63’ Magnifique solo de Luka Bentt qui marque lui aussi son premier but sous le maillot belge !🏴0-3🇧🇪 #U19 pic.twitter.com/E1BoRvWhdm— Prospect Belgium 🇧🇪 (@ProspectBelgium) September 9, 2025
Thelo Aasgaard with 4 goals for Norway against Moldova, only to be out done by (fellow English born player) Haaland with 5!
Just seen this, amazed he wasn’t on the US radar (maybe he was), considering they’d normally contemplate capping anyone who ever stepped foot inside their borders!
Results have not been good for Nigeria today. They are pretty much fighting for a playoff place now. Two wins so far in eight qualifying matches is pretty mad for a top seed.
Adam Khan representing Pakistan. I believe he was quite highly rated at Rovers at some point but Michalski who's part of the English u19s has seemingly overtaken him.
Maldini Kacurri made his Albania debut in this international week too. In a friendly against Gibraltar.
🗣️ "My god, what a bad night for this man!" The commentator didn’t hold back about Ben Brereton Diaz’s finishing for Chile last night 😳🎥 @SBSSportau pic.twitter.com/3e2ZAcTc3h— The #EFL Zone (@TheFLZone) September 10, 2025 Not the best of finishing from Brereton-Diaz
Its usually only 3rd and 4th division players who go to play for Jamaica. Or maybe a guy who is reaching late 20s and they figure international football will boost their earning potential for contract negotiations . I dont get why Cadamateri jumps to play for Jamaica when he is like age 20. Now he has to do long haul travel to play every game on ploughed up pitches. If the team loses you get blamed by the locals . You might get the odd game in North American conditions , but most games will be on bad pitches .
He made 2 appearances for England u19 and 2 for the u20s, three were sub apps including the last two for the u20s. I guess that he thought if he was just getting sub apps for the u20s which is generally a squad for fringe options then that makes him a fringe option among fringe options. I think you can understand how senior caps with Jamaica would appeal in light of that. It is a shame to lose him from the pool though, plenty of chance for him to kick on given his age and level that he's currently at. That said, on the balance of probabilities I'd estimate that he'll never reach the level to be a senior England international.
For a striker he has very low goal output. In his season on loan at Lincoln he only had 5 goals for the season. They have told him he would be their main striker for the first team to entice the move. He will soon realise playing for Jamaica is pointless as Hutchinson did .
Well, time for me to defend Jamaica's footballing honor again (because who else is going to do it) What you have said here is pretty accurate for the smaller Caribbean countries, like Grenada, St. Kitts, or Guyana, they tend to draw from tiers 3 to 5 and rarely see Championship-tier or better talent, but Jamaica has historically done better than this. The nation has real trouble attracting players in or around the top tier of football, even those who never play for England. Think of guys like Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Jason Puncheon, Troy Deeney, Scott Sinclair - all guys who played at a high level for a long time, and all approached by Jamaica, but none could ever really be bothered. That is how it ended most of the time for EPL players Jamaica recruited - they waited for England or didnt bother playing at all. But Jamaica doesnt get a lot of League Two recruits. Frankly, thats down to quality - Jamaicas domestic league is not too far off League Two (the analytics will back this, Opta has some good data comparing the competitions). A League Two caliber player just doesn't really move the needle, Jamaica already produces plenty of talent at that caliber so they dont really make us better outside of one or two positions where we have very low depth (maybe a #6 or #8, or a backup GK). This is why the majority of Jamaicas recruits come from the 2nd tier, with League One contributing a little. And then there have always been a handful of borderline EPL tier guys, the majority of which are fringe types who either get relegated often and/or just play rotational/squad roles for lower/mid table teams (think Adrian Mariappa, Bobby Reid) with the occasional solid mid-table starter (Ethan Pinnock, Nyron Nosworthy - these two are cousins, btw). In any case, Cadamarteri isnt really an exceptional recruit from a level-of-play perspective. Youbare overstating the pitch issue here a bit. Quality has improved in recent years around the region, thanks in part to increased FIFA funding. The average football pitch in most Caribbean nations is still trash, but now nearly every island has at least one, sometimes up to three pitches that are of passable North American quality, and these are the only fieldd the national sides compete on. Jamaicas home pitch isnt great but much closer now on game day to what a League One player is used to. Its a significant improvement on what players like Jermaine Johnson and Garath McCleary dealt with 13 years ago, thanks to focused investment during the last 10 years. Cadamarteri will play road games in Curacao, Bermuda and Trinidad this fall. Both Curacao and Bermuda are European colonies with plenty of money, and their pitches reflect that. Trinidad, like Jamaica, has had a little more money lately to pour into its 2 or 3 national flagship stadiums. Hasely Crawford Stadium is passable now. A couple of islands are still using repurposed cricket fields that arent maintained well (St. Vincent, Dominica), but Cadamarteri wont see them this cycle. The Americans and Canadians have solid pitches and thats where all continental tournament games (Gold Cup, Copa America) will be played. The Mexicans do well of course and the Central Americans have never had an issue with pitch quality in their main venues, as they are all obsessed with their national teams and invest pretty heavily in their top venues. Add it all together and the pitch issue is just not that big of a problem, not anymore, and should only improve in the near term. Absolutely. Michail Antonio is old and set to become a pundit shortly, Shamar Nicholson has scored a lot for the national side and plays at a decent level (Mexico has North Americans best league) but is often out of form, Jamal Lowe is solid but unspectacular and also kind of aging, and the rest of the competition is unproven or plays at a lower level or both. There was a wide open opportunity here for an experienced younger player competing regularly at a pretty high level to come in and, with a few good performances, own the job. He knew he'd get that chance, and there's a lot of upside there, which takes me to my next point... ...what is so difficult about seeing the point here? We have a 48 team world cup. Expansion means countries like Jamaica can qualify regularly for that tournament. Right now, Jamaica is in the heart of the final round of North American qualifying, which involves 6 match days. Jamaica just got 6 points. There are only 4 match days to go. The group winner qualifies automatically. Jamaica has about a 90% chance of winning the group. None of that is guaranteed, of course, Jamaica can always squander an opportunity. But it is likely to happen, and if it does? Cadamarteri is going to quite likely be leading the line for a World Cup team in 10 months and getting significant minutes on the biggest stage in world football at age 21. Is the appeal in that really difficult to see? I'll add more: Cadamarteri will be 25 in 2030, 29 for 2034, and 33 for 2038. With expansion, Jamaica can realistically qualify for any of these tournaments. Assuming he keeps playing at a high level until his mid thirties and quits at, say, 35, he could see up to 4 World Cups. Add 6 Gold Cups and probably another one or two Copa America's to that (Jamaica has been to 3 Copa Americas in the last 10 years), and you are talking about a chance at a dozen major tournaments. Obviously, one would rather just play for England. But for a player who probably isnt a surefire England guy, why isnt this a viable pathway? As for Hutchinson, he saw Jamaica as an opportunity to boost his market value, visibility and profile at a time when he wasnt getting any senior club football. It worked, he got his first real chance at heavy senior minutes with Ipswich right after his third cap. He nailed that chance, and got himself back on the England track and back to the EPL, at which point he promptly ditched Jamaica. He didnt quit Jamaica because Jamaican football is "pointless". He quit because he had a better opportunity right in front of him with England. He became an EPL starter at 21 and a key, core figure in England U21s - that is right where you want to be at this stage if you have England hopes, and he is on track. If he can just establish himself at Forest over the next 12-18 months or so, there's real hope for him making it in for Euro 2028 and nations league ties in 2027. I am Jamaica's biggest defender on this forum, but even I would not try to argue that a young player who is as close to England as Hutchinson is better off committing to Jamaica. I was quite unhappy with the switch/back and forth, and would love for him to have committed to us, but taking the bias out it is clear that his decision was the objectively better one for his career at this stage. It just is what it is. None of this means that Jamaica doesnt present a sensible opportunity for other players who are not where Hutchinson is. Cadamarteri, as others have explained here, is a lot further from England than Hutchinson. And even for Hutchinson, who knows. If its 2028 and his run at Forest maybe didnt go as well as he liked and the England plane (or bus/train, I guess, since the home nations are hosts) leaves without him, he will only be 24. Jamaica will be right there ready to begin the 2030 WC cycle. He can pivot right back (just have his agent write a couple of tweets and articles in The Athletic like he did when he switched last year), will be welcomed with open arms by Jamaicans, take a shot at up to 3 more world cups and have a very solid international career.
And just to address this particular barb directly: I get that we arent a football superpower but "pointless"? Come on. Not every national team or club short of England or Man City is "pointless". We're no more pointless/irrelevant in a football sense than any club in Sheffield.
Agreed, very good points. With World Cup expansion and Copa America, Jamaica is no longer a “pointless” choice. Players like Cadamarteri could feature in multiple World Cups, Gold Cups and Copa América, which is a strong international career by any measure. Hutchinson only left because England opened its door after his breakthrough. His treatment by the Jamaican fanbase at the national stadium in the Trinidad match was not helpful either. Which brings me to Greenwood, even with his off-field issues, has just as much right at 23 to wait and see. Although Tuchel has said he’s not a priority he also pointed out that he does not rule anything out. That said McClaren sated in his press conference that a number of 23–25-year-old Championship level players are knocking on the door. The expanded World Cup is a big incentive for them.
You made fair points on Kolpak and the Cotonou Agreement. The exemption does help the French clubs benefit from it. Players like Jonathan Rowe and Joshua Duffus are good examples of how that works. Greenwood situation isn’t that straightforward. Remember, Heimir Hallgrímsson confirmed the JFF were in talks with him back in March 2024 when he was at Getafe. That’s before OM and before any talk of Marseille’s roster planning. So it’s not just about a passport loophole, there was genuine playing interest long before the French move. I heard on a podcast that Greenwood was genuinely interested however his advisors are against the switch. I am sure you remember the hold up in signing a document for him to proceed with this Jamaican passport. These are the folks he depended on when he had his legal problems so I can fully understand the young man heeding their advice. At 23, he has a lot of time before he needs to make a permanent international switch and as I stated earlier I also believe the door to England is not closed. ,
The Ireland coach said this about Dewsbury-Hall during the last international break - Hallgrimsson said: “He's one that we’ve heard of. He has a heritage but I'm not going to speak for him. "It's better that you speak to him about if he wants (to play for Ireland) or not, but there has not been any kind of approach for him.” https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/louie-barry-irelands-radar-heimir-35797490 Bit odd not to contact him when he likely goes right into their starting team? Maybe they went to his agent or a close contact and were told he is not interested?
CB Benjamin Arthur (2005) started for Brentford in the League Cup. Seemed like he did well. Ghana are interested in him. Another one of those options that is out of our system now because of the loss of the Elite Squad U20 idea.
Everton and Newcastle are reportedly interested in Atletico Madrid talent Dan Fitzgerald. He’s got English parentage despite being born in Spain. He was playing for Elche before Atletico came in. Now Everton and Newcastle want him. One of the hottest prospects in Europe right now pic.twitter.com/dE98SeQPXG— The England Academy (@EnglandAcad) September 17, 2025 Maybe someone our Talent ID team should be taking a look at. Not sure if he’s been capped by Spain though so might be a tough one to get if he’s that good.