Sheffield Wednesday favourite attacking history after phone call with familiar face

One of Sheffield Wednesday’s international duty cohort has detailed some lofty ambitions with his nation as his side look to press the accelerator under new management. Di’Shon Bernard is hoping to add to his caps for Jamaica this week, who have recently appointed ex-England boss Steve McClaren - somebody the Owls defender has worked with before in their chared time at Manchester United.

With Lowe having been called up to the squad late following injury to Aston Villa attacker Leon Bailey, the duo will take on their Cuban counterparts in Kingston in the early hours of Saturday morning before making the more challenging trip to Honduras for a clash played in the early hours of Wednesday.

London-born Bernard has long since spoken about his pride in representing Jamaica, for whom he qualifies through family. The Caribbean nation has only once qualified for the World Cup in 1998 and while this international break is determined for Nations League matches, he believes a good camp and performances under McClaren can help them build towards that ultimate goal.

“I had Steve when he first joined with Erik and I was training with quite a lot a bit until I got injured,” Bernard told The Star. “He's a good character round the building and a good coach, everyone knows what a good coach he is. I've had a conversation with him already and we've got a good quality players. We've actually got a lot more players who can come and play for us, we just need their passports sorted. Everybody's main goal is to get into the World Cup and the manager knows that. We're all excited for the journey, hopefully this should be a good camp, we get good wins and performance-wise we're better. Steve is someone that can help us with that.”

Bernard revealed that McClaren has called him shortly after taking the job, which was reportedly also applied for by ex-Owls boss Steve Bruce, since appointed at League One Blackpool. Trips on international duty are always ones the Wednesday man looks forward to. With the big goal on the horizon, the hard work starts now.

“He gave me belief,” he said. “He's never going to guarantee anybody any minutes but he told me he wants everybody to work hard and fight for their place. It's going to be hard, we'll have players coming in but all I want to be is get into that starting 11 and be a regular for them. I'm on the younger side, there are lots in there that are more experienced, but we all gel really well together. The spirit off the pitch is one of the best I've seen, everyone gets on well with everyone. I'm excited to get back out there.

“It's what every player dreams of (playing at a World Cup) and I honestly do think this is our best opportunity to get to the World Cup with the players we have. Hopefully we all lock in and get there. I'm not going to say we're going to win it, but you never know!”