Donaldson wants more matches to fix Girlz’s attack

Coach Lorne Donaldson wants the Reggae Girlz to be more active at the international level to sort out their attacking difficulties, again highlighted in their 2-0 defeat by Canada at the National Stadium on Friday.

Donaldson, in the press conference after the match, asserted that the Reggae Girlz are still working out the kinks in their attacks, although they have some reassurances in their defensive abilities, which helped them at the recent Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

He argued that the Canadian players that took the field for the encounter had vast international experience over his charges, who he believes will get better in attack with the more quality opponents they face.

“We have to play a lot of games. Canada, this team, has played, maybe, more than 100 games together. We are a team coming together and, still, we are searching for some combinations that can work, so scoring goals is difficult.

“We haven’t played any slouch. We have to get games so we can start building. It doesn’t come easy when you play teams like Canada, France and Brazil and those teams. Hopefully, we can find a way to get through the situation and start scoring goals,” Donaldson said.

Jamaica faced France and Brazil in the preliminary stages of the Women’s World Cup but failed to score against both as those matches ended 0-0. The Reggae Girlz’s only goal at the tournament was against Panama, who they beat 1-0.

The five points earned in the group stage secured the Reggae Girlz’s place in the round of 16 where they succumbed to Colombia 1-0.

According to Canada’s coach, Beverly Priestman, her side used a system that opened the Jamaicans to attack, which was implemented perfectly by her players and nullified Jamaica’s defensive capabilities.

Priestman is adamant that the performance was a testament to their determination to correct their early demise at the Women’s World Cup. Canada exited the World Cup at the group stage.

“Jamaica showed what we expected, which is they can break in transition and from direct play, they have the threats. But, for us, we focused on playing with intensity, moving the ball quickly. And, when we did that, that’s where we started to pick them.

“We wanted to get goals and we got some luxury of some (quality) centre backs, probably two or three that we can utilise, and I felt we struggled in the World Cup to break the block. So I wanted to get numbers higher and so, in a very tight turnaround, I am super proud of the players that have taken all of the information, applied themselves, worked hard off the pitch, and I thought they did a good job,” Priestman said.

On Friday, against Canada, chances for the Jamaicans were scarce. Donaldson contends that two opportunities created during the early stages of the encounter, when they had the upper hand, could have changed their fortunes had they converted.

“Well, the first 10 to 15 minutes, we had two chances that we should have done better with. Canada had one and they finished it. It could have been a bit different. Chasing will be difficult at times when you play good teams.

“Canada are the defending champions. I think we forgot that. So, they scoring and we chasing them is going to be a difficult task. We can’t afford to have that. It would have been maybe the same if we scored first, as [with] games like this, usually who score first will get a (positive) result,” Donaldson said.

job.nelson@gleanerjm.com