‘Campaign Down Under’ begins … now
Reggae Girlz confident of getting over Bermuda test
Published:Thursday | February 17, 2022 | 12:12 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
JAMAICA’S REGGAE Girlz will enter today’s Group C Concacaf World Cup qualifier against Bermuda inside the National Stadium oozing with confidence. Match time is 6 p.m.
Reggae Girlz head coach Vin Blaine said, despite starting the campaign without a few of the players who took them to the 2019 tournament in France, he is optimistic that they will collect all three points today.
“It is extremely important that we get the three points because, any competition that you play, the first game is very important for many reasons,” said Blaine.
“Progressing through the zone, we don’t have to worry about it because we have won one under our belt already, so it is very important that we get the three points tomorrow [today],” he said.
The Jamaicans will be without the services of Deneisha Blackwood, captain Konya Plummer and Havana Solaun, who have not been called up for the February window.
All three players were members of the Reggae Girlz team that participated at the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France in 2019.
BOOSTED BY FANS
The team will also be boosted with the return of the 2,500 fans granted permission by the Government to attend today’s game.
Blaine pointed out that their preparations going into the tournament were unsatisfactory but he pointed out that the squad has a lot of depth in it and therefore he was expecting some exciting football from the Reggae Girlz.
“The preparations are nowhere near where it should be because of the time that they came in,” he said.
“They had games on Sunday before they came down, and travelling for eight, nine hours and 12 hours for some of them, is kind of rough. So all we had was kind of a recovery session yesterday [Tuesday],” Blaine said.
“But the skills that they have and their abilities and the depth that we have, makes me a lot more confident,” he said.
The Reggae Girlz are currently ranked 51st in the world, compared to the Bermudans who are ranked 166. Blaine has admitted that he does not know anything about their opponents and therefore they are just focusing on getting things right in all areas of the pitch.
“We are quite balanced because the depth of the team is good,” he said.
“I think we are good attacking and defensively. I have to make sure that I put the proper persons down the centre of the pitch,” he said.
“I really know nothing about them apart from the fact they have been recruiting some overseas players like ourselves,” said Blaine.
Striker Khadijah ‘Bunny’ Shaw is expected to captain the Jamaican team in the absence of Plummer.
The other teams in the group are Grenada, Cayman Islands and the Dominican Republic, with only the group winner advancing to the eight-team final round which begins in Mexico in July.