Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA'S REGGAE Girlz will look to close out the Caribbean Group C women's Gold Cup qualification round in fine style when they take on the Sugar Girlz of St. Kitts and Nevis in a 6:00 encounter at the Anthony Spaulding Complex this evening.
It would take a brave pundit to bet against Jamaica securing a maximum nine points from the qualification group. Already on six, from two previous games against St. Lucia, who they beat 5-0 on Monday, and Antigua and Barbuda, who were thrashed 10-0 on Wednesday, they have definitely been the class act of the group so far.
Not only have they been vastly superior in terms of their attacking play and dominant in terms of possession which has led to their 15 goals in two games, but they have also benefited from a rock-solid backline which has stood up well, albeit against limited pressure, and are yet to concede a single goal.
Despite the heavy odds in their favour, Reggae Girlz coach Vin Blaine, while not very worried about being challenged, won't be throwing caution to the wind.
"It shouldn't be a hard game but we still have to be mentally prepared. From these games I try to look at our shape and our movement on and off the ball," Blaine said.
TOUGHER COMPETITION
"There hasn't been a lot of opposition; we won't have much competition defensively, so I try to use them as training games for tougher competition," he said.
"The speed of ball movement across the field has to be improved. Our passes need a little more pace and I find that we have been lagging in defensive transition sometimes in terms of getting behind the ball. When we play top teams that could be a problem for us," Blaine added.
"We need to concentrate some more. We tend to move a bit away from our game plan when we think a team is easy. But the team needs to play within our structure all the time because we don't want to fall into bad habits. That will be a problem against tougher teams," he said.
Theoretically, St. Kitts and Nevis could join Jamaica on six points should they find some miraculous way to top Jamaica. The team had an unexpected 3-2 win against Antigua and Barbuda on Monday at the National Stadium, which puts them on three points along with St. Lucia. However, the proposition is a far-fetched one and nobody knows that better than their coach, Craig McDowell.
"It will be a tough task going into today's game but we will be hoping to come out with at least a draw. As far as I am concerned, the girls have already done themselves proud because nobody gave us a chance to be where we are," McDowell said.
"We are one of the youngest teams in the tournament. I'm proud of what we have accomplished and we will be a force to be reckoned with in the future," he said.
In today's 4:00 p.m. encounter, St. Lucia will take on winless Antigua and Barbuda.
