Former Reggae Boy Giles Barnes believes this current crop of national players is good enough to compete for a place in Qatar next year.

The 33-year-old Giles, who represented the Reggae Boyz from 2015 for about three years, and has since retired from the sport as a player, spoke to the Jamaica Observer at the Austin Bold Football Club Stadium on Tuesday while the Reggae Boyz practised.

“Obviously not in the position you want to be in qualifiers, not where you want to be seen, especially when you have such a talented group that we have here, but there are a lot of new players coming together and sometimes that’s just the way international football works,” Barnes reasoned.

“Sometimes not always the better team on the day wins international football, it can be someone beats you off a set-piece or anything, but there seems to be a good camaraderie, a good vibes in the camp, so I think it’s good the whole squad is here. Unfortunately, Michail (Antonio) is missing right now, but it’s a good squad, you look around and pound for pound it should be competing, especially on this side of the world,” he added.

Barnes was an integral member of the Jamaican attack in the nation’s historic journey to the Concacaf Gold Cup final in 2015, netting the solitary strike in Jamaica’s 1-0 win over Haiti in the quarter-finals, and again for the second goal in Jamaica’s 2-1 win over the US in the semi-finals.

The English-born and raised player says he has nothing but good memories of his time representing the black, green and gold of Jamaica, despite the unsavoury manner in which he was discarded.

“It was good, I enjoyed it, some of the best times in my life was playing for my country,” he said as his face lit up.

“Unfortunately, what happened when we changed managers I didn’t get selected after, that’s a personal preference, whatever the reasons may be, because at the time I was still playing every single week for my team. It was a tough one to swallow, weird one to swallow after playing every single game for two, three years and suddenly you are not there, but different people have different opinions and that’s what football is about, so as a professional you just get on with it.

“But I loved playing for Jamaica, I loved playing for my country, I loved putting on that shirt and feeling that joy. I still remember my debut— against Venezuela in 2015. I scored and Winny [Head Coach Winfried Schaefer] said get ‘ready for the Gold Cup cause you are coming’ — I still remember looking over up in the stadium seeing my dad and everyone there happy, things that money can never buy.

“I’ve got memories and they are only good memories playing for my country, so it’s a time I look back on and smile. I met some great friends in the team; I’m still connected to a lot of the boys in the team, and seeing all the staff here again as well, it’s a blessing. I speak to Roy (Simpson, team manager) all the time, just sending each other WhatsApp messages and we’ve stayed in contact ever since, so only good times I’ve had,” reflected the man who moved across the Atlantic after bursting on the scene as a young boy in England, even representing the “Three Lions” at the youth level.

Barnes has been at a few clubs in North America, even playing in Mexico in the latter stages of his career, badly hurt by a series of injuries, some of which he recovered from miraculously.

Now he’s turned his attention to coaching and really giving back to the sport that gave him so much.

“Coaching, getting my licences at this stage as well, just building. I part own a club in Orlando, Florida — FC Highland — where we have a youth club. I have been fortunate to see the way it has grown and I’m just trying to give back to the game that gave me so much as well. I oversee the whole programme, so I see kids from the age of seven to 19, so it is pretty good. I have two teams that I actually physically coach and they are the 2010 age group and a 2008 age group, so I’m trying to work my way up and enjoy it and enjoy giving back.”

Giles says it is such a blessing to be able to see kids develop and at the same time he has been fortunate to be offered a few professional jobs, so he says in the next six months or so he will see what becomes of those offers.

After his time with the Reggae Boyz, Giles played for a few teams in North America before moving over to India, the last place he played professionally a year ago.

But he had a choice to make and being a new dad, the family came first.

“I have had a son now as well, so the reason I stopped playing I got asked to go back to India, to go to Thailand, Malaysia and then the pandemic happened and the worst thing for me was the thought of having my son and not spending time with him because I can’t take him to those kinds of countries with the pandemic, so I would have missed a lot of his early development, so my big decision was to stay in my environment and watch my son grow and that’s been the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

He desperately wants to help the next generation develop and make the best of their talents and he believes he has experienced all sides of the games, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows and having been mentored by a number of outstanding coaches such as Roy Hogdson, who went on to become an England manager, Roberto Di Matteo, a Champions League winner, as well as Schaefer, Barnes is of the view that he has garnered enough to make a difference to the younger generation.