FORMER national senior women’s football team Head Coach Charles Edwards is backing the Reggae Girlz to beat Colombia in their Fifa Women’s World Cup round of 16 game on Tuesday morning.

The Reggae Girlz, who finished as runners-up in Group F on Wednesday, meet Colombia — who won Group H — in Melbourne, Australia, at 3:00 am Jamaica time.

But a cause for concern among some analysts is the lack of goals scored by the team. The Reggae Girlz have scored only two goals in six World Cup matches since their debut at the tournament in France in 2019.

The first was four years ago, while the other came this summer with their first win at the tournament when they got by Panama 1-0.

But Edwards said the other results this summer — 0-0 scorelines versus France and Brazil — were due to adjustments made by Head Coach Lorne Donaldson based on the opponents. With those teams ranked fifth and eighth in the world, respectively, Edwards said it only made sense for Jamaica to take a more cautious and defensive approach against them.

“The level of opposition is what caused the lack of goals, especially against France and Brazil,” Edwards said. “Against Panama we opened up and went forward. They’re a team which we have beaten over and over and over, so obviously the coach changed the tactical play against them. Where France and Brazil are concerned, he was mindful of goals being scored on us. If you recall, prior to going to the World Cup we conceded 22 goals in all our build-up games. Something had to be done, and I think he employed the 4-5-1 formation — it said 4-1-4-1 [on the television coverage] but it’s really a 4-5-1 formation, hence why our midfield sat in front of our defensive line to protect — and it did work. So what would have happened in a situation like that is, there would’ve been a lack of goal opportunities. But I think the emphasis was to get five points and hopefully that would’ve carried us through, which it did. Against France and Brazil the ploy would’ve been not to lose, then pick up the three points from Panama.”

Edwards says this meant the ball was fed to one or two players, making it difficult for them as they were outnumbered and outmanoeuvred from getting near the goal.

A look at statistics may support Edwards’ point. In the 2019 campaign, when Donaldson was the assistant coach to Hue Menzies, Jamaica played a more open style of football in their three games there. The Reggae Girlz had 14 shots, with three on target against Brazil. They lost that game 0-3.

Their next game was against Italy, during which Jamaica had nine shots with one on target. They lost 0-5 to the Italians. Their final game at that tournament was against Australia. Of their 10 shots, three were on target but the match ended 4-1 in favour of Australia.

Against France this summer Jamaica had only six shots, with two on target. In their win over Panama they registered 20, with four on target, one being a headed goal by defender Allyson Swaby off a corner kick. Against Brazil this time they had three total shots with none on target.

But Edwards says the elimination round could force a change of style from Donaldson since a draw would only yield a penalty shoot-out to decide who advances.

“Will he continue with a 4-1-4-1 formation and hope we can shut them down and go to penalties to win the game? That’s one ploy he could use,” he said. “I don’t think I would do that. I would protect the defensive line but provide a few more players, going forward, to create a better thrust towards goal. If opportunities present themselves, we want numbers there to score.”

Analysts and fans have been critical of Captain Khadija Shaw’s performances so far. Shaw, the country’s all-time top goalscorer — whether man or woman — with 40 goals, had five total shots in her two games, against France and Brazil. None of them were on target.

But Edwards says her performances do not concern him as she was targeted by her opponents.

“The system that we played isolated her up front,” he said. “Her job, maybe, was just to hold up the ball and look for an opportunity to get a goal. Every time she got the ball she was outnumbered by three or four players around her so it was difficult for her to spark — and I can understand that situation.

“We had no thrust up there, and we can’t judge them for that. If we change now to, let’s say a 4-4-2 and we have a diamond with two up front and one coming from behind, like [midfielder] Drew Spence, I think you’ll see the best of Shaw or Jody Brown coming out of the box and start performing.”

Edwards says he believes Jamaica can win as long as the team is over the celebrations of advancing to this stage. He describes Donaldson as a “top-class coach” and says he is someone who is focused and will look at the strengths and weaknesses of Colombia to find a plan.

In spite of how well Jamaica has defended though, being one of only three teams in the group stage not to have conceded a goal [the others being Japan and Sweden], Donaldson, like Edwards, is aware of the need for goals.

“Some might say it’s good, some people think it’s ugly, but it’s football,” he said in an interview with FIFA TV on Friday. “We’ve got into a situation now where you have to score goals. We have to figure out a way to turn our defending into scoring goals. It’s good to have a clean slate most of the time but we have to take our chances now.

“Our tactics for all three teams were different so we have to change it. And if we’re spot on and we get it right, then we can come out on a positive note.”