Spotlight on young stars

The final international window of 2022 for Jamaica’s senior women’s team will see the return of two members of the 2019 core and the unleashing of young exciting talent, players that national senior head coach Lorne Donaldson hopes will blend as part of the larger task of forming his final FIFA Women’s World Cup roster.

The 26-player roster for next month’s international series against Paraguay was released on Wednesday with former captain Konya Plummer and Chenya Matthews getting call-ups after a year away from international duty with both returning from maternity leave. Among the new inclusions is midfielder Zoe Williams, as well as Excelsior High’s Shaneil Buckley who has risen through the ranks of the youth system.

Donaldson assessed the squad as a means not only to see how the young players will adapt to the established core that was being built from the last campaign, but also to assess where Plummer and Matthews, players who Donaldson said would be important in the continuing process, are at.

“A couple of the players who are coming in like Konya and Cheyna, they just came off maternity leave. Cheyna is far ahead of Konya. So we know most likely they will be a part of what we are trying to do in the future. So we wanted to bring them in to get familiarised with the team again,” Donaldson said.

This will be Plummer’s and Matthews’ first call-up since October 2021 when they were included in the international friendly against Costa Rica in Florida.

Williams and Buckley are among the young players who Donaldson is keeping a close eye on with Williams drawing comparisons to Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw who is also in the squad for the series.

“Zoe is a young upcoming player. A Bunny Shaw type of player. I hate the mention that, but she is built like Bunny. She has that kind of ability. A see a young Bunny Shaw right there. So if we can get her in the fold that would be great. Buckley is one of the top-two players in Jamaica right now. She has done well with the Under 17 and the Under 20’s,” Donaldson said. “So we are going to give her a look and see how she does with the older players. It is a growing process for her to continue our continuity building.”

As they continue to build towards next summer’s tournament with Brazil, France and a play-off team as their opponents, Donaldson is hoping that FIFA will reconsider and set their final roster limit to 26 players to give them more flexibility in the players that they want to include in the final squad.

“I’m satisfied with what we have right now. By the time the next window comes around we have to try to narrow this thing down to 30 players that we would like to go with. FIFA has 23 right now, but the latest discussion we had, the 26-player issue came up and it is evident that most of the big countries and even the small countries would like to see a limit of 26,” Donaldson said.

The Reggae Girlz will play their first game on November 10 in Montego Bay and their final game on November 13 at the National Stadium in St Andrew.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com

26-player squad for Paraguay Series

Player Club

Rebecca Spencer Tottenham Hotspur

Sydney Schneider Kansas City Current

Allyson Swaby Angel City FC

Chantelle Swaby FC Fleury 91

Satara Murray Racing Louisville

Deneisha Blackwood GPSO 92 Issy

Tiernny Wiltshire Houston Dash

Atlanta Primus London City Lionesses

Drew Spence Tottenham Hotspur

Chinyelu Asher AIK Fotball

Havana Solaun North Carolina Courage

Khadija Shaw Manchester City

Trudi Carter Levante Las Planas

Siobhan Wilson Birmingham City

Shania Hayles Bristol City FC

Kayla McCoy Rangers

Tiffany Cameron ETO Gyor

Vyan Sampson Hearts

Paige Bailey-Gayle Crystal Palace

Rachel Jones University of North Carolina

Cheyna Matthews Racing Louisville

Zoe Matthews Legends FC

Jody Brown Florida State University

Konya Plummer Unattached

Shaneil Buckley Excelsior High

Liya Brooks Hawaii Surf