REGGAE GIRLZ head coach Hubert Busby says they aim to win and improve their FIFA rankings when they tackle South Africa in the second of two international friendly football games at the Montego Bay Sports Complex tonight at 7:30.
The Reggae Girlz had a commanding 3-0 win in the first leg with Siobhan Wilson netting her first international goal and star forward Khadija Shaw scoring in the 56th and 57th minutes after completing a brace.
Despite the quick turnaround, Busby said an ambition of his is to continue to rise in the Fifa rankings ahead of next year.
“The Fifa rankings sometimes are a little bit not really an indication to where everything is, but they are important when it comes down to seeding and doing some other things as well,” he pointed out. “Especially when it comes to Concacaf competitions and World Cup qualifiers, they are really important from that aspect. Even in terms of sometimes with players getting the necessary points they need to get into the requisite leagues around the world they would want to play in,” the Reggae Girlz coach said.
“We take every match seriously, with the idea that we want to win. The idea in line is that we are looking to put on the best performance possible so another good win for us will be helpful heading into the new year,” he added.
The Jamaica coach noted that they prepared well for the South Africans and executed well in Friday’s opening match.
“After watching South Africa play recently in England, it was helpful for us in preparation. We have a chance to … scout and watch teams online. But you see these things in person that you don’t always see on the scouting platform. It is a good chance to see these little nuances in the way that they play. Obviously, they are missing one or two key players based on that match,” Busby assessed.
“Overall they are a well-coached team and making sure we were able to nullify some of their threats was very helpful. Credit to the team for executing the plan. That one is done and now we are on to the next match.”
The Reggae Girlz will rely on Shaw, Allyson Swaby and Jody Brown to lead their hunt for another victory.
ADJUSTMENTS
Meanwhile, head coach of South Africa, Dr Desiree Ellis, said with very little time in between games, the team will make the necessary adjustments for the matchup.
“First of all we need to retain possession more and our movement also needs to be better, especially in the final third. We need to be very concentrated at the back. I think at times we did not move enough when we had the ball,” Dr. Ellis said.
“Our strength is not to play long. Our strength is to keep the ball and, you know, run behind and play the ball through and, hopefully, we can work on some of those things,” she analysed.
“We’ve also got to look at the players’ fatigue that sets in and see how we can manage that, and which persons are we going to give an opportunity to in the next game. We have to test players and to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to play, so that when we go back we have a bigger core group of players,” Ellis said.
“I think if you look at our last game against England, we had made seven changes, bringing seven other players in place of the players that were not available either due to injury, due to exams, or playing a competition at the club … because of the short timeframe,” she added.
South Africa will need a better performance from main players Bongeka Gamede and Linda Motlhalo to even out the friendly series.
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