Reggae Girlz hunt second win against St Lucia
PARAMARIBO, Suriname — Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Girlz will hunt a back-to-back victories in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World Cup Qualifiers when the face St Lucia at the Dr IR Franklin Essed Stadium today.
The Girlz are currently in second in Group Four on three points, same as hosts Suriname, who hold a superior goal difference following their 5-0 thrashing of St Lucia on Wednesday. Jamaica defeated Barbados 2-1 Wednesday.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 3:30 pm (1:30 pm Jamaica time), while Suriname and Barbados will contest the other game in the group double-header at 6:00 pm (4:00 pm Jamaica time).
Head coach Lorne Donaldson, in a team meeting late yesterday evening, urged the Girlz to remain focused on the task at hand and not to be daunted by the scoreline of the previous game. After watching their opponents in first-half action on Wednesday, the Jamaicans are upbeat as they sense a positive result.
“We are going to draw a higher line on them, press, and try to just keep sustained pressure on them. The chances will come and our job is to put it in the back of the net, so we are expecting a good performance from the Girlz,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
The young Reggae Girlz camp was taken through a light training session late yesterday morning to allow recovery from their hard-fought 2-1 win over Barbados in the opening encounter.
And, with the Jamaicans being virtual favourites to top the group, Donaldson stressed the objective of sticking to their tactical game to outplay opponents if they are to advance to the second phase of the tournament.
“The players should be ready. We didn’t work that hard today (yesterday.) It was a two-phase recovery for the girls: we did a little stretching with one group and went through passing, keeping possession, changing the point of attack and a little transition work.
“Then we got them together and we did some tactical work, so that everyone knows and sticks to their role. We want them to get used to the idea of knowing where to go and what to do when the ball is in certain areas,” he underscored.
The Jamaicans are set to stick with their customary 4-3-3 formation with just one change to be made in the attack.
“We are going to trust the system that we are playing and the players that we have can play within that formation and win us games. So we will tweak players and ask them to play different positions, but we will do that while sticking to the formation that we know,” Donaldson said.
“So the group is connected and the formation we play we are trying to get them to play out of that formation in a functional tactical way,” he added.
Oneilia Yearde will once again start in goal. Captain Rachel Walters, Lyana Steele, Peta-Gay Dixon and Shanhaine Nelson will hold the defensive line, while Emily Caza, Tarania Clarke and Sherice Clarke will marshal the midfield positions. Monique Perrier will come in to fill the centre forward position, joining Jody Brown and Rena Gordon up front.