DESPITE losing 0-3 to powerhouses France in the international friendly game on Friday, Jamaica’s senior women’s football team Head Coach Hubert Busby expressed satisfaction with the team’s display under the circumstances.

Clara Mateo (22nd minute), Captain Wendie Renard (39th minute), and Sandy Baltimore (48th minute) got on the scoresheet for the home team in the match at Stade Auguste-Bonal in eastern France.

Busby acknowledged the limited training time but he highlighted the team’s improvement throughout the game, particularly against a strong French team in a challenging environment.

“Considering the lack of, you know, preparation that we’ve had, I think we’ve had a good three or four days of training,” Busby said in a post-game interview.

“Again, coming up against a really good French team and in a really competitive environment, I thought overall [that] as the game went on, the team got better. I think these are the games that we want to play. We have to just keep on building on what we want to do as we go into the next window,” he further said.

Busby emphasised the importance of building upon the team’s progress and refining their strategies for future matches. He mentioned the upcoming window in Jamaica where they will face South Africa, and outlined their goals to solidify their principles and address weaknesses identified in the match against France.

“So as of right now, we [will] kind of turn the page and get ready for the next window in Jamaica when we host South Africa, and then we look to build on the principles that we’ve laid this week and look to correct some of the things that we didn’t do as well in tonight’s match,” the head coach said.

Busby also recognised the challenges of incorporating new players into the team and the resulting disjointedness. He stressed the need for continued cohesion and building strong relationships among the players, as this will lead to improved performance.

“Yeah, I think the ability for us to continue to have some cohesion [is necessary.] I think when you bring in new players into the group you can see that they’re a little bit disjointed, and so the more that we can continue to be together and keep building as a group, the better we’ll be,” Busby outlined.

“I think just having some of the cohesive pieces, and understanding and building relationships on the pitch are always really important. So when you bring in new players, getting a better understanding of how some of those players around you play, it will take some time.

“But, as [the] game went on, I saw [that] it got better. And I think one of the things in the second half that I definitely wanted to see was their ability to compete a bit more. And that was that was better in the second half,” Busby said.