Reggae Girlz, Paraguay in ‘fix-it mode’

IMPROVEMENTS ALL ROUND will again factor heavily on Jamaica Reggae Girlz’ to-do list in today’s second and final international friendly women’s football match against Paraguay at the National Stadium. Match time is 6 p.m.

The Jamaicans dominated the opening salvo and came away with a 1-0 win, courtesy of central defender Alysson Swaby’s injury-time goal at Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay on Thursday night.

The match was very competitive and this one promises to be similar, as both teams fine-tune their preparation for upcoming fixtures.

Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz are gearing toward the FIFA Women’s World Cup, having secured consecutive qualification, and will be testing their systems and trial new players in an effort to get their best-playing squad.

“We’re not afraid to bring the younger players in,” admitted Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson, who tried some on Thursday and expressed pleasure that the older players in the squad were embracing and guiding them.

He further stated that this quality opposition enhances Jamaica’s build-up, and helps with his cut-off period for the World Cup team’s composition.

“To play teams like these and play teams that are better,” Donaldson said about what he wants to happen. “In every window, we’ve to do something. We want, by next February, we can narrow down our squad to 30.

“I remember one time when we couldn’t even find 20 players. Now, we have a pool of 60-70 players. We’d love to narrow that down to 30 and, from there, going down to the last two months of the World Cup, and get some quality games and camps.”

BEST-EVER FINISH

Paraguay recently equalled their best-ever finish at Conmebol’s championship by placing fourth. The top-three countries from the South American confederation automatically qualified for the World Cup Finals, while Paraguay, by virtue of their position, earned a play-off spot.

So both countries are currently enjoying a high point in their women’s football history, and are not distantly separated in FIFA rankings either, with Jamaica at 43 and the South Americans ranked 51st.

“Our mission is a little bit different from theirs,” said Donaldson.

“They’re preparing for a game in the next three months, we’re preparing for games nine months from now. So we’re still looking at players and looking at stuff.”

Paraguay’s World Cup play-off match will take place against Chinese Taipei on February 19, which means, unlike Jamaica, their squad is more defined at this point, suggesting that their approach could revolve more around tactical fixes.

There is more freedom for experimentation in the Jamaican set-up, which tested their attacking system in Thursday’s MoBay contest.

To a degree, it worked well, especially in the first half when they created four very good goalscoring chances.

Much of that owes credit to the Reggae Girlz world-class striker Khadija Shaw, whose above-average skills and pace allowed her to do much in creating two of the three chances she got.

Another good thing Jamaica will be looking to build on is the right-sided combination play between full back Tiernney Wiltshire and winger Paige Bailey Gayle.

It all fits into Donaldson’s deliverables.

“Protect the ball, get forward and score goals; that’s our primary goal,” he admitted.

Drew Spence, who pulls the strings, and Vyann Samson, who sets the order in midfield, will play key roles in that area where Jamaica displayed greater understanding but were kept on their toes by a warriorlike Paraguayan team.

Celsa Sandoval and Rosa Mino are the key midfield players for Paraguay, who do a fair bit of shirt and shorts pulling, plus nibbling at the ankles, while displaying a never-say-die attitude.

That temperament will be crucial for their last-chance World Cup salvo, which can be improved with a tighter backline and stronger combinations in the offensive third that can create a path to more open chances.

Otherwise, they focus on a grounded passing game and are skillful enough to cause problems if not managed properly.

Also, though they went close to scoring, with twice-blocked shots from a melee spawned by a corner kick, Paraguay should be aiming to do more in open play, as Ramona Martinez’s second-half strike from the right side of the penalty area was their only shot on target from a build-up.

Generally, though, the defensive positioning was generally good for both teams, especially Jamaica, even while Donaldson said they were not focusing on that aspect in the first game.

“We didn’t spend a lot of time on anything with defending. We want to make sure of our offence,” Donaldson assessed.

“But Paraguay is organised, they are a very organised team.”

The Reggae Girlz’ game is also heavily reliant on grounded passing, which calls for a lot of movement off the ball. They rotate and transition quite well and will seek to disrupt Paraguay’s organisation by doing that again.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com