Girlz on the brink of something special

Coming into the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson said entering the last group game with a chance of progressing to the second round was their greatest wish and that is exactly the case ahead of tomorrow’s do-or-die Group H clash against Brazil. Kick-off time is 5 a.m. (Jamaica time) and the Girlz need just a draw to advance to the second round.

Donaldson insists their belief as a team is strong and that the team is much better than it was four years ago, and as a result, they are very optimistic of getting the result they need to move on to the next stage of the competition for the first time in the nation’s history.

“Having the first World Cup win is great. But records are made to be broken, and in the future someone will come and clean this record up. So it is good for the country, but I do not rest my beliefs in that kind of stuff. But it’s good for the players and the country to get that done.

“The last World Cup, we were young, we were naive. But now we have a lot more belief and are a better team.

“We have a lot more belief that we could go further and we just asked for one thing. To give us a chance on the last day. That was our wish,” he said.

France lead the group on goal difference ahead of the Reggae Girlz, with both tied on four points. Brazil are on three, and Panama are out of contention at the foot of the table without a point.

Confident and ready

With their destiny in their hands and with top striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw back after missing the previous game on a red card, Donaldson said they are confident and prepared to get something from the game.

“She (Shaw) just wants to play. We have to be ready to get after Brazil, because Brazil are going to get after us. They have to win so they are going to throw everything at us, and we have to make sure, as a collective unit, defensively we are good.

“But we have to try and get something (offensively), so we can’t just sit back and say, okay. We have to try to get something on their goal, go after their goal and do something in that sense. We can’t just say OK, let’s defend all the way. We have to be playing both ways,” he reasoned.

Nevertheless, he expects the Brazilians to throw everything at them in search of victory, and he believes surviving the first 15 minutes will be crucial.

“I expect attacks in waves. All their skilful players coming out. The first 15 minutes, they will come at us like a bunch of wild hyenas coming out and getting after their prey. So we have to be ready to fight fire with fire,” he said.

He added that he was impressed by the Jamaican presence in the stands for the Panama game, which was great motivation for the team, and he is hoping for similar support for their most important game of the tournament at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

“There were a lot of Jamaican fans that we did not know were living in Perth, but they showed up, and they are some of the noisiest fans in the world. They love their colours.

“It was great to see them and the players embraced it, and were surprised to see so many Jamaican fans, as were the coaches and staff. I don’t know if they are going to come down to the Brazil game. Hopefully, some will find their way into Melbourne and keep the fire burning,” he added.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com