MONTEGO BAY, St James — Rodolfo Zapata, the newly appointed coach of Jamaica Premier League (JPL) club Montego Bay United (MBU), thinks the Jamaican senior men’s football team needs to stick to its roots and play basic football with a mostly local-based team.

The Argentinian Zapata replaced Brazilian Neider Dos Santos, who completed his third stint with the two-time former national champions last season.

Zapata said choosing the Reggae Boyz team with a significant number of overseas-based and foreign-bred players might not be the best thing for Jamaica as they chase qualification to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Zapata, who has coached extensively in the Concacaf region, told the Jamaica Observer during an interview on Wednesday that he follows the game in the region.

“[To have] 23 overseas players is too much. I think it’s too much,” he said in reference to the Jamaica squad to this summer’s Copa America.

The much-travelled 58-year-old, who also coached in Africa and was the national coach of Fiji, added: “At the national team level, we as coaches, we don’t have time to work [with players]… from [a] different country. Most of them [Reggae Boyz] play in [the United States] or England, but none of the top teams [in Jamaica]. So in my opinion, I believe that Jamaica should come back to the basic because [there is no] time to waste and [the next phase of] qualification is around the corner [next year].”

He said he had been talking about Jamaica’s football in recent days.

“We always remember the performance of the Reggae Boyz in France ‘98 and after we saw the performance in this Copa America, I think that Jamaica should come back to the basics to play that football that they used to play, attractive football, that we didn’t see this this Copa America,” he pointed out.

“Go back to the basics. In my opinion, give more opportunity to local talents, yesterday, we were talking about that, I think there are too many overseas players,” he reiterated.

Zapata suggested that the plan should be to use a set of players from the top JPL teams and use them as the core of the team.

“When you don’t have time to work, you should pick which is the best team in the league, plus 10 overseas players — no more than that — and mix it with the best local talents.”

He added that top young talents should be sought.

“Because also they are at an age to play international level, the average age is 26 years old, so we [should] look at players that you can work with during the week. If you play on Sundays, you can work Monday to Thursday with the national team and then give give them back to the teams to play the league.”

Zapata noted the “great opportunity that this coming World Cup is presenting with six teams from Concacaf that is going to the party, and Jamaica should be there.”