Reggae Girlz ready to rumble
Published:Saturday | July 22, 2023 | 12:09 AM
Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz open their 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup account tomorrow against Group F favourites France at 5 a.m. (Jamaica time) at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia, and head coach Lorne Donaldson says they will fight and give everything they have to get a result against the fifth ranked team in the world.
Donaldson said they have done some good workouts in preparing for the game and the players are eager to get going. And he thinks they are ready to go out and put on a good show.
“They are eager to get out there to show what they can do. Hopefully, we are going to show some good stuff. We are just trying to get a result that is all we can ask for. Go out, play hard and try to get a result. Get some points out of the game. That is all we are striving to do,” he said.
He said the motivation for the team is to try and progress from the first round and that every effort will go into attaining that goal.
“We expect to go in there and put up a fight and tactically and physically be able to match what the number five team in the world has to offer.
“We are prepared to give it everything and hopefully, we can show Jamaica that we are a much better team than we were in 2019.
“A lot of the players were not here in 2019 but the players here just want to get to the next round. So let’s just get out of our group and then we can start all over again,” he said.
Forward Jody Brown, who was injured in a friendly against Morocco on Monday, has fully recovered and is available for the opening game and although Donaldson pointed out that there are other players carrying knocks and bruises, he assured that they are okay.
However, he revealed that the coaching staff is still assessing what would be the best 11 to take the field tomorrow.
“I haven’t finalised the starting 11 as yet. We are still working on it. We still have a day before the match, so we are still looking at different scenarios. Who knows someone might come up with a massive headache and we might have to change something but we haven’t finalised everything as yet,” the head coach said.
livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com
Today’s games
Group C
2 a.m: Zambia vs Japan
Group D
4:30 a.m: England vs Haiti
7 a.m: Denmark vs China