Rangers ace explains reasons for surprising international omission
Rangers had expected to lose striker Kemar Roofe to Jamaica for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers but the 29-year-old wasn’t selected.
Roofe played his first minutes for the Light Blues in the Scottish Cup demolition of League Two Stirling Albion on Friday (21 January) having been out injured for six weeks.
His previous appearance came in the Europa League against Lyon and he was expected to be called up for the Jamaica squad but he pulled out through injury.
Roofe took to his Instagram page to explain how the decision came to be after conversations between him and Jamaica manager Paul Hall.
“After speaking with Coach Paul over the last few weeks regarding my fitness and availability for the upcoming fixtures for Jamace, we decided that it would be best for me to miss out so that I can attend several important appointments to continue my recovery to get back to 100% fitness,” Roofe said.
Should he be playing?
If the purpose behind not going on international duty was to recover from his injury, why was he playing against Stirling?
You can’t imagine Hall is particularly pleased to see him on the pitch again in a competitive environment before Jamaica have played any of their planned World Cup qualifiers.
The battle between club and international football has gone on for some time and it isn’t unusual to see players withdraw from squads through injury or illness.
And in some cases, they are often into their club team’s squad for the next game back after an international break.
The difference here is that there is no break with only Asia and the Americas playing in the coming days.
If Roofe is fit, as he seems to be given the 20 minutes he played in Rangers’ last game, then he should have made himself available for selection.
If he is still in recovery, then he shouldn’t be playing. It doesn’t look great from whatever angle you look at it.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has been gushing over this Rangers debutant who “lit up the pitch”.