SEOUL, South Korea, CMC – Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz, gearing up for next year’s Women’s World Cup Down Under, completed a two-game tour of this East Asian nation with a second defeat, going down 2-0 in a behind-closed-doors match after losing the opener 1-0.
Senior head coach Lorne Donaldson said it had been a useful exercise for his 42nd-ranked team against hosts who are ranked 24 places above them.
Donaldson is hoping other competitive fixtures will materialise for the Girlz during the October 3-11 and November 7-15 international windows, the latter anticipated to be on Jamaican soil.
“We are looking at some teams, but we can’t disclose who they are right now until we hear something from their federation,” Donaldson told the Jamaica Observer.
“But we are looking at some teams for the next two windows and we are hoping that we can get something concrete over the next week or so.”
He said of the two fixtures: “”Yeah, we got what we wanted; we had a game and another practice game to look at players which is why we are here, so I think it was successful and we saw some stuff that we can work with.
“I’m pleased with our young players and I don’t think a couple of our veteran players gave us their best performance, but that happens sometimes..”
He added: “The second practice game gave us a chance to put in some more players and have a good look which was a little bit more telling because some of the players were waiting to get into a starting role and show what they can do.
“I think we defended well, to an extent, but going forward we could be a little bit more patient and technical around the box.
“We are just trying to get the best squad that we can put together for the World Cup. The goal is to hopefully get to the February window with a strong pool of about 30 players that we can narrow down to the final 23 or 26,” he said.
The 32-team Women’s World Cup will be staged jointly by Australia and New Zealand between July 20 and August 20 next year.
