WITH their opponents for the preliminary round of the Concacaf Women’s Championship now set, Reggae Girlz Head Coach Hubert Busby says the focus is currently on finalising camps for the next two months to intensify preparation.

Though there was a break in momentum since their two games in the US Soccer 2021 Women’s National Team Summer Series, which served to help rid the team of the proverbial cobwebs following over 15 months of inactivity, for Busby, it is all about picking up where they left off.

The 51st-ranked Reggae Girlz will enter the first phase of the revamped Concacaf Women’s Championship — which now serves as a qualifier for both the World Cup and Olympic Games — as top seed in Group C where they are set to face Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Grenada and Cayman Islands.

“These groups are always a lot trickier than they look, so we just need to focus on ourselves and do what we need to do to ensure that we progress,” said Busby.

“So we are still looking at camps in September and October; obviously we are still working through the COVID situation and travelling is still a bit complicated. But, the goal is to have two camps leading up to the first round of World Cup qualifiers in November…those are ongoing plans and we hope to finalise everything very soon,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Busby, who previously served as goalkeeper coach in the Hue Menzies-led technical staff, remembers clearly how a lack of adequate preparation and salary issues marred the Girlz’s World Cup-qualifying campaign in 2018.

Even though they went on to make the historic appearance at the 2019 showpiece in France, he is hoping to avoid a similar situation on this occasion.

“The talks are ongoing with the Jamaica Football Federation, the players and some of our sponsors, as well the Bob Marley and Reggae Girlz foundations. They are working closely to see what we can do to ensure there are no off-field distractions and also to ensure that the team and all the players are prepared, coming in, with the right mindset,” Busby shared.

“That said, most of our ladies are in clubs now all across the world so they are in environments training week in and week out — which is vitally important for the team heading into World Cup qualifiers,” he added.

On that note, the tactician also weighed the significance of his team playing more games in the new women’s national team cycle, recently introduced by the confederation as part of its commitment to provide more opportunities for all member associations.

The first phase of this cycle begins with the Fifa Women’s match windows of November 2021 and April 2022, which will serve as the preliminary round of the 2022 Women’s Championship. This phase will include 30 Concacaf nations — ranked three and below in the Fifa women’s ranking as of July 2021 — divided into six groups of five.

After group stage play, where each nation will play two matches at home and two away, the top finisher in each of the groups will advance to the Women’s Championship, joining the top two-ranked teams (United States and Canada), who received byes.

“The new developments are very positive and I know it is only going to enhance the growth of the women’s game in the region, obviously, for us as well as the other nations. It presents some definite matches for teams to get together and ultimately look to improve and provide experience for some of these up-and-coming players through these competitions. So, it will transform the game in Concacaf,” Busby reasoned.

For Busby, the fact that his team was out of action since the Olympic qualifiers in February last year, prior to the Summer Series fixtures against world champions and number one-ranked United States and 38th-ranked Nigeria in June, speaks volumes about how beneficial this new format will be for teams.

“It’s a great opportunity to know that there are games already put into your calendar because it is always a challenge to find games or organise games if there is none on the calendar, so to be able to have these games is encouraging for us,” the former goalkeeper noted.

For the Women’s Championship, USA, Canada and the six group winners from the qualifiers will be divided into two groups of four teams.

After group stage play, the top two finishers in each group will qualify for the competition’s semi-finals and guarantee their place in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, both group stage third-place finishers will advance to a Fifa Women’s World Cup intercontinental play-off.

At the conclusion of the event, the winning nation will guarantee its place in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and the 2024 Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup. The runner-up and the third-place team will progress to a Concacaf Olympic play-in series to be contested in September 2023. The winner of the play-in will also guarantee their place in Paris and the Gold Cup.

Qualifying for the Gold Cup will begin after the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

“As you know, we have only played two games so far this year, so the new format is going to be exciting. Playing games that count, in a period that allows for very little mistakes, means we are going to have to make sure that we are prepared heading in.

“So our focus now is on the next few months and most notably, November. That is really where our focus is at this time and that is what we are preparing for,” Busby ended.