McAllen, USA — Despite a few glitches along the way, the mood in Jamaica’s Senior Reggae Girlz camp remains high, as both players and technical staff are fully focused on the task that awaits them in the Concacaf Women’s Championship here.

Several members of the delegation, including Head Coach Hue Menzies, arrived here in this southern city deep in the heart of Texas on Sunday night, and hit the ground running yesterday morning with an hour-and-half session at Gold’s Gym.

Other members of the team were expected to arrive at Renaissance Hotel between yesterday and tomorrow.

The lone local-based player in the 20-member Reggae Girlz squad, Shanise Foster of Arnett Gardens, turned up at Norman Manley International Airport but failed to make the trip with the small contingent that travelled from Jamaica via Miami, due to visa issues.

As such, Sashana Campbell, who plies her trade for Maccabi Krishronot Hadera in Israel, was the lone player to travel from Jamaica.

Another slight setback came shortly after the group arrived at Miami International, as physical trainer Jason Henry was held back by US Customs and Border Protection, which resulted in him missing the initial connecting flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Henry eventually rejoined the group mere minutes before boarding the final connecting flight to McAllen.

That aside, Menzies and his assistants Lorne Donaldson and Andrew Price are already charting the course to capitalise on the days ahead of their Group B kick-off against Canada on Friday.

“We have set up a scrimmage game against a local youth team for Tuesday (today) and that will assist with the pace at which the girls play on and off the ball. We won’t have all the players until Wednesday but we intend to make do with what we have, to be as productive as possible through training and film,” Menzies told the Jamaica Observer.

“I think that the workout went extremely well; we are just getting them loose and keeping them focused. The conditions are conducive to our objective, so we feel good about coming here and setting the tone at this early point.

“There is some disappointment that Shanise [Foster] didn’t make the trip. she is a good player and we wanted to bring her in, unfortunately that didn’t happen and we are hoping that when we make it to the next round we will be able to get her in,” he added.

The Reggae Girlz will then do battle against Costa Rica next Monday before closing the group phase against Caribbean neighbours Cuba, next Thursday. All games are scheduled to be played at H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Texas.

Defending champions United States, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago will contest Group A.

Following the group stage all matches will be played at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

While praising the strength and depth of his heavily overseas-based player squad, Menzies is holding his expectations close to his chest given the significant improvements witnessed from the girls.

“We think we have a good group here; the players have been working hard since the Caribbean Championships and have progressed significantly with each game. I am excited about our progress in what I describe as a very motivated group. the cohesiveness has been excellent and obviously it is one of the best groups we have had.

“So we take it a game at a time and a lot of these girls have a lot of experience when in high pressure situation, so we feel very optimistic but humbled at the same time about being here,” Menzies noted.

“We had a two-week camp in Miami with the unattached players and that went well, and the attached players are all in season therefore all the players have been preparing. So we are looking forward to the games and also to create some history for our country,” the tactician ended.

The top three teams in the tournament will automatically qualify for the Fifa Women’s World Cup France 2019, with the fourth-placed team having an opportunity to secure qualification through a play-off with Argentina of CONMEBOL.

The winners of the two semi-final encounters on October 14 will automatically qualify for the World Cup, as well as the winners of the third-place game. Both the third place play-off and final are scheduled to take place on October 17.

Squad: Allyson Swaby (Hottur), Ashleigh Shim (unattached), Chantelle Swaby (Rutgers University), Chinyelu Asher (Washington Spirit), Christina Chang (Miami Surge), Deneisha Blackwood (Florida Kraze Krush), Dominique Bond-Flasza (PSV Eindhoven, NED), Giselle Washington (Concord Fire), Jadyn Matthews (Cornell University), Jody Brown (Montverde Academy), Khadija Shaw (University of Tennessee), Konya Plummer (Florida Kraze Krush), Lauren Silver (unattached), Marlo Sweatman (unattached), Nicole McClure (Sundsvalls DFF, SWE), Sashana Campbell (Maccabi Krishronot Hadera, ISR), Shanise Foster (Arnett Gardens FC), Sydney Schneider (University of North Carolina Wilmington), Toriana Patterson (Tti Bluebonnets, USA), Trudi Carter (AS Roma).