From the Gwinnett Daily Post: A conversation with a man he only knows as Gus sparked the chain of events that linked a metro Atlanta kid to another country’s national soccer team. Brookwood’s Sean Johnson excelled at goalkeeper in a men’s league last year and one onlooker, a former goalkeeper for the Jamaican National Team named Gus, struck up a conversation. It came up that Johnson’s parents were natives of Jamaica, which in turn made Johnson, who was born in Atlanta, eligible for that country’s national team. He is NOT cap-tied to Jamaica, however, it seems: So late last year Johnson traveled to Jamaica for a tryout camp, showing his goalkeeping skills in front of the Caribbean island’s top coaches. He apparently made an impact. The coaches awarded the athletic goalkeeper a spot on the Jamaican Under-17 National Team. He planned to join the team for Junior World Cup Qualifying, but the team was eliminated before he got a chance in that tourney. Still he travels every few months to train with the Jamaicans and gains more soccer experience on each one. He hasn’t played in an official match yet, but has seen action in a number of practice matches with clubs from other countries. “I’ve always wanted to play for the U.S. National Team but the opportunity came up with the Jamaican National Team so I went ahead and took it,” said Johnson, who didn’t turn 16 until May 31. “I’d never played at a level like that before, but it was there so I had to take it. I’d still love to play for the U.S. National Team one day.” Sounds like the kid is one heck of an athlete (who is choosing soccer). The full story is here: http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/in...e_id=4381&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Dave Marino-Nachison again. He wasnt starting for Varsity when my HS played his.
If that kid can get a look with Jamaica u-17 thats pretty cool. I know a kid whose eligible for Jamaica (parent) who is an 88....... Region ODP the whole lot. I wonder if they would be interested. Did they qualify for the U-17 WC???
No. The US and Mexico won their groups and Costa Rica took the third spot, beating Honduras in a playoff.
6'3" 200 lb 16 year old. Wow. I wish him the best of luck. Can someone appraise us of the rules again? Since he is both eligible for the US and Jamaica, he would be able to change his mind even if he played with the Jamaican u-17 team ................ up until the age of 18 or something, right?
21, if he is not capped in a Fifa recognized tourney or qualifier I believe. Expect this to happen more in the future. There are loads of African-American/ Caribbean-American/ Central-American kids whose Parent's countries will be interested in harvesting the talent.
Several Carribbean nations have already tapped into this source of talent. Bermuda U17 team included FC Delco Black V defender Kory Trott in their U17 WC FIFA regional quailifiers last summer in Cuba. There must be others?
University of South Florida defender Kareem Smith, who grew up in Massachussets, played for the Trinidadian U20 team in qualifying in January. Ryan Johnson, a senior forward at Oregon State who is also from Masachussetts, has played for the Jamaican U23 team, though I don't know if he's cap-tied. And Connecticut product Johann Smith, now at Bolton, has been called up by the Jamaican U20 team, though I don't know that he actually went to that camp. (He's also played for the US U18 team.)
Anyone know if this kid is white or black? Cuz Brookwood's keeper last season was a huge white guy could be 6' 3" and 200 lb and he wore a DC United Jersey as his keeper jersey. I thought I heard he was a senior but I guess it could be this kid?
Ramone Dee Bailey (NY) and Phllip Hall (FLA) started for Jamaica's U-17s in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Canada included two former Regional players in Tomek Charowski and William Johnson in their last U-20 team. Johnson had played with the US U-17s.
Well, if we're talking CONCACAF outside the Caribbean, there are several Latin Americans who grew up in the US who play internationally for other countries, most notably Ramon Nunez, who grew up in Dallas since he was about four, played at SMU and now with the Burn but plays for Honduras and captained them at the WYC. Often, as was the case with Nunez and Will Johnson, they never became US citizens (blame the parents) and opted to play internationally now for their country of birth rather than wait for the citizenship process.
They also had a huge black guy playing forward during the game, If it was this kid, he wasnt very impressive. But Nate Spurrier their GK was amazing.
Not that it has much to do with YNTs, but watching the end of MLS Cup just now, I remembered that this dude had a thread here years ago. Holy smokes, 2005! Congrats, Sean Johnson, who, ya know, also plays for the U.S. now.