Cephas will add quality, goals, says Hallgrimsson
Published:Saturday | September 2, 2023 | 12:10 AM
Renaldo Cephas received a long-awaited call-up to the national squad as he was named to Heimir Hallgrimsson’s 23-man Concacaf Nations League squad to face Honduras on September 8 and Haiti on September 12 at the National Stadium.
Hallgrimsson, while speaking at a press briefing at the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) yesterday, admitted that the 23 year-old has been on their radar for some time and although he believes he has players with similar attributes, he thinks the winger can add quality and goals to the team.
“Merron Gordon (assistant coach) has been pushing me to look at Cephas, so maybe I am looking at him more than I would have.
“He is very interesting because he is very explosive. He has good speed, good technique and on an average in Macedonia, he has played 30 something games, scoring 11 goals and that is one in three games.
“He is now in the Turkish Super League and he has scored one in three appearances. He seems to be a consistent scorer, so we would like to see him among better players. But I think he can bring us something attacking wise,” Hallgrimsson said.
The Icelandic coach also called up former Chelsea and England youth player Kasey Palmer in an attempt to add some creative spark to the midfield.
Nevertheless, he believes they still need more time to build their attacking game.
GOOD MIDFIELDER
“Kasey Palmer is a midfielder that is very good on the ball, similar to Ravel Morrison. He is quick, he looks forward and is a smart player with final passes and with good end product.
“He is a really quick player in thinking and execution and with his experience, he will help us a lot,” he said of the 26-year-old Coventry City player.
“Kasey can help us for sure but it takes more time to do the attacking game than the defensive game. Our defence is always the same, it doesn’t matter who the opposition is and it doesn’t matter the formation that is being played. More or less the defence is always similar game to game. We all agree that we must keep better possession without losing the counterattacking threat and that we have emphasised from the beginning.
“There are more connections between players when you talk about attack but it will improve as we play more games together,“ Hallgrimsson added.