The future is bright
JAMAICA Under-20 Women’s football programme has a promising future, despite disappointment at the CONCACAF Championship in Honduras, say members of the coaching staff.
The Jamaicans were eliminated at the group stage after underwhelming performances against Honduras and Canada.
Jamaica, who finished third in the group with four points, were wasteful in front of goal in a 2-2 result against Honduras before being clobbered 0-7 by Canada. A resounding 6-1 beating of Trinidad & Tobago in the last group game was not enough for the Young Girlz to progress.
Honduras also ended with four points, but joined group winners Canada (nine points) into the semi-finals thanks to superior goal difference to Jamaica.
“I expect, going into the next cycle of the U-20s, we will be better prepared and better organised, not just as staff, but for the players to have a foundation and a programme from which they are continually striving. These players should understand what it means to represent their country at this level and what is required to knock off some of the top teams in women’s football,” said assistant coach Hubert Busby.
The Bob Marley Foundation, guided by Jamaica women’s football ambassador Cedella Marley, provides the main financial support for the female programme.
Particularly because of lack of resources and player unavailability due to school commitment, the Reggae Girlz squad, though possessing a fair amount of talent, had limited time to prepare as a unit.
Ahead of the CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s tournament, Jamaica, under the supervision of head coach Hue Menzies, had a five-day training camp in Honduras.
Significantly, they did not have a single Friendly International as part of their preparation.
On the other hand, reports are that Canada, who went on to lose 0-1 to North American rivals United States in the final, spent a combined 100-odd days of preparation, while building team chemistry and fine-tuning tactics.
The Canadians had a number of practice games against international counterparts.
“It’s well overstated in terms of the lack of preparation for the group. But they came out and played with the spirit that we expect from a Jamaican side against our archrivals Trinidad, which goes to show we have something about us. Though, with that said, there is a huge gulf between Trinidad and Canada,” said Busby, the former Reggae Boyz goalkeeper.
“But it’s well documented in terms of what needs to be done. I want people to understand that I believe the [Jamaica Football] Federation, the Marley Foundation, the staff, the players, everybody is still unified to take the programme where it needs to be and that’s important to know. It’s important for the whole country to get behind the women’s football programme,” the assistant coach urged.
The outspoken Lorne Donaldson, also an assistant to Menzies, reiterated the need for improvement in the local infrastructure if Jamaica are to compete effectively against the front-runners in the region.
He noted that United States, Canada and Mexico – the three CONCACAF qualifiers to the 2016 Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea – are among the best in the world.
“If we want to be good we have to move on from this. CONCACAF is the toughest region worldwide in women’s football. And we are battling the best players in the world at times, so we have to improve what we are doing,” he said.
Donaldson, who was the man in charge as the Under-17 Reggae Girlz won the Caribbean Football Union title in November, said the Under-20 tournament was a learning experience for everyone.
“I’m not going to lament much more on this because I’ve said enough. It’s a learning curve for everybody, the coaching staff and everything. It was down to trial and error because we didn’t have a lot of time together. We didn’t have enough training sessions and the confidence just wasn’t there,” Donaldson said.