Weakened Girlz face Blades today
Published:Monday | April 10, 2023 | 1:13 AM
Despite the absence of six players because of injuries or visa issues, Jamaica’s national senior women’s football coach Lorne Donaldson says his girls are accustomed to adversities and will go into their friendly match against Sheffield United at the King Power Stadium today at 8 a.m. (Jamaica time) expecting to do well.
Regular squad members Konya Plummer, Deneisha Blackwood and Jody Brown did not receive their United Kingdom visas in time to travel for the game while there have been injuries to Siobhan Wilson, Shania Hayles and Kalyssa ‘Kiki’ Van Zanten.
The difficulties have forced the coach to rearrange his plans and improvise as some backroom staff are also missing because of visa problems while their scheduled games in England were reduced from three to one.
Nevertheless, Donaldson said the objective is to go out and represent the country with pride despite their hardships.
“We will pull through like we always do because we just get on with it,” he said. “Hopefully, in the future our planning can be better but we are not going to fret over it. We stay positive and try to keep the players upbeat and they have been practising well and the group is pushing on.”
Although the travel issues are a setback to the World Cup preparations, he revealed that the team remains focused as the players intend to go to the World Cup and make a mark.
“It’s a little setback to what we planned but we can fix it. We want to get everybody in sync. We are functioning but not at full capacity, so we are working it out because we have the experience to work it out and these girls really want to perform for Jamaica.
KEEP PUSHING
“They want to be the surprise team at the World Cup and so they keep pushing on because they really want to perform for their country. And so they will push through as they always do and take it in stride,” he commented.
Sheffield United women’s team, or the ‘Blades’ as they are famously called, currently compete in the Women’s Championship in England.
They are now ninth in the table with 18 points from 19 games.
Their current squad possesses exciting new talent like Mia Enderby and Naomi Hartley, and seasoned veterans like Courtney Sweetman-Kirk and Georgia Walters.