Jamaica is always a part of me, says US-based coach

Gordon Williams, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's football ignored him. Twice. Flatly rejected his pleas for inclusion.

Yet, Robin Fraser will come calling again, this time as coach of Major League Soccer (MLS) club Chivas USA in search of talent he swears runs deep in the land of his birth.

"If you look at the size of the country and the amount of world-class athletes that have come from there ... then it must make you curious," said the 44-year-old former United States international who was appointed by the club last week.

His own interest in the game started early and he was immediately hooked.

"All I remember is everything was football," Fraser said laughing on Friday from Florida, where he was scouting talent at the MLS Combine, ahead of the league's draft.

Before his family migrated to the United States (US) when he was 11, Fraser already had an inside peek into Jamaica's football potential. He played in the Alberga Cup competition for Sts Peter and Paul Prep, and by his early days in the US, he was convinced the country had something special.

"I remember like 20 years ago I would have put Jamaica's Under-12 team up against any team in the world," Fraser said. "At that age, there is so much skill and passion about the game."

REJECTION

He thought his own ability would be good enough to get him a place in the national set-up. At 17, while playing for a team in Florida run by well-known Jamaican coach, Winston Chung Fah in the mid-1980s, Fraser said he and a few others living in the US were invited to try out with a Jamaica youth team. The visitors trained, played a few games, then were sent packing. Not being selected hurt, but the dismissal manner cut deeper.

"The word that I got was that 'dem seh dem nuh waan nuh uptown bwoy pon di team'," explained Fraser, who lived in several places in Jamaica, including Norbrook, St Andrew.

More stunning, he recalled, the so-called "dem" were "apparently" not competing players, but at "the coaching level."

Fraser said he could not remember who was in charge then, but he did not dwell on the disappointment because he just "loved playing" football. His late father, Felix, encouraged him and helped coach youth leagues in Florida where he played. Young Robin had long determined what he wanted in life.

"My mother (Ruby) tells these stories that when I was 10 I used to tell her I was going to be a professional soccer player," he said.

But Jamaica's brush-off did factor in his decision when the US national team called two years later. He grabbed the chance.

"I must have made a conscious decision because obviously I had some problem with Jamaica and they didn't pick me," he said.

US recognition began when Fraser played high school football in Miami, and at Florida International University (FIU). FIU won the US national Division II title his first year. The team stepped up to Division I later and by his senior year in 1988, the defender was a finalist in the Hermann Trophy voting, symbol of the best college player in the US, and a second team All-American pick.

That year he signed with the Miami Sharks of the American Soccer League, and played two seasons before moving to the Colorado Foxes of the American Professional Soccer League. He was an APSL all-star four straight years, 1992-1995. In 1996, he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS.

Fraser was selected to the MLS 'Best XI' team four times - '96, '98, '99 and 2000 - even after being traded to the Colorado Rapids in 1999. That season, he was named MLS 'Defender of the Year'.

He was in his prime as a player. Yet, Fraser said Jamaica rejected his advances a second time. While he had made the first of his 27 appearances for the US as far back as 1988, in a friendly international against Chile, Fraser was uncertain if he was still eligible to represent Jamaica. Playing only 'friendlies' - or at the youth level - does not disqualify a player from representing another country in official competitions. So he reached out to Jamaica sometime before the 1998 World Cup.

"I actually called up Carl Brown," he said, of a discussion with then assistant to technical director, René Simoes, "and I said, 'I think I have the eligibility to play for Jamaica and I'm available because that is something I would love to do'."

Brown's response was ... no response.

"He said he was going to look into it," Fraser said, "and I never heard anything from him."

Fraser turned to the US but his heart never totally left Jamaica. When the Americans came to Jamaica for a 2001 World Cup qualifier, he was part of their 22-man squad, though not in the final 18 for the game. The packed 'Office' left a mark on him.

"It was a very surreal feeling, being there in Jamaica's stadium, with the National Anthem going and standing there on the US side," Fraser explained, "It was a very strange feeling ...

"I remember just feeling a huge amount of pride sitting in the stadium there where you had all the yellow and green colours and rags."

He couldn't recall the game's outcome - a 0-0 draw. Yet today, Fraser doesn't regret his decision. His desire was to play in the 2002 World Cup, and at the time, the US desired him.

"I gave Jamaica a chance and they didn't really want me," Fraser said. "So now I have another opportunity to play internationally ... I didn't have second thoughts."

Yet Fraser admitted he revelled in the excitement of Jamaica's historic qualification for World Cup 1998. He also shares Jamaicans' disappointment that the Reggae Boyz have not been back to football's biggest show.

Fraser is proud of the progress many Jamaicans have made as well, especially the more than a dozen who currently play in MLS. He believes the country's football is starting to show its true worth.

"I see players," Fraser said. "Dane Richards (of New York Red Bulls), he did very well; and Omar Cummings (of 2010 MLS champions Colorado Rapids) is one of the top players in the league right now. I'm really, really excited for those guys."

Others are too. A recent study done by the Red Bulls ranked Jamaica's talent pool among the top foreign nations stocking MLS. Fraser knew that. He's ready to dive in.

"It's something I really, really want to do, really want to do," Fraser said, "because when I look at Jamaica's young players, there's some amazing talent there."

PRIDE

He also admires the love for country that Jamaicans show, something he doesn't hide.

"I've been here (in the US) for over 30 years .... there is a pride in where I'm from," said Fraser, who has many long-time Jamaican friends, including members of the well-known Ziadie football family, Chris, Nick and Craig.

"There's a pride about Jamaica ... Some things are so ingrained in me. Jamaica is always part of me."

For now, he is focused on Chivas USA, determined to revive a team that finished with the second worst record in MLS last season. He wants to play attacking, attractive football. Most pressing is building team unity, a key ingredient drilled home the last three-and-a-half seasons as an assistant coach with Real Salt Lake, the 2009 MLS champions. He knows Chivas USA must win ... soon.

Yet, down the road, Fraser has not ruled out knocking on Jamaica football's door again. He has "never" been offered a coaching job by the Jamaica Football Federation, but he may want in.

"At some point, I would love to be in consideration for the Jamaica national team coach," Fraser said.

Maybe third time asking, he'll be lucky.