Difficult task

Local female coaches Charles Edwards and Kadeesh Fishley believe it will take a supreme effort for the Reggae Girlz to come away with a positive result when they play hosts Panama in their Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup first leg qualifier tomorrow.

The Girlz, who qualified for the second round of the FIFA Women’s World Cup recently, have been in turmoil since the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) decided not to renew the contract of World Cup coach Lorne Donaldson at the end of September.

The federation was then unable to secure any of the four coaches on their shortlist for the October window and elevated assistant coach Xavier Gilbert to the position as the interim head coach and he will have just one training session with a new squad before tomorrow’s game. The entire Women’s World Cup squad declined their invitation for Women’s Gold Cup qualifiers against Panama and Guatemala and the federation had to call up a second-string team, consisting of only six players with senior international caps.

Many-time women’s league winning coach Charles Edwards said it will be a very tough ask getting a favourable result with so many factors stacked against the team.

“Things have gone bad and they have called up a new set of girls, a lot of whom have not represented Jamaica (at senior level) before. They have not trained. They had no camps, nothing together. It is really a difficult ask going forward.

“I am hearing the (new) girls are not of bad quality. But Panama are going to be a stiff competition for us,” he said.

He pointed out that Panama had a solid World Cup campaign and that Jamaica had to fight hard to get the win over them at the tournament, so playing with a team with no chemistry or cohesion will tip things heavily in favour of the Central Americans.

“It is going to be an uphill task but I am keeping my fingers crossed that even if we do not do well against Panama, we can do well in the other game (against Guatemala) and put ourselves in a favourable position to advance to the next round,” Edwards said.

Royal Lakes coach Fishley said the under-20 players have played together in the past but they lack senior international experience and stand very little chance of coming away with something.

“It is going to be a very difficult game for us because this is essentially an under-20 team playing against a very experienced Panama team. This Panama team gave France a run at the World Cup, so I am not expecting us to get much from this game,” she declared.

Although Edwards thinks it would be best to employ a defensive approach, he said it will be up to Gilbert to decide the best approach for the game.

“All the cards are stacked against us. Hopefully, the coach really takes a form of defensive approach and work his way up from there. We will have to be a bit cautious. If the team is working well, they can just adjust and then go for it,” Edwards said.

Despite the odds against the team, Edwards insists they must remain positive.

“I always believe in being positive. No matter how things are stacked against you, I believe that the ball is round and if you can do your homework well, find the right approach, get into the game and fight your way through, you can find a positive result,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com