Holness captained the 2011 U-17 World Cup team and was a vice captain of the 2013 U-20 team that missed the World Cup.
Last week though, Holness received a phone call from Winfried Schafer — the head coach of the Jamaican national team. He wanted Holness to travel to Toronto with the team when they took on Canada Tuesday.
“Actually, to be honest with you, when the coach called me I was just completely blown back,” Holness said. “I was blown away. I actually thought it was a prank call at first. So I said to myself, ‘Wait, no, this isn’t the head coach of the national team.’ And he was like, ‘Yes, Omar. This is Winfried Schafer, this is the coach.’”
What Holness thought was a joke quickly became one of the biggest moments of his soccer career.
“I didn’t really have any expectations really of getting in the game,” he said. “I mean, I was ready though, I was really prepared to get in and help the team as much as I could. But when the coach called on me to go warm up, I said to myself, ‘Yes... this is it. This is it.’”
While Holness played just 11 minutes toward the end of Jamaica’s 3-1 loss to Canada, he said he gained a lot from the opportunity and he is determined to bring that back to Chapel Hill to help his teammates this season.
“You’re playing with pro players, professional players,” he said. “The level of play and the pace of the game is intense. It was really fast, so I definitely take from that. I’ll relay it on to my fellow teammates.
“(My) experience at that level, I can definitely relate on to my fellow teammates. The level of confidence I’ve gained from this experience ... just the growth process.”
