Despite having no on-field time with his Reggae Girlz since taking over as head coach, Vinimore “Vin” Blaine believes the team has enough firepower to safely navigate the first phase of the Concacaf Women’s Championships, which serves as qualifier for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

In most circumstances, any other coach would be concerned about the lack of preparation time to build out a cohesive unit, but Blaine’s confidence comes from knowing that the 23 players named, all have experience playing at a high level and most have represented the country together at some point.

In fact, the core of the squad comprises players who were part of the historic 2019 World Cup unit looking to achieve the great repeat, while the others — barring Logan McFadden, Malikae Dayes, Mikayla Dayes, Alika Keene and Kalyssa Van Zanten — would have suited up for one of three friendly encounters against United States, Nigeria and Costa Rica.

The Girlz are scheduled to arrive in the island on Monday to start their journey towards Australia/New Zealand at home against Bermuda next Thursday, before travelling to face Grenada, three days later.

They will then visit Cayman Islands on April 9, and complete their first-round fixtures at home to Dominican Republic on April 12.

“All the players are experienced and all of them are playing, so it is just for me to organise them the way I want them to play,” Blaine said yesterday during a virtual press conference on Thursday.

“I am definitely happy, as I said we have some good players, we all can say this is potentially the best team we have ever had, they are experienced which makes it a little easier for me. Tactically they are aware; it is just for us to bond as a team now and also for me to earn their trust and respect to get them to the point where we want them to be, which is in the World Cup,” he added.

Still, Blaine is no stranger to the players, as he has done outstanding foundational work on building out the women’s programme and even went close to qualification a few times.

While the expectations are even higher on this occasion, especially with the Reggae Boyz failing in their campaign, the veteran tactician says he feels very little pressure to have the team deliver.

After first-phase action, 30 nations, placed in six groups of five, will battle for six spots in the second phase, with the winner of each advancing to the final competition. The USA and Canada, the top-seeded teams, earned byes to the eight-team tournament.

“I think I am experienced enough to know what happens at this level, I was actually assistant coach to [Winfried] Schafer, I managed the Reggae Boyz and Girlz, so there is no form of nerve on my part, I don’t even want it to come across to the young ladies that I am nervous. I have to have a positive mindset going into this tournament and the players are all confident, I’ve spoken to them and they are ready to go,” Blaine shared.

He continued: “They (the players) would say these (first-round games) are practice games; yes, they might be practice games but we have to be serious about them, so I am not pressured. They Boyz failed but I am not focusing on what they did, we have to focus on what we have to do, that is the most important thing for me.

“So I am looking forward to the journey, like I said, we do have some good players and I think it is just for us now to get started. All the teams are going to get our respect because everyone is now doing what Jamaica is doing, bringing in overseas players to shore up our team.

On that note, Blaine pointed out that the depth of the Reggae Girlz pool has allowed for suitable replacements to come in for former captain Konya Plummer and Cheyna Matthews, who are missing from the squad for personal reasons.

Chelsea’s Drew Spence, Liverpool’s Jade Bailey, Bristol City’s Satara Murray, Paige Bailey-Gayle of Leicester City and Atlanta Primus, are also missing due to a delay with their documents.

“We still have a formidable team with some experienced players and some new players that I am taking the opportunity to look at. The beauty about a team like this one is that they are experienced and are playing at a high level and as I said fortunately for us they have played together before.

“So my job is not to develop their technical abilities. It is all about the tactical work and that means how I want them to play and I think they are intelligent enough players for me to get that across to them without any issues,” Blaine reasoned.

Finally, Blaine identified the defence as the only area of concern that requires immediate corrective surgery.

“That is where we will be concentrating on first. I think individually we have good players, but collectively we are not organised defensively and it’s one of our weak areas in the team,” he noted.

“Unfortunately, with Konya out, the backline will be a fairly new backline, so my first task is to get them playing together on how to move defensively. We made some silly mistakes against the United States, none of those four goals that scored on us should have been conceded if we were doing the correct thing. So my job right now is to not waste time but to really pay a lot of attention to the defensive unit,” Blaine ended.

Squad: Sydney Schneider, Yazmeen Jamieson, Rebecca Spencer, Allyson Swaby, Chantelle Swaby, Vyan Simpson, Logan McFadden, Malikae Dayes, Mikayla Dayes, Alika Keene, Kalyssa Van Zanten Chinyelu Asher, Sashana Campbell, Gabrielle Gayle, Jody Brown, Khadija Shaw, Tiffany Cameron, Trudi Carter, Dominique Bond-Flasza, Kayla McCoy, Tiernny Wiltshire, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Mireya Grey.