The Saint Lucia Football Association has announced that two Saint Lucia international players will be travelling to Cumbria in North West England, to participate in a training programme with Carlisle United Football Club in League One. The two are Footballer of the Year Jamil Joseph and Eden Charles.
Carlisle manager Greg Abbott visited Saint Lucia last June to work with the men's national team in advance of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Subsequent to that visit, Carlisle agreed to take four Saint Lucian players on trial each year, in exchange for the right of first refusal for the players' professional rights.
Eden is an 18-year-old forward. The Northern United teenager played five games for Saint Lucia in 2011, one in FIFA World Cup qualifying and three in Olympic qualifying. He appeared as a substituate in a friendly against Barbados and in a World Cup Qualifier against Aruba.
Jamil, meanwhile, has seven full international caps and two caps in the under-23 Olympic qualifying tournament. Aged 21, the Roots Alley Baller midfielder has three international goals; and although all three came in a single game, they could not have been much more crucial.
Jamil scored three of the four goals for the home team in a World Cup Qualifier against Aruba, who had been ahead 4-2 from the away leg. A 4-2 score for Saint Lucia set up a penalty shootout that sent the home team through to the first round.
Jamil played against St Kitts-Nevis and Canada in the first round, missing both games against Puerto Rico. He also made the team for two under-23 matches in 2011. Most recently, he played in England for Thackley.
Both young men will hope to make the Carlisle team. The Cumbrians play in front of 18,000 fans at Brunton Park in what is effectively England's Division Three. Carlisle is the smallest location, by population, to have had a resident top flight English football club since 1906.
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