Fully focused ‘Bunny’
GRENOBLE, France — Reggae Girlz H ead C oach Hue Menzies says that Khadija “ Bunny ” Shaw’s signing came at an opportune time , as the striker needed to clear her head ahead of their historic bow at the Fifa Women’s World Cup here.
Menzies pointed out that since inking the two-year deal with French professional club Football Club des Girondinis de Bordeaux, Shaw has been in a more relaxed mood, which is critical to the team’s chances of progressing from the first round of the tournament.
And so it seemed as Shaw, 22, declined to comment on the deal with the club which plays in Ligue 1, the first division of French football, stating that she is instead focusing on their Group C opening game against Brazil at Stade des Alpes in Grenoble today.
“Obviously it is a historic moment for women’s football in Jamaica (as) she is probably the first Jamaican female footballer to sign with a top club, so we are pretty excited that she got that part done now and she can focus on the World Cup.
“She felt like she needed to sign early to get that over with, so her mood has changed because she got that off her shoulder now and she can really focus on the World Cup and worry about pushing us to the second round,” Menzies told the Jamaica Observer.
Menzies explained that while they would have assisted in Shaw’s development in paving the way for such an opportunity, the decision rested solely in the hands of the player, who recently completed a degree in communications at University of Tennessee.
“As the national coach you don’t influence where they want to go, you just try to create the opportunity for them and then they have to figure out what is best suited for them. But the opportunity we have created for her, hopefully she takes advantage of it,” Menzies noted.
He continued: “Bordeaux presented not only financial reasons, but also an opportunity to build around her. So, instead of going to a club that has already established a lot of superstars, she wanted to be one of the focal point in the group; and because it’s so early in her career she wanted to play a lot — so that was important to her.
“If they (Bordeaux) build around her they should be able to do well because she is a tough kid. She can handle the pressure and she is a different level player; you can’t teach what she has. She excelled at every level she plays and she plays against some of the top players in the world and she is scoring goals against them — so we do think that she will be fine.
With the opening game now upon them, Menzies and his team continued to fine-tune with their penultimate session at Complexe Sportiff Vieux Melchi in Sassenage on Frday.
“The session was good… it was productive as we focused on our line of defending, and that was important for us to focus on, and then we did some shadow playing. So we just kind of break down how Brazil plays, and we are going to do some film and go over it.
“But they are pretty lively as usual… they (players) are in good spirits even tonight, and you can hear them in good spirits because they got the chef here so that enlightened them a bit more,” Menzies ended.
Following their opener against Brazil, the 53rd-ranked Jamaicans, the first Caribbean team to qualify for the World Cup, will then tackle Australia and Italy in Group C on June 14 and 18, respectively.
After the group stages, the top two teams will automatically progress to the June 23-25 Round of 16 where they will be joined by the four best third-placed teams. From there, teams will then progress to the June 27-29 quarter-finals to battle for semi-final berths, then the final.