INTERIM Reggae Girlz Head Coach Xavier Gilbert says it will be challenging getting the team organised for next week’s Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup Qualifiers against Panama and Guatemala, due to the issues surrounding the team.

None of the players who played for Jamaica at last summer’s Fifa Women’s World Cup and the Paris Olympic Qualifiers in September have made the squad. This, according to Jamaica Observer sources, is due to a number of issues including an alleged pay dispute between the players and the governing Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

Late Friday afternoon the JFF announced a 23-member squad, just five days before their opening match against hosts Panama. Three players from the squad — Chris-Ann Chambers, Destiny Powell and Shaneil Buckley — were set to play for Jamaica against Mexico on Sunday in the Pan American Games in Chile, but will have to leave the South American nation to join the delegation in Panama.

Notable names in the makeshift squad are midfielders Marlo Sweatman and Chinleyu Asher, who were part of the Girlz squad for the World Cup back in 2019. The rest of the squad is made up local and overseas-based players, some of whom participated in the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador last summer when the team went winless in their three matches.

Speaking with the Observer, Gilbert, who earlier this week was appointed as head coach for the short term, acknowledged the situation isn’t ideal but is confident this crop of players can get some positive results.

“It’s always going to be difficult, and that’s the thing with the international window. You don’t have the time to assemble them in long camps, but we’re going to do what we have to do and see how best we can get them playing together,” he said.

Gilbert, however, would not be drawn into some of the issues facing the women’s team which ruled out several star names for the important fixtures.

“My philosophy is always: ‘Control what you can control.’ I can’t control the other thing, and that’s just how I go about things.”

The squad is scheduled to assemble in Panama City on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s matchup. The team is also likely to only have one training session, which is set for Tuesday at 5:00 pm.

Following the Panama game the delegation will fly to Jamaica where they will host Guatemala on Saturday.

Only the winner of the three-team group will advance to the first-ever Concacaf W Gold Cup set for February 20 to March 10 next year in the United States.