About a week ago, we were very excited by the news - broken by NYRB II head coach John Wolyniec in an interview with uslsoccer.com - that Devon "Speedy" Williams was lined up for a call to the Jamaica squad for its upcoming October friendly in South Korea.
The news stood as another endorsement of RBNY's player development work - getting a reserve team player back on to his national team's radar is no small thing. And it was simply a piece of good news for a modest and hard-working player. Also, it suggested Jamaica might not be sending its seasoned squad of Gold Cup finalists to Korea, which raised hope the New York Red Bulls had a shot at hanging on to Kemar Lawrence for key MLS games as they chase a Supporters' Shield into October.
Kristian Dyer has filed one report for BigAppleSoccer.com to economically puncture all three of those balloons of optimism and general contentment.
A source has informed Dyer that Williams' call-up has been "rescinded". That's a bitter pill for a young player to swallow. Sympathies, Devon. Next time, we hope, you'll have better luck.
Further bad news in the Dyer report:
Jamaica originally wanted him in for the upcoming Oct. 13 friendly at South Korea but they've decided to go with a more experienced squad, the source said.
Oof. A more experienced squad.
Jamaica could be calling for Kemar after all. With Chris Duvall and Roy Miller out until at least the end of October, Matt Miazga on international duty (and then suspended), and Karl Ouimette summoned by Canada - RBNY could be looking at a worst-case scenario of five defenders out for at least the October 14 trip to Toronto (and possibly the preceding match against Montreal on October 7 - since that too falls inside the FIFA window for international games).
Left behind would be just four senior specialist defenders - Connor Lade, Ronald Zubar, Damien Perrinelle, and Anthony Wallace - plus rookie Shaun McLaws and part-time full back Sal Zizzo.
Bad enough Williams has been cruelly denied a return to national team duty; the implications of "a more experienced squad" make the potential situation worse.
Brace for an official roster announcement from the JFF sometime in the next few days - and hope the administrators of the Jamaica national team, having changed their minds once already, use the coming weekend to change their minds again and spare RBNY an even more nervous regular season run-in than is already the case.
