Reggae Girlz not in ‘show-up business’
Donaldson says experience, quality should make Jamaica better at 2023 Women’s World Cup
THE REGGAE Girlz are not in the business of just ‘showing up’. That’s the word from Lorne Donaldson, head coach of the senior Jamaica national women’s football team, as he looked ahead to their participation at the Women’s World Cup 2023.
The Jamaicans made their debut appearance at FIFA’S quadrennial showcase in France several years back, and while he remains non-committal, Donaldson expects an improved showing in the Australia-new Zealand edition next year.
“We’re for sure going to be a better team. The last team was the youngest team in the World Cup and the sixth most-watched team,” the Reggae Girlz head coach assessed.
If you’re going off pure statistics, one gets the impression Jamaica should top their 2019 showing of three groupstage losses – 0-3 vs Brazil, 0-5 vs Italy, and 1-4 against Australia.
However, the Jamaica team has improved in stature and experience, with more players who have a career in professional leagues in Europe and the United States. This has boosted Donaldson’s outlook.
“They just don’t want to show up, and that’s what we’re trying to get out of: the show-up business,” he stated. “We want to go there and play football. We have some quality. We’re looking to add to the quality we have and take the best team we can take.”
Headlining that quality is team captain and striker Khadija Shaw, their goalscoring ace who was named as the British Women’s Super League Player of the Month in October, along with others such as Drew Spence and Paige Bailey-gayle.
Then there is also former captain and central defender Konya Plummer, who returns after childbirth, and the skilful Jody Brown, who has been Reggae Girl through all her career in the national under-15, under-17, and under-20 teams before making her World Cup appearance at age 17. She is now playing US collegiate football.
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Brazil return as a contenders for the Girlz in group- stage competition, plus France, against whom they will kick off on July 23 in their Sydney 2023 opener. The other competitor could likely be Paraguay, against whom the Reggae Girlz squared a twomatch home friendly series with 1-0 and 2-1 results just over a week ago. The Paraguayans will tackle Chinese Taipei in a continental play-off next February, with the winner advancing to the World Cup.
In the meantime, Donaldson hopes the team continues to get quality matches in its build-up.
“To play teams like these (Paraguay) and play teams that are better,” the coach said of their desired fine-tuning. “In every window, we have to do something. We want by next February we can narrow down our squad to 30.
“It’s in the planning. We will get some (games). I don’t know how many we’re going to get. I think the federation (Jamaica Football Federation) is going to support it,” Donaldson continued as he revisited their hopes of getting beyond the group stage and into the knockouts at the Australia-new Zealand Women’s World Cup.
“I’d say to the Girlz it’s not impossible because we’ve got resources that weren’t there before,” he said. “I would’ve said four years ago for the first one (qualification) that was the major thing for their success, they wanted to prove everybody wrong.
“The last team was excited to be there,” Donaldson noted. “This team is excited to be there, but they know what’s ahead.”