Girlz look to maintain dominance over SA

THE Reggae Girlz will seek to sweep their two-match friendly international series when they face visitors South Africa in the second match at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at 7:30 p.m. today.

Led by a brace from captain Khadija Shaw, the Reggae Girlz had a commanding 3-0 win in the opening match last Friday

Head coach Hubert Busby said despite the quick turnaround, the team is ready for the second match.

“We watched South Africa (online) play England recently, and it was helpful for us in preparation. Overall, they are a well-coached team, and we made sure we were able to nullify some of their threats. Credit to the team for executing the plan. That one is done, and now we are on to the next match,” Busby said.

The Reggae Girlz will again rely on the likes of Shaw, defender Allyson Swaby, and forward Jody Brown to maintain their dominance over South Africa.

With these two international friendlies against South Africa, Busby said his aim is to continue to rise in the FIFA rankings ahead of next year. The Jamaican team is ranked at 42 while South Africa are at 50.

“The FIFA rankings sometimes are not really an indication of where everything is, but they are important when it comes down to seeding and doing some other things as well. This is especially true when it comes to Concacaf competitions and World Cup qualifiers. The ranking is also sometimes important for players to get the necessary points they need to get into the requisite leagues around the world,” the Reggae Girlz coach said.

“We therefore take every match seriously. We want to win. We are looking to put on the best performance possible, so another good win for us will be helpful heading into the new year,” he added.

Meanwhile, head coach of South Africa, Dr Desiree Ellis, said with very little time in between games, the team will make the necessary adjustments for the matchup.

“First of all, we need to retain possession more, and our movement also needs to be better, especially in the final third. We need to be very concentrated at the back. I think at times we did not move enough when we had the ball. Our strength is to keep the ball and then run behind and play the ball through, and hopefully, we can work on some of those things. We are here to test players and to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to play so that when we go back, we have a bigger core group of players,” Dr Ellis said.

“I think if you look at our last game against England, we made seven changes (against Jamaica) - seven other players brought in to replace the players that were not available,” she added.

South Africa will need better performances from top players Bongeka Gamede and Linda Motlhalo to seriously challenge Jamaica tonight.