Blaine lauds ousted Under-17 Girlz

BY SEAN A WILLIAMS Assistant Sport Editor

Thursday, March 18, 2010

DESPITE being knocked out of the CONCACAF Under-17 Women's World Cup qualifying tournament ongoing in Costa Rica, Jamaica's coach Vin Blaine believes his team did "fairly well", all things considered.

Blaine, who coaches the existing women's teams after the forced suspension of the seniors and Olympic programmes, noted that the limited preparation afforded the Under-17s was not enough if they were to progress in the tough eliminations.

"We have to give them some credit as they are unfit and we did not have enough time to work with them, one could step back and say that they were a disappointment, but I don't think so... I think they did well in keeping the scorelines creditable, so overall they didn't do too badly," said Blaine upon the team's return on Tuesday night.

"I think they did pretty well given the conditions they came here under... I have alluded to the fact that they (Girlz) are not fit," he added after his team registered a face-saving 2-0 win over Panama on Monday to finish third in Group A of the qualifying championship.

In their opening group games, Jamaica were beaten by powerhouses Canada (1-4) and Mexico (0-3).

Mexico topped the group by edging Canada 1-0 on Monday and will face Group B runners-up and hosts Costa Rica, while Canada have the daunting task of facing the awesome USA in semi-final action to start today at the Morera Soto Stadium in Alajuela.

In reviewing the team's performances, Blaine said they were mostly outdone by indecisive goalkeeping by first-choice Shantel Graham.

"The mistakes that were made that caused the goals against Mexico, in particular, was as a result of goalkeeping errors, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth because you are 0-0 with a top team at half-time, and then to concede three goals in 10 minutes is kind of rough," lamented Blaine.

"But we can't be too hard on her as she (Graham) is young and this is her first real competition," he added.

And though the Girlz, down to 10 players with only 15 minutes played after goalkeeper Graham was sent off for handling the ball outside the goal area, defeated the Panamanians, Blaine says it was not the best performance.

"It wasn't our best game... I believe our best games were against Canada and Mexico; they played two tough games against them," noted Blaine, committed soldier for awomen's football.

Against Panama where Shantel Bailey and captain Trudi Carter were on target, Blaine praised the Girlz for keeping their heads even with a one-player deficit.

"We were put on the backfoot right away when we lost our goalkeeper and went down to 10 players, but I thought the girls fought hard and in the end and we scored two goals... I also believe they were two good goals and that's all we could ask for at that stage," noted the veteran coach.

In their second game where the Young Girlz held the Mexicans to a promising goal-less half-time score, Blaine believes that all things being equal, the game could have easily ended 0-0.

"On the day they (Mexicans) were better, but we still held them off, but goals win matches and if we had taken our chances, probably it would be a different game," he said.

But even before the Girlz took the field in Costa Rica, their problems started with delays and two players initially not being allowed entry into the country because of visa issues, which were later solved.

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