen on exposing local players to senior National set up

The Senior Men’s National Football team’s recently announced roster for the CONCACAF Friendly Series contained a number of surprises, featuring maiden call- ups for several players.
Amongst those call-ups were also National U20 players that impressed at the CONCACAF Under- 20 Qualifiers earlier this month.
Quizzed about Bryan Wharton and Shabazz Walker- Edwards’ inclusion from the U20 side, which Head Coach Thomas Dooley also oversaw; the Coach his reasons for their call- up, also expressing a desire to have included more players from the youth team.
Dooley told this publication exclusively about Wharton and Walker- Edwards’ inclusion, “It’s not the U20s where the kids play against each other, now its adults playing against each other and they have to step up and not be afraid of it, show what you have. So, they have all the qualities, and the quality is to be developed and the best ways to get your foot in the door is to live for a couple days with your teammates in the Men’s National team and see how everything goes there, how you have to fight in training against each other and learn from it.”
“The things is, Jaden Thom was one I had in my eyes to bring back in and then we had Mateo from the U20s and Max the defender, those players were also the ones that I was looking up to bring them to the first team, just to get the experience. They might not start, let’s say but you know, I want to see how they compete in training against adults and how they’re doing in the next level,” he shared about intentions to include other players from the U20 outfit.
Dooley further discussed the inclusion of local players Brandon Solomon, Shemar Scott and Chris Macey, citing their exploits on the local arena.
“If you play in your league and you play good games, then you deserve to be noticed and brought into the National team. Chris was an MVP so he deserves to get a chance to be a part of it,” the Gaffer said regarding Macey.
He turned his attention to Scott, stating, “Scott was the one that I liked in the last camp that we had before we went to the games in Antigua and so, I told him that if he keeps on playing like this, I will give him the opportunity to come with us next time.”
“Brandon, after Jaden Thom was getting injured, we had to have another right back and so, we decided for Brandon to come back in, fulfill this and give an opportunity to be with us,” he added about Brandon Solomon’s spot.
As such, the gaffer went on to reiterate his willingness to expose those players to the National set- up.
Dooley opined, “They are the ones who I want to give them the opportunity to get in a little bit, see how it is over here and see how you can fight against them, compared to the international players.”
The Golden Jaguars are scheduled to take on Dominica on Friday, March 27 at 15:00hrs in the first of two friendlies. They will then turn their attention to Belize on Monday, March 30.

The Golden Jaguars squad reads:

Goalkeepers
Akel Clarke
Grant Wyles
Joshua Narine

Defenders
Terence Vancooten
Raushan Ritch
Walker Shabazz-Edwards
Liam Gordon
Jalen Jones
Nathan Ferguson
Kvist Paul
Brandon Solomon

Midfielders
Curtez Kellman
Shemar Scott
Nathan Moriah-Welsh
Elliot Bonds

Forwards
Kelsey Benjamin
Bryan Wharton
Chris Macey
Maliq Cadogan
Kyle Reid
Osaze DeRosario
Enoch George
Omari Glasgow