Los Perfectos beginning preparations for JWPL semis
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Having confirmed their spot in the Jamaica Women’s Premier League (JWPL) semi-finals, Los Perfectos head coach Ricardo Martin says his charges are preparing to go one step further than they did last season.
Los Perfectos booked their spot in the final four with an exciting 5-4 win over Real MoBay on Saturday in Zone B action.
In what was expected to be a comfortable win for the Manchester-based club, they found themselves under pressure from a well-organised Real MoBay team.
Martin said despite the unexpected challenge, he was always confident his players would pull off the win needed to get past Real MoBay.
“Actually, I wasn't stressing,” Martin said after the match. “I know what my girls can do, so I wasn't worried.”
One of the leading ladies in Los Perfectos’ win was veteran attacker Venicia Reid, who bagged a brace to help her team capture all three points.
Reid said despite her share of frustration on the field, she was happy her team was able to pull through.
“I was a little bit frustrated, especially with the officiating, but in the end we stuck to the task and the ladies carried out the duty; and now we get the three points and I'm very proud of that,” Reid said.
The win confirmed they will finish second in Zone B of the JWPL regular season and booked a semi-final date against Zone A leaders Arnett Gardens.
Martin said with one game left to play in the regular season, he has already turned his attention to the semi-finals and will be closely monitoring Arnett.
The semi-final will be a replay of last season’s third-place match, when Arnett defeated Los Perfectos 3-1.
“We will look at some of Arnett’s games for sure, and I'm pretty sure they will look at some of ours as well,” Martin said.
“All we can do is just prepare the girls tactically, physically, and mentally for that game.”
Martin is hoping his players can go one step further than they did last season, when they crashed out at the semi-finals in a 7-1 aggregate defeat to three-time defending champions Frazsiers Whip.
Martin said after last year’s defeat, the team now knows what it will take to advance to the final and are ready to banish the ghosts of the past.
“It's a semi-final. They have been there already and they know what it takes. Last year, it wasn't a good taste, but I'm pretty sure they'll be up for it this year, and we'll be better prepared this time,” he explained.
Reid is expected to lead the charge for Los Perfectos as both the team captain and their leading goalscorer.
She said the team will be hard at work in preparing for the semi-finals, but admitted the winner can only be decided by what they do on the day, and not on paper.
“We just have to go to the drawing board, and for the few training sessions that we have, we just have to look at the key points that we need to address and get ready,” Reid explained.
“The football is going to talk, you know, so on the day it doesn't matter who we will play. We just have to let the football talk, and then the result will come.”