Loads of England-eligible boys in the Scotland U18 squad. Jack Dallimore (Bolton) Julian Donnery (Lincoln) Johnny Emerson (Newcastle) Louis Jackson (Man Utd) Jack Kingdon (Man Utd) Noah McCann (QPR) Josh Squires (Southampton) Woody Williamson (Ipswich) Max Woodcock (Crewe) Williamson is a goalkeeper I'm a big fan of, also quite like Squires.
Call-ups to the Jamaica senior squad for: Dante Cassanova (Spurs) Omari Hutchinson (Chelsea) Delano McCoy-Splatt (Fulham) Tyler Roberts & Dexter Lembikisa (Wolves) Coach Heimir’s Squad List for the two International Friendlies vs Trinidad and Tobago on March 11th and 14th.#ReggaeBoyz #InternationalFriendlies #JFF_Football pic.twitter.com/EnOJF41luz— Official J.F.F (@jff_football) March 7, 2023
Suprised to see Omari Hutchinson still there, I thought we'd get him back, particularly with basically all the usual under 20's wide players likely not being available for selection for the world cup in May
I mean, you can see the case - Jamaica has been trying to set him up as a core young piece of the future senior side for the last 8 to 9 months. He got a senior cap immediately (albeit in a practice game), and the federation worked hard to get him his passport in September and has been trying to call him repeatedly since (Chelsea shut down the last call in Fall). Going with Jamaica now means senior tournament experience as soon as this summer, and a solid chance at a WC in 2026. Jamaica has nearly 50 games scheduled between now and November 2025, and there's a pretty clear path for him to have a couple dozen caps by age 22. Meanwhile in England, he's not even really a lock for the U20s...
Some players have no ambition I'm afraid. He obviously likes having his summers off because he won't be taking part in international tournaments.
We're not Turks & Caicos or San Marino - Jamaica can offer tournament football. 2023 is a Gold Cup (Jamaica has only missed 3 of the last 14 Gold Cups, they are almost always there) The 2024 Copa America will be a summer tournament - Jamaica has solid odds of qualifying (best 6 CONCACAF teams will be going, Jamaica is already roughly 6th in the region) 2025 is another Gold Cup 2026 is a World Cup (48 teams = pretty solid odds of qualification for Jamaica) That's a minimum of 2, and potentially 4 summer tournaments at the senior international level before he even turns 23. Could he get that with England? Possibly, although it seems unlikely (again - is he even an Under-20 lock?) and if he did it almost certainly wouldn't be as a senior international.
I see looking closer this is actually not for the international break. Jamaica actually have a competitive game in the window in a couple of weeks. That will be more telling of his intentions, having previously not played in the competitive games back in June after playing a friendly, presumably to preserve eligibility. Certainly he's seemingly behind his competition, though its difficult to tell at his age and most of them are playing senior football in some way which makes them harder to compete with. Still, I'd be surprised to see him commit as a teenager. He'll have a much better idea of his long term prospects in a couple of years after he's presumably started playing senior football and would still have plenty of time to commit before the world cup if Jamaica is looking a better option.
The fact that these are friendlies definitely matters. He's so far played in a training match and may debut in a friendly against Trinidad in a few days. The fact that he's appearing for these games and has done the work to secure his passport is a positive sign for his commitment to Jamaica, but it certainly won't mean as much if he doesn't open himself up to a (provisional) cap tie. The squad for the March 26 match in Mexico City will probably be named in 10-12 days, so we'll know soon enough. Chelsea really screwed him on deadline day. He should be working up some EFL Championship experience right now.
Latest article regarding Elliot Anderson. Wasn’t listed in their U21 squad announcement today. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport...kCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
Read into this what you will but he follows the England football team on insta and not Scotland. I also read he turned down an u21 offer from Scotland in the last international break, choosing to go on holiday instead. From what I've read also, it seems to me that the Scottish journalists are convinced he's made his mind to switch to England.
Ex-Under 21 keeper Angus Gunn is meant to be switching to Scotland: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/foot...-caps-as-he-follows-in-dads-footsteps-4060226 Don't expect he'll be a huge loss, though he's been one of the best keepers in the championship this season after a torrid few years.
I've been expecting this for some time to be honest. He's a million miles off an England call up and the Scots have been creaming over him for years. Surprised its taken this long for him to commit.
Yep as expected the jocks creaming themselves over him on the Sweaty sock board. Just shows what an irrelevant tiny football nation they are
I'm not xenophobic I just don't like foreigners. Kidding. I don't particularly like the Scots or Welsh
I just couldn't imagine playing for another country. It would be England or nothing for Me. It irks me when players switch countries on a whim. Especially players who have tenuous links to other countries at best
He grew up literally watching his dad play for Scotland. I'm not sure how you could describe that as a tenuous link. He said himself that his dad wanted him to play for Scotland but he wanted to play for the country he was born in. It's more of a surprise that he waited until he was 27 to switch. It looks like he's finally given up on his dream to play for England. Realistically unless he improves significantly it was nothing more than a dream anyway.
Gunn trained with the England senior team. He looked impressive at U16 level for England but seemed to struggle with the step up in levels. He’s only had 111 appearances in his career but seems to be back on track now at Championship level. I didn’t realise how few keepers Scotland have available until I checked their squad. Gunn could become a starter but it would be a big challenge. Some of their fans don’t like taking players that have previously rejected them and he’s not a massively experienced keeper.
Waylon Renecke (Norwich) & Gabriano Shelton (Liverpool) have been named in South Africa's U17 AFCON preliminary squad. Renecke has been a regular for England & was part of the most recent U17 squad.
I notice that he hasn't played for us for a couple of years. Do we know if he fell out of favour on an ability basis, if he was injured or if he was was turning down call-ups?