Reggae Girlz growing despite failures – Gilbert
Published:Thursday | February 29, 2024 | 12:09 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
DESPITE LOSING their second game on the trot to hosts Chile on the South American continent, Xavier Gilbert, interim head coach of Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz, says he is seeing improvement from his team.
Gilbert explained that those improvements were down to the team having more training sessions heading into the second game compared to their opening assignment last Friday.
Jamaica lost that opening game 5-0 before a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday.
“I think the second game was much better than the first one as we applied ourselves better. It was having more training sessions before the second game as in the first game we only had a one-hour session prior to that game, and it was difficult to sort some things out,” said Gilbert.
The Reggae Girlz, who are ranked 51st in the world, had to engage in the two friendly internationals against the number 37th-ranked Chile without players that participated at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as they expressed their unavailability.
34th-minute goal
The Reggae Girlz were clipped 1-0 on Tuesday night, courtesy of a Yessinia Lopez strike in the 34th minute, however, according to Gilbert, the team will only get better facing competitive opposition like Chile.
“All in all, I think it was good as some young players got exposure and they acquitted themselves well. I believe we were unlucky to not have gotten something out of the game as we created some opportunities and could have scored, but such is the nature of the game. We will continue to build, and with opposition like these, we will get better, and that’s what we want.”
Gilbert suggested that the trip gave him and his coaching staff the opportunity to look at more players, which helps them to broaden their selection pool with two major assignments, the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the Concacaf Nation’s League, fast approaching.
“Looking at the overall trip, both games served us well as some players made debuts, and it augurs well for the pool. Other players picked up injuries leading into the second game as I made six changes to the starting 11 from the first game. They performed well and, hopefully, we can occupy the FIFA windows that are available and look at as many players in these windows heading into World Cup qualifiers and the CONCACAF Nation’s League.”