Real Salt Lake midfielder Omar Holness has been called up by the Jamaican National Team for an upcoming qualifying match for the 2017 Caribbean Cup against Guyana on Tuesday, October 11 in Leonora, Guyana. Originally, Jamaica was also scheduled to play against Suriname on Wednesday, October 5, but the match was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew.
Holness, 22, made his second Jamaican National Team appearance in a World Cup qualifying match against Haiti on September 6. The midfielder joined RSL after playing three seasons with the University of North Carolina. In his first season with the club, he has nine appearances with Real Salt Lake and an additional eight appearances with the USL’s Real Monarchs.
Jamaica is in a three-team group with Suriname and Guyana. The top team in each of the four groups will qualify for the 2017 Caribbean Cup and the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Jamaica has won Caribbean Cup four of the last six times the tournament has been played and six times since the tournament’s inception in 1989.
Seven MLS players were called into the 20-man squad for Jamaica.
RSL REPRESENTED IN 2016 U-20 MEN’S FOUR NATIONS TOURNAMENT
The U.S. U-20 National Team opened the Four Nations Tournament in England on Wednesday, narrowly falling 1-0 to Germany on a first-half penalty. The U.S. youth squad features three players from the Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy, including RSL midfielder Danilo Acosta. Also playing for the U.S. are Sebastian Saucedo – signed with Real Salt Lake but out on loan to Veracruz in Mexico – and Brooks Lennon – a product of the RSL-Arizona Academy who is signed with Liverpool.
Saucedo and Lennon both started in the first match of the tournament and the U.S. will play two more matches, facing the Netherlands on Friday and England on Monday.
