A considerably Jamaica Nationwide Senior Girls’s Soccer Group will face Panama in Group B of the CONCACAF Girls’s Gold Cup Qualifiers inside Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama Metropolis at 6:00 pm (Jamaica time) on Wednesday.
Initially scheduled to be held at Estadio Universitaro in Panonome, the venue was modified to make sure the security and safety of all concerned. Moreover, it has been reported that no tickets might be offered, with solely households and pals of gamers allowed in attendance.
Current protests in Panama have disrupted the Jamaican crew’s preparations since their arrival, forcing them to alter motels and alter their schedule and logistics. The protests are in opposition to a contract awarded to a Canadian firm for copper mining in a biodiverse area, which has raised issues amongst highly effective unions and environmentalists.
The Jamaicans had been slotted into Group B after shedding a two-legged tie to Canada 1-4 on combination within the CONCACAF Olympic Video games Play-in, however an opportunity to achieve the 2024 W Gold Cup is there for the taking for them.
Jamaica’s crew, known as the Reggae Girlz, finds itself in a difficult state of affairs as they head into the Gold Cup qualifiers. They’ve misplaced a number of key gamers, together with those that took the crew to the Spherical of 16 on the 2023 FIFA Girls’s World Cup, as a consequence of a pay dispute and different points with the native governing physique of soccer, the Jamaica Soccer Federation (JFF).
The Reggae Girlz en bloc have declined call-ups for these qualifiers, citing “continued mistreatment” by the JFF.
Moreover, the crew has undergone a change in management, with head coach Lorne Donaldson not having his contract renewed because the World Cup and the Olympic Video games qualifiers. Xavier Gilbert, who served as an assistant to Donaldson in the course of the World Cup, was appointed head coach on an interim foundation final Thursday.
Gilbert has chosen a much-weakened crew comprising a number of school gamers and some professionals. Regardless of the challenges, he stays targeted on the duty at hand and is emphasizing psychological and tactical preparations given the restricted follow time.
“It must be a priority; the crew won’t be at its finest, particularly with a brand new bunch, however that’s what we now have to work with,” he stated.
He continued, “I can solely management what I can management, and that’s the method I’m taking, so we’re simply going to attempt to arrange them tactically and hopefully no matter we get to do we can give an excellent efficiency.”
However the present state of affairs in Panama has finished Gilbert and his gamers no favors. If something, it has made it tougher for them. Nonetheless, he was grateful to the authorities for the style by which they’ve responded.
“We have now been right here from Sunday and we had been in one other metropolis and there’s a protest and it affected us. I need to give credit score to CONCACAF and the native organizing committee for responding the way in which they did they usually tried to get us out the identical time we landed on Sunday however it’s three hours away from the airport, so it was tough after which yesterday [Monday] within the morning we couldn’t transfer as a result of the roads had been blocked.
“The nice factor is that it didn’t have an effect on any of the gamers and that’s commendation to the native organizing committee and CONCACAF once more. As soon as we picked up the gamers they moved them straight to this resort right here, in order that was good. They didn’t encounter any delays or something [bad] and that’s paramount, but it surely nonetheless has its challenges as a result of now we’re able [where] the coaching venue [has] modified, the sport venue [has] modified and we’re nonetheless unsure on some logistics because it pertains to time.”
The coach was involved with the logistics of scheduling a time for coaching on Tuesday, the one coaching alternative for the crew with new gamers going right into a aggressive worldwide recreation.
As much as Tuesday Gilbert confirmed that he had solely 15 gamers with a couple of extra anticipated in later that day.
“We have now 15 gamers right here up to now, nonetheless anticipating one other couple after which we are going to take it from there. Sadly I’m unsure that we’ll have Shaniel Buckley [as] she’s on the Pan Am Video games and she or he hasn’t left as but in order that’s an enormous blow for us. Bailey, together with Future Powell and Chris-Ann Chambers had been part of the crew in Chile competing on the Pan American Video games, who had been drafted into the Gold Cup qualifiers.
They had been to have departed Chile on Monday for Panama.
With little or no follow time on the coaching pitch, Gilbert hoped to emphasise on the psychological aspect of preparation as a last-ditch effort. “We going to must do quite a lot of psychological and tactical preparations because it pertains to how we wish to method some issues,” he stated.
One of many gamers known as up by Gilbert is the 30-year-old Chinyelu Asher, who has scored six objectives in 29 worldwide appearances for Jamaica. The [player was a member of the 2019 World Cup squad and Gilbert noted that her experience makes her the ideal candidate to captain this young group.
“Chinyelu Asher, based on her experience and playing at the international level and playing at the World Cup, she is the most experienced and most capped player here and it’s fitting for her to be the leader,” he said.
For Asher, the task at hand is obvious.
“We have a young team but we have quality, so whatever we do we need to approach it with that confidence that we can take down this team and trust in the game-plan that we have and come together and do that,” she said.
“I think this program is full of a lot of rich talent. Panama is a tough opponent, always been and so we will definitely face them with that respect tomorrow and take this game pretty seriously. We’ve obviously battled against them quite a few times and I’m sure everyone remembers those battles, so I think it’s good that we have an idea of what we are facing.”
In the September window, Panama split two games against Guatemala, winning 3-0 in the first game away to Guatemala, while losing the second game at home 3-2.
Jamaica defeated Panama 1-0 in the group stage of the World Cup in Australia. Jamaica had also beaten Panama on penalties during the 2018 CONCACAF W Championships after playing to a 2-2 result in regulation time. That victory booked Jamaica’s passage to the France 2019 Women’s World Cup.
The US and Canada have already secured their spots by winning the CONCACAF Women’s Championship and the CONCACAF Olympic Games Play-in, respectively. Meanwhile, as the four top teams in the 2022 Copa America Femenina, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay have also secured berths to the Gold Cup.
League A is divided into three three-team groups; the champions will automatically qualify for the Women’s Gold Cup, while the runners-up will compete in the play-offs. They will set up make –or-break matches with the winners of three four-team League B groups, with the play-off winners securing a spot in the competition.
Jamaica will face Guatemala inside Kingston’s National Stadium on Sunday.
