Jamaica boss Paul Hall has revealed he passed on calling up Kemar Roofe for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers at the Rangers striker's insistence.
Ibrox fans were worried they could lose their frontman, who returned from injury with a sub appearance against Stirling Albion in the Scottish Cup on Friday night.
But the Reggae Boyz 23-man select published on Sunday night excluded Roofe in favour of other attackers such as West Ham's Michail Antonio, Andre Gray of Queens Park Rangers and Fulham's Bobby Reid, plus other North America-based frontmen.
That comes after Roofe told Hall he wanted to stay in Glasgow to work on fully recovering from his recent injury.
In November Roofe was taken off injured in Jamaica's clash with El Salvador.
And that will still have been fresh in his mind as he's available to be selected by Gio van Bronckhorst for upcoming games against Livingston, Ross County and Celtic.
Hall told Record Sport : "Kemar would have been one of the first names on my list.
"However, Kemar had indicated that he needs to to fully recover from his last injury. Hence his absence from the squad."
The Jamaica announcement came just hours before Joe Aribo and Nigeria were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations.
He, too, will be available for selection soon as the Super Eagles' campaign ends at the last 16 stage - however Alfredo Morelos is set to join up with Colombia.
