REGGAE Girlz Head Coach Hue Menzies is taking nothing for granted.

The two-game home series, against fellow Fifa Women’s World Cup debutants Chile, is being viewed as more than just warm-up games ahead of the summer tournament to be held from June 7- July 7 in France.

“We feel like our World Cup starts now,” he said in a post-match press conference after Jamaica claimed a famous 1-0 win over the South Americans.

“That is how we feel and we have to think like that, because obviously we are the underdogs and we are the lowest seed in the World Cup. So we feel like every game moving forward we are in the World Cup, so that is how we are treating it,” Menzies insisted.

After a decent first half for Jamaica in which Marlo Sweatman scored the game’s only goal directly from a corner kick, it was a more even second half that saw goalkeeper Nicole McClure coming up with a number of key saves late on to ensure victory for the hosts.

“I thought the first half we were more active, attacking wise. Obviously, we have a lot of players playing in Europe so the weather becomes a factor later on in the game, because the weather is a little bit warmer here — so we just have to get acclimated,” said Menzies.

He applouded the discipline showed by his team and lauded the efforts of his goalkeeper, who had a good game between the sticks. He acknowledged, however that the overall fitness of the team needed to be addressed.

“I thought we were disciplined; we played hard in the back. I thought Nicole had a great game for us, a lot of action in the second half.

“I just thought our fitness needed to be better, and that is something we were always credited for in qualifying. But players are going away to Europe and taking rest time for the winter break, so we just gotta get back fitter and hopefully we can work on that.”

The man who guided Jamaica to the historic achievement of Women’s World Cup qualification appreciates fully the psychological impact of Thursday night’s win.

“Overall, we got the result — which is the big thing for us; it gives us a little bit of a boost going into the next game. Obviously we want to win, especially on our home soil — that is important for us.”

But he promised not to get too caught up with the result ahead of the second game tomorrow in Montego Bay.

“We are going to critique our performance, that’s just the way we are; we do a lot of work behind the scenes. We are going to break down film and have the players look at the gaps that we feel we failed to close down offensively and defensively. There are some things we have to clean up a little bit, but we are still in evaluation mode with the players.”

Fans in the western end of the island will get to see a number of players who were rested for the tie on Thursday, Menzies promised.

“Obviously, we are going to have to get to a point where we get to the final squad so the next game you will see a different line-up, where we will get more players involved and limit some of the playing time of some of the players that played today (Thursday),” he disclosed.

Jamaica will face Chile in game two at Catherine Hall Stadium, starting a 7:00 pm.