Winfried Schäfer, Jamaica's head coach, said he will not take back Alvas Powell in the national team under his watch.

"No," the coach responded when asked whether he would take back the defender.

"For me, he is the past. My player is more important than him. These players fight two tournaments for Jamaica, this beautiful island. That is my team, my players and I want these players, not Alvas. He can go," Schäfer said on Wednesday.

Powell turned his back on his country, walking out of Jamaica's senior men's national football team in-tournament at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The defender packed his bags and left the team Wednesday morning ahead of the departure from Toronto to Baltimore.

"This is the last interview I make about Alvas, he can make what he wants. He don't want to play, not for me, Jamaica. Jamaica is important," Schäfer said.

"When he does not want the shirt of Jamaica or the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), I cannot help him," said Schäfer.

"He makes what he wants in the moment. For me, he is the past. I have to watch what we're doing now."

Muttering disapproval

Powell joined up with the Jamaica team in Los Angeles for the Gold Cup and sat out the team's first two matches.

On Tuesday, he came on as a second-half substitute in Jamaica's 1-0 win over El Salvador, which enabled them to top the group and move on to the quarter-finals, where they will meet Haiti tomorrow.

Since joining up with the Jamaica team, Powell had been muttering disapproval at not being a part of the starting line-up and threatened to walk out.

"I told the boy 'your time is coming, we need all players, we need Michael Hector, we need you, we need Dawkins (Simon), we need Ryan Thompson' and I give the players our team example."

Schäfer continued: "Demar Phillips play the first match in the Caribbean Cup, he go out for Kemar (Lawrence), he was not happy. He make very good training and I told him, "we need you", and in the final he came in and played well and he made a penalty. He was professional."

Schäfer said he had the same conversation with the 21-year-old Powell this time.

"I told him maybe, maybe in the midfield. We've only two midfielders like Austin and Watson. Now we need him he told me he'd don't want to play."

"You have no chance when you think about I, I, I. No, it's we that's important - we, the team, that's important," Schäfer emphasised.