Busby wants improvement

REGGAE GIRLZ head coach Hubert Busby Jr expects improvement across the board as the Reggae Girlz face Brazil today in a second friendly at the Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador. Game time is 5:00 p.m.

The Girlz were blanked 4-0 in their first meeting on Saturday and Busby said he expects a much-improved performance from his team this time around.

“Heading into the game, we’re looking to improve on all aspects of the game, and more importantly not just the result, which is the most important thing, but really look to improve our overall team performance.”

The fixture was the first time since September last year that the full contingent of players was available for selection.

Busby said the absence of international fixtures and the number of players now out of season took a toll on the team’s chemistry on Saturday.

He hopes with more action, the players will be able to build on their relationships as teammates.

“I think our defensive structure in terms of our communication and organisation will look to improve because of players not playing with each other on a regular basis,” he said.

“So those relationships and understandings naturally diminished, but overall, the players have been very open-minded and showed a good attitude in terms of understanding the areas in which we didn’t really show as much as we wanted.”

Focus on recovery

According to the head coach, the focus has been on ensuring the players recovered from the match on Saturday.

He gave credit to the work of the technical staff in ensuring the players have recovered from their first outing and are ready to take to the field today.

“I think the first thing that we needed to look at is how the players recovered. It’s been, in some cases, a few weeks since some of these players have played in a competitive match so credit to the performance coach, credit to the medical staff for getting the players back functioning, which allowed us to do a good session and look to prepare for Brazil.”

The team will also assess the match fitness of Jody Brown and Allyson Swaby, who were absent on Saturday.

Busby said the players’ availability will be a game-time decision.