Waiting for the ‘Bus’ - JFF to take time over Reggae Girlz coaching role decision
Published:Monday | February 3, 2020 | 12:30 AMDaniel Wheeler/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) general secretary Dalton Wint says that a decision on the long-term future of head coach Hubert Busby Jr will be made after the completion of the Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualification tournament.
Jamaica’s senior women’s team was beaten 9-0 by two-time Olympic bronze medallist Canada in their second game of the Women’s Olympic qualifying championship in Edinburg, Texas, on Saturday. Canada and Paris Saint Germain striker Jordyn Huitema had a field day with the Jamaican defence, scoring five goals in the rout, which prevents the Reggae Girlz from advancing from Group B as they have no points from two games.
“One of the things that we have always done is to assess our coaches tournament by tournament, and the technical department will make the assessment and will make the call,” Wint told The Gleaner.
The 50-year-old was appointed to the position for the final round of Olympic qualifying after the resignation of Hue Menzies in December. Wint says that he cannot anticipate whether Busby will have an opportunity to guide the programme in the long term. While Busby’s future remains unsure, Wint said he is disappointed that the team will miss the Tokyo Olympics this July.
“’Obviously, our goal was to be a part of the Tokyo experience for the Girlz,” he said. “Unfortunately, they weren’t able to live up to expectations because we were expecting them to do much better than what we have done.”
SUPPORT NEEDED
Wint says that the way forward will be to continue playing competitive games this year, but the JFF will need more resources to not lose the momentum gained after the country’s campaign at last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
“One of the things that we need to do is to continue to practise and to play games, and for us to do that, we need a lot of support,” he said. “It’s a huge financial undertaking to have, playing the amount of games that we have. And so we have to find a way to finance this programme. So this is the opportunity to solicit support from corporate Jamaica and the Government to continue the support of our young ladies.”
It has been a period of upheaval for the Reggae Girlz since they advanced from the Caribbean qualifying round in October. After Menzies’ resignation because of a strained relationship with the JFF over owed funds, his assistant, Lorne Donaldson, left the programme as well in January, criticising the leadership of the JFF. But Wint believes that the departures of both men did not affect the team’s readiness.
“The programme would have been the same whether it be the prior coach,” Wint said. “That programme was written and presented to the JFF long before we had a departure. I don’t think it had a significant effect on these ladies.”
The Reggae Girlz will complete group play tomorrow against St Kitts and Nevis at 8:30 p.m. Mexico and Canada, who have already secured advancement to the semi-finals, will play each other for top spot in the earlier 6:30 p.m. kick-off.