Blaine: Stick with what we have

Former national senior women’s head coach Vin Blaine, believes that the Hue Menzies-led Reggae Girlz coaching staff should focus on improving the current players on the squad ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer in France.

This ,he said, should be done instead of searching relentlessly to find new players to improve the unit that took them to their first World Cup finals.

Blaine, the Reggae Girlz coach from the early 2000s until 2014, is the man many people credit for setting the foundation for what the Reggae Girlz achieve in November and the veteran tactician questions any plan to disrupt team chemistry, while noting that this is the best Jamaica women’s team he has seen.

“Nothing is wrong with improving the squad, but you have be careful the changes aren’t wholesale and you get rid of the girls that get you there,” Blaine told The Gleaner in an interview yesterday.

“If I was coaching, my thought would be to improve the girls that I have now by making them better and improving them and give them an opportunity to be a part of the history they created. I believe they should be giving them an opportunity to improve, so give them more games, give them confidence and the opportunity.”

“I wouldn’t want to bring a girl who didn’t want to play for Jamaica until Jamaica made it to the World Cup, and that’s what happen to some of these girls. They didn’t want to come all along, but all of a sudden, when the real reward of the World Cup comes, you are going to drop the ones that got you had previously.

“If my girls took me to the World Cup, the only players I will be looking to include now are those that were injured and couldn’t take part.

It is a lifetime moment for these girls. It’s history and I understand the coaches don’t want to go there and get embarrassed, but they can improve these girls in the next four months,” he continued.

Blaine acknowledged that at the end of the day, it will be a coach’s decision, but he is hoping that if there are changes to the squad, they will be limited.

“It’s all up to the coaches as to what they do. My view is when you have a team that has done so well, you have to give them a chance. They (coaches) don’t want to get embarrassed, but they brought in 12 new girls, with more coming in.

“But this is the best unit I have seen play football for Jamaica, so these changes cannot be wholesale changes or it can change the whole dynamics of the team,” Blaine said.