Reggae Girlz to get US camp
President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Michael Ricketts told STAR Sports that there are plans to secure a training camp for the national senior women’s team ahead of the CONCACAF World Cup qualification final stage, which takes place next month.
Ricketts, however, noted that a location will be determined following today’s draw for the competition.
Jamaica easily qualified for the CONCACAF World Cup Qualification final stage after victories against Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba in the Caribbean stage, which they hosted from August 25 - September 2.
“We want to go in early to the USA (United States of America) and have a training camp at least two weeks before the CONCACAF final stage. We might not have everybody as some of the players are in universities,” Ricketts said yesterday.
“We are awaiting the draw because we don’t know whether the location will be in North California or Texas. There are definitely plans for a camp. When we know the location, we will sit down with the women’s staff and have a discussion,” he added.
Ricketts is also hoping that Jamaica is drawn in Group A alongside host USA. Canada is the seeded team in Group B.
“We are hoping to be in the USA’s group as we could be competitive against them and beat the two other teams. The girls are determined to do well, so we are looking for a good draw,” the president added. Eight teams will play in the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, which will be held from October 417 in the United States. They will be drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group will advance to the knockout stage, where the winners of the semi-finals and the third place play-off will qualify for the World Cup.
The losers of the third-place play-off will enter the CONCACAF – CONMEBOL play-off for another spot.
The eight teams are USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.