VINA DEL MAR, Chile — For those clamouring for local-based players in the Reggae Boyz set-up, Head Coach Winfried Schaefer has one, and only one philosophy: to use the best players, regardless of where they reside.

“I want the best players [in the team] and when we have the 11 best players in Jamaica then the 11 best players in Jamaica play in the team, but we don’t have the 11 best players in Jamaica,” assured Schaefer, following his charges’ surprise 2-1 victory over Chile in a friendly international inside Estadio Sausalito on Friday night.

Both teams were using the game as part of preparations for the Copa America Centenario which runs from June 3-26 in the United States of America.

Going into the game the German coach had made it clear that he would use the opportunity to test some of his fringe players, knowing the importance of getting them match-ready going into a high-level tournament like the Copa Centenario where the Boyz are drawn in Group C alongside Uruguay, Mexico and Venezuela, with only the top two teams advancing to the quarter-finals.

“Now the young players (local-based), some of the people need to know that I cannot take five or six local-based players into the starting team because we run the risk of losing badly, and that could shatter their confidence,” noted the coach, who said he was cognisant of such a situation having managed players in transition all his life, so he knows what he’s doing.

“It has to be step by step. I need to know when I can take players into the team, when I’m sure they can play; I have to do what is best for them mentally at this stage. They must be able to come from the game feeling confident in their ability and their performance. That is why we take them step by step like Ottey (Allan), Vanzie (Andrew), Binns (Michael).

“And what we do in the future, and I hope a lot of people read this; we have to make matches for the local national team and we could add a few of the players in the US who don’t play regularly for their clubs.

“They have to play against teams from outside the island, that is very important. I can’t take the local players into the first team when they don’t play against teams outside of the island. For the local players we have to make a team and first play inside Jamaica against the parish teams, where I can see a lot more potential players for the national team, and then we play outside of Jamaica.

“We have to do it if we want to develop our local players, we have to do it.”

In Friday’s game, Schaefer made six changes to Chile’s four. Three of the changes involved local-based players Ottey, Vanzie and Binns. Ottey, who has been a regular staple in the Reggae Boyz squad over the past year without much playing time, entered as a 64th-minute substitute for Clayton Donaldson; Vanzie replaced Lee Williamson in the 82nd minute; and Binns, on debut, entered the pitch as an 86th-minute substitute for Giles Barnes.

Rosario Harriott, Damano Solomon and Ricardo Morris are the other local-based players in the squad, who will now turn their attention to a training camp in Florida ahead of the Copa America Centenario.

— Ian Burnett