Blaine urges World Cup-chasing Girlz to get it right for Cayman and beyond
Making up the goal difference is high on their agenda, but Reggae Girlz interim Head Coach Vinimore “Vin” Blaine says it is equally important to deliver more professional performances in the upcoming first-round World Cup qualifying fixtures.
Unlike what they did against Grenada where they lost composure and shape in the process of trying to drum up a wider margin of victory than the 6-1 scoreline, Blaine is expecting a more complete showing, both in attack and defence in this match window, starting with their visit to Cayman Islands.
The Girlz delegation is scheduled to depart the island on Thursday ahead of that Cayman Islands contest on Saturday, before returning home for what should be the Group C decider against the Dominican Republic next Tuesday.
Both the Reggae Girlz and Dominican Republic are on three points with the latter currently in pole position with a four-goal advantage.
“The ladies know what they have to do so we haven’t mentioned anything to them in terms of what is required where goals are concerned. I think it was too much of a focus in the last game against Grenada, not so much from the Girlz but from our perspective and it didn’t aid the Girlz performance even though they won,” Blaine told the Jamaica Observer.
“So it’s a case of not wanting them to focus on how much goals they have to score, but more so on ensuring that we produce a wholesome performance to look a much better team than we did in Grenada. The training sessions have gone well and the mood in the camp has been good and I think the girls are ready to travel,” he added.
With Leicester City’s Paige Bailey-Gayle and Chelsea’s Drew Spence among the 22-member squad which had a mini camp and three training sessions at Sabina Park, Blaine believes they offer more attacking thrust, especially for a Cayman Islands team which is expected to crowd their defensive third.
“We are very happy to have them and to do some work with them, Drew is still a maybe because of documentation and we are still waiting on Jade [Bailey] but having those two players in will give us more attacking options. Because to be honest, I think they (Cayman Islands) are going to come with a low block defensive line and go long with the ball.
“So we have to be calm, play our game and just spread them out a bit because they play a 5-3-2 formation from what I have seen; so we have been working on how we want to play. We know they are going to try to mark Bunny [Khadija Shaw] out of the game, so we want to counter that by maintaining possession and spread them wide,” Blaine noted.
The veteran tactician also welcomed the return of holding midfielder Marlo Sweatman from injury, and another defender Courtney Douglas, who makes a return to the national programme after some time away.
These players, Blaine said, will bolster the backline and add to the teams fluidity when playing out from the back.
“We are confident of a better execution but not over confident. The important thing is that we focus on our game. Another difference is the fact that we now had a little time with them, we never had time the first two games but we had them for a good three or four sessions now so we were able to go over some of those patterns,” Blaine shared.
“So what we have done is sort of tried to iron out the mistakes we made in Grenada, defensively more so than anything else. That’s where we lost alot of the possession, so it’s good to have Courtney and Marlo also back which is another boost for us,” he ended.
Squad: Sydney Schneider, Yazmeen Jamieson, Rebecca Spencer, Allyson Swaby, Chantelle Swaby, Vyan Simpson, Mikayla Dayes, Kalyssa Van Zanten Chinyelu Asher, Sashana Campbell, Jody Brown, Khadija Shaw, Tiffany Cameron, Trudi Carter, Kayla McCoy, Tiernny Wiltshire, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Mireya Grey, Marlo Sweatman, Paige Bailey-Gayle, Drew Spence, Courtney Douglas.