ROSE HALL, St James — Winfried Schafer, coach of the Reggae Boyz team, has never hidden his admiration for the work ethic of Jamaican midfielder Rodolf Austin and took his fondness for the player a step further on Wednesday when he told a press conference held at the Riu Hotel in Rose Hall that he plans to build the future men’s national senior team around the Leeds United captain.

He said further that Leicester City defender and captain Wes Morgan will also be a pillar of that team.

The press conference was called ostensibly to announce the Jamaican squad to play Trinidad and Tobago in a two-game series, in Montego Bay on Friday night and Trinidad on Tuesday, during the FIFA playing dates, but the German-born coach, who is expected to extend his four-month stint as the newest Reggae Boyz coach, used the opportunity to outline his plans going forward.

“We start a new chapter and new era as we look forward to Russia 2018,” he said. “These friendly matches will help us to watch and test some of the local talent and young players and those from the States,” Schafer added.

“We want to build for the future and build a team around Austin and Wes Morgan (they are out for these games) and we are only using players from Jamaica and the USA.”

The 28-year-old Austin has come through the national junior system, captaining the teams from the Under-15 through to the Under-23 levels, and has made approximately 60 appearances in the national senior team since he made his debut in 2004.

Morgan, who leads Leicester City in the English Championships after being the longest serving player at his boyhood club Nottingham Forest, was called up by Schafer in September and played two games in the failed World Cup campaign.

On Wednesday Schafer said character and teamwork will weigh more in his books than football skills as he tries to mould a unit that will lead to success for Jamaica.

“We are building the national team step by step for the next challenge and we will use the best players, not only good players,” he said. “Those with very good character; it is more than playing very good football, I want to see teamwork, I want to see fairness and togetherness.”

Local players will get their chance to prove themselves — he said — hence the planned schedule of friendly internationals — for overseas-based players to get called up, they must prove they are better than those available here.

“The players from overseas must be better than the local players, but we cannot play without the top overseas players in the future, that is clear,” Schafer pointed out.

Having gone around the island and seen what was on offer, the much-travelled German is under no illusion that his work will be easy.

“Our friendly matches are important in that they give the local players as much international experience as possible and allow them to make their mistakes. Our local players are not as good as those from Brazil and Argentina, so we need to help them improve.”