All set for pre-Gold Cup camp in Austria
Published:Tuesday | June 6, 2023 | 12:36 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JPL), Michael Ricketts, says all is set for a pre-Gold Cup camp for the Reggae Boyz in Austria but final preparations for the Reggae Girlz’s pre-World Cup camps are “not 100 per cent confirmed” .
The Reggae Boyz will play in this summer’s Gold Cup tournament in the United States from June 24 to July 16 and will stage a 10-day camp in Austria, starting June 11.
The Girlz who will compete in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20, will be holding camps at home, in Florida and Amsterdam before departing for Australia.
Ricketts told The Gleaner Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson was still contemplating if he should play a final warm-up game at home or just focus fully on camping.
“With the Girlz it (camp) is not 100 per cent confirmed. We had an extensive meeting last Thursday with Sports Minister (Olivia) Grange and her team and with the Marley Foundation head Cedella Marley and her team.
“We are looking to have the Girlz here (Jamaica) but the coach is not sure whether or not he wants to play a game or just have a camp.
“We will make a determination after having a discussions with the coach and his team as to exactly what he wants and, of course, we will try as best as we can to give the coach what he wants. So we will talk again and make a determination but they will definitely be here before they go to Amsterdam,” Ricketts said.
For the Boyz all is in place for them to head to Austria this weekend for their pre-Gold Cup camp and friendly games against Qatar and Jordan.
Team can go all the way
He also believes that coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has been doing an excellent job getting the team ready for the tournament, so much so that he thinks they can go all the way.
“The Boyz will head to Austria, and we have two games there. I will have another discussion with the coach early next week as this is a part of the Gold Cup preparation,” he commented.
The team will travel from Austria to the Gold Cup and the aim is to go one better than their second-place finishes in 2015 and 2017.
“We get there (US) on June 21 and we are hoping to do well. We want to go further than just get into the final and I think the coach has done a really decent job with regard to the preparation, both mentally and physically, and we want to ensure that our team executes on the day and gets some good result,” he stated.