JAMAICANS will get a chance this evening to see their darling Reggae Girlz in top-class competition for the first time since their earth-shaking qualification to the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

At Kingston’s premier sporting cathedral, the National Stadium, the senior women’s footballers will put their readiness to the test when the take on 38th-ranked Chile in the first of two friendly international matches.

The other contest will take place at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday, an event that will be spiced up by the arrival and parading of the Fifa Women’s World Cup trophy on its global journey. Both matches are due to get under way at 7:00 pm.

But more than its value of presenting the 53rd-ranked Girlz to the Jamaican people in a competitive arena and atmosphere, the games serve a higher purpose. They, no doubt, set a stage on which the players will continue their auditions for places on the final 23 World Cup roster.

Critically, too, it will give the technical team a platform to experiment with various formations and combinations of players as the nation attempts to engender its tactical savvy ahead of France.

So the Chile engagement for the Girlz and the Hue Menzies-led technical team is being viewed as serious business — win, lose or draw.

“Obviously for the World Cup we felt like Chile would be a reputable opponent (as) they are from South America and they recently played Italy, so I felt like we needed to get Chile and our result against them will kind of measure up where we are as a group,” Menzies said.

Jamaica will contest Group C of their historic appearance at the World Cup with Brazil (10th-ranked), Italy (16th) and Australia (sixth), and the US-based coach believes simulating situations and formations will be key in the broad preparation process leading to the June 7 – July 7 global showpiece.

“We are going to play everybody; we have a group and we are looking to various formations (as) we don’t want to get locked into the one formation, so we are looking into some good combinations of players.

“We have the depth, we have a lot of players that can play in different positions, so we didn’t bring positional players in we brought footballers in… that will be important to how we build this group going forward,” Menzies told the Jamaica Observer.

Menzies, speaking for his technical team of Lorne Donaldson, Andrew Price, Will Hitzelberger and Hubert Busby, says he thinks he has the depth and versatility in his expanded squad for the experimentations.

“We feel comfortable with what we have, we are going to start different combinations… one game we will have a certain group starting, the next game we will flip them a little bit and also flip positions a little bit,” he noted.

The Chile test is expected to be a rehearsal for the Girlz’s opening World Cup match against Marta-led Brazil on June 9, and Menzies is relishing the chance to taste the sweet South American flavour and ultimately learning how to combat, if not dismantle it.

“Chile is the typical South American team (as) they play out of the back… they have a very good goalkeeper (Christiane Endler), who plays at PSG and she also plays in the state so we are pretty familiar with her.

“She has good feet so they will be playing through her so we are going to plan for that and we are going to adjust to the way they play because of our athleticism we will be able to run at them a little bit,” Menzies said, giving a sneak preview into the tactical approach for today’s match-up.

For Menzies, it was difficult to say definitely who will start today’s game based on the general focus on experimenting with “new ideas” and possibly “new players”.

But what was clear, is that the other bricks of the team will be laid around ace striker and inspirational figure, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw.

“We are confident about the combination that we will be putting around ‘Bunny’ (as) obviously she is a very good player for us in attack. She relishes the attention (from opposing players) and she is a team player which is good and that is what you want to be able to have in your team,” said Menzies.

“Kayla (McKoy) is a goal scorer so it is good to be able to have two big time goal scorers in your team and she has the smarts as well to drop off to defend and you want to have more than one weapon for sure,” he added.

On the topic of new players attempting to squeeze their way in the squad, Menzies is happy with what he has at his disposal.

“One of the new players is Laura Jackson, who came in a little bit sore, but she is healing. She offers good service of the ball, and she played at Arsenal, so she has a lot of experience.

“Jackson, who is based in Kansas as the assistant coach of Kansas University, gives us a little bit more depth in the number six position, ands I felt like we needed a little bit more depth. Marlo (Sweatman) does a really good job for us in there, but I felt like there are times when we needed a little bit more range and we feel like Laura can help us with that,” the experienced tactician explained.

Along with McKoy and Jackson, fresh-faced professionals Tiffany Cameron and former Under-20 representative Chanel Hudson-Marks are among those ready to stake their claim in the coveted 23.

“We have Tiffany Cameron who is getting ready to sign a contract in Norway, so we are working with her… we have Chanel Hudson-Marks, who has come in to give us a little bit more depth around the back at wing-back… she was a forward before, but she gives us more depth at the back and she is an excellent athlete and her transitional speed is very good,” Menzies outlined.

Of the 24 players called for the current camp and Chile games, Menzies is looking to conclusively retain between “14 and 16 players” for his final 23-woman roster.

“We brought a group of 24 players into camp this trip and we will probably lock in about 14 to 16 players for France,” he noted.

Both Jamaica and Chile were due for final training sessions at the National Stadium complex last evening.

Jamaica (from): Sydney Schneider, Chris-Ann Chambers, Nicole McClure, Lauren Silver, Konya Plummer, Allyson Swaby, Dominique Bond-Flasza, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Chantelle Swaby, Sashana Campbell, Deneisha Blackwood, Khadija Shaw, Marlo Sweatman, Chinyelu Asher, Giselle Washington, Christina Chang, Laura Jackson, Tiffany Cameron, Cachet Lue, Chanel Hudson-Marks, Kayla McKoy, Havana Solaun, Jody Brown, Cheyna Matthews.

Chile (from): Christiane Endler, Natalia Campos, Camila Saez, Ambar Soruco, Javiera Toro, Valentina Diaz, Pancha Diaz, Paloma Lopez, Karen Araya, Claudia Soto, Ana Gutierrez, Maria Cristina Julio, Daniela Pardo, Maria Jose Rojas, Barbara Santibanez, Yanara Aedo, Yessenia Huenteo, Maryorie Hernandez.