Joshua Grant: Teen Goalkeeper Receives First Jamaica Call-Up

Joshua Grant, the teenage goalkeeper making waves with FC Naples, has been handed his first senior Jamaica call-up and a fast track to the international spotlight at the Unity Cup in London.

The 18-year-old has been named in an experimental Reggae Boyz squad that will open the four-team tournament against India, with Nigeria and Zimbabwe also in the field. For a player who only just posted his first professional shutout, the rise has been sharp.

Grant comes into camp on the back of a composed display in USL League One this past Saturday, when he helped Naples edge Westchester SC 1-0 at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex. He needed only two saves to lock down the clean sheet, but both carried weight for a young goalkeeper still staking his claim behind established starter Lalo Delgado.

Opportunities have been limited so far this season — just two league appearances — yet the numbers hint at why Jamaica has moved early. Grant has posted a -0.32 Goals Prevented mark, a sign he’s already saving more than he’s expected to concede. In May, he added another line to his growing résumé, stepping up in the Prinx Tires USL Cup against Sporting Club Jacksonville. With the tie pushed to penalties, Grant produced the decisive stop in the fourth round to send Naples through.

Now the stakes change. Instead of USL forwards and regional cup nights, it will be national anthems, neutral venues, and the pressure of representing a country with a proud goalkeeping lineage. Grant is already a leader at youth level, captaining Jamaica’s Under-20 side, but this is a different stage.

“It’s a huge deal,” he said of the call-up. “My senior national team, playing with guys who are way older than me and captaining my under-20 team. The momentum is great. I love it here in Naples, and I love my country. Both of them, it’s an amazing feeling.”

He won’t be the only fresh face. The squad also includes another first-timer in Nicholas Simmonds, a former Richmond Kickers Academy standout now with FC Dallas. Simmonds’ inclusion underlines the Jamaica Football Federation’s continued push to tap into its diaspora talent, testing young players in competitive but controlled environments like the Unity Cup.

For Grant, London offers more than just a debut cap. It is a chance to prove that the poise he has shown in Naples — in tight league games, in penalty shootouts, in the grind of a long season as a backup fighting for minutes — can translate to the highest level his country can offer.

The next save he makes might just change the trajectory of his career.