Tyreek Magee: Young, gifted and brash
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — It is every young footballer’s dream to one day represent his senior national team.
Tyreek Magee is no different.
In fact, this confident 19-year-old is not even surprised at his rapid ascension to the senior ranks so soon after leaving high school, after and only one full season at the National Premier League level.
He’s already been capped twice and is enjoying every moment of his time at the senior level thus far.
“Personally, everybody has welcomed me in the right way, I think, so there are not many problems with me settling in and starting to do my job — so everything is good so far,” Magee, the former Jamaica College Manning Cup standout, told the Jamaica Observer.
He made his debut as a late substitute against the United States in a friendly international in Washington, DC, in early June, and was an even more surprising substitution in the match against Curacao during the final group game in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
But still, the 19-year-old remains unperturbed by the minutes he has been receiving so far.
“Well no, I’m not really surprised because I was always expecting good things and I have been working hard over the years, so I’m just expecting great things to happen in the future,” he said with the confidence of a man who expects to be a star player in short order.
Magee caught the eye on debut when he was introduced in the second half and, alongside Andre Lewis and Alex Marshall, gave a decent rendition as the Reggae Boyz held their composure and spread the ball around a chasing US aggregation to secure a 1-0 win — only their second on US soil, and third overall.
But against Curacao it was a different scenario, as the Jamaicans were under attack, being forced to defend a one-goal lead, and so he had to be chasing and closing down spaces on the defensive end.
“Against the US… I was just like, keeping the fluidity going of how the whole team was playing. I got a lot of touches but the difference with the Curacao game was that there was a lot of pressure, so when I came in it was mostly defending for me so I didn’t really get to show as much. I was really like, helping out my team defending.”
Head Coach Theodore Whitmore is known for giving young players a chance, having injected Alvas Powell and Andre Lewis in his squad during the Brazil World Cup qualifying campaign, and in Magee, he sees a highly technical player who needs time to make the transition.
“Magee is a different kind of player in terms of his whole technical ability and his attitude towards training. I think he has a far way to go in helping this team, so he is here and he is contributing. It is going to take some time for him to make the transition, but he is not far off.
“So far, I’m pleased with what I’m seeing and I’ve had one-on-one chats with him and I think he understands. So he has to wait on his turn and make the best of it when it comes,” Whitmore suggested.
Magee, the three-time Manning Cup and Olivier Shield winner, underlines the attributes he brings to the team
“My strength definitely is creating chances and helping the team to move out from the back, going into the attack and scoring goals,” he admitted.
And be it a newcomer’s naivete, cockiness, or share confidence, Magee believes that this Reggae Boyz unit possesses the tools and characteristics to go all the way.
“Most definitely,” he said. “If that wasn’t a thought then we wouldn’t deserve to be here. But what I think should happen here now is that everyone should remain focused and just take it one step at a time, as there is enough quality here to take us to the final and even beyond — so I just think the focus should continue and everything would fall in place.
“We had a team meeting yesterday (Thursday) and the coach told us about the difficulty we (Jamaica) have had beating them, so I would definitely like to be a part of a group to reverse that trend — and we believe it will happen on Sunday.”
— Ian Burnett
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