CONSIDERING the belief that local players are generally overlooked by successive national coaches, Dennis Chung, general secretary of Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), is urging the island’s home-based players to seize the opportunity when the Reggae Boyz face Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago in a two-match friendly international next month.

The games fall outside of the FIFA window, which means that overseas-based players will not be available for selection. The opening encounter will be played at Catherine Hall in Montego Bay on February 6, starting at 7:30 pm, with the second match scheduled for three days later at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Kingston.

Chung noted that in the past, JFF had largely relied on the country’s overseas-based talent, therefore resulting in limited opportunities for local players as far as selection for international games is concerned.

“One of the strategies that we have been looking at, and you have seen it with even the youth teams, is that we are trying to look at what is available locally and so this is a grand opportunity for local players to impress upon the coaching staff,” Chung told the Jamaica Observer.

“This is a great opportunity that they have because we are putting on these two games specifically for the local talent. So once you get a call-up, make the best use of it. This will be your opportunity now to make sure that you make it into the senior team — and the sky is the limit from there.”

Chung highlighted that Reggae Boyz Head Coach Steve McClaren has stressed that he will only select the best players for the national side, whether they are locally or overseas-based. He also noted that the matches are crucial because they form part of JFF’s strategic plans to recruit players for future national teams.

“It is important because what we are trying to do is to see if we can unearth some local talents, so most of the team will be made up of players from the local Premier League,” he said.

“The idea is to create a local camp and to see what sort of talent is there. As the coach said when I spoke to him the other day, he wants to make sure that we select the best players at all times — whether they come out of Jamaica or overseas,” Chung added.

“These two games are very important for us to see what is on the ground here so that we can integrate all the talent that we have locally with the ones who are coming from overseas,” he added.