3 days ago
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Reggae Girlz head coach Hubert Busby said his players are prepared for the upcoming Concacaf W Qualifiers, as they have been consistently exposed to high-intensity games over the past year.
Jamaica will contest Group B of the W Qualifiers alongside Guyana, Nicaragua, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda.
The winners of the group will advance to the 2026 Concacaf W Championships, which will serve as the qualifiers for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
With his eyes firmly set on the first match day in November, Busby said his players are no strangers to high-pressure fixtures.
He said this after fixtures against the United States, England, Brazil, France, Mexico, South Africa and Peru over the past calendar year.
“As the saying goes, iron sharpens iron,” the Reggae Girlz boss said. “We have a competitive group of players and, most importantly, we have players who we can rely on.
“They have had the experience against four of the top 10 teams in the world, including world champions, Olympic champions, Copa [America] champions, and European champions. We’ve faced them all.”
“In that aspect, these players now are better equipped to face whoever we will face, and can say they have ran the gauntlet.”
With Jamaica entering as one of the top-ranked teams in the W Qualifiers, expectations are high for the Reggae Girlz.
The Girlz are ranked 40th in the world, with their closest rivals in the group being Guyana, who are ranked 50 places lower than Jamaica, at 90th globally.
In fact, Antigua, who are the lowest ranked team in the group, are ranked 140 places lower than Jamaica in 180th.
Busby cautioned, however, that it would be unwise to disregard the threat each team poses, as the Girlz will not only face challenges on the field of play.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a favourable draw. I think it is a tricky draw in a sense that we will have to navigate and prepare accordingly and respect all our oppositions, because these are crucial matches,” he said.
“These matches pose tricky travel and tricky venues. Some of them might be played on cricket pitches, so there are games that will be tricky for us to navigate. But, as long as we focus on the things we want to implement over the past year, then we will be fine.”
SELECTING THE TEAMS
Busby said, for each game, he will enter with the mindset of selecting the strongest team available, as he is not underestimating his opponents.
He, however, admitted it will bring some issues for him, as the national programme’s player pool has expanded over the past few years.
This, he said, means the Reggae Girlz will be able to remain a competitive team for the years to come.
“We can’t say we want to be a top-three team in Concacaf without expanding the pool and having a competitive pool of players,” he explained.
“Players have to be in competitive environments to improve, and they have to compete to earn their spots, not just in a travel roster or a playing roster, but obviously they also have to earn their spots in the starting line-up.”
With the women’s qualifiers to be single-legged fixtures, Busby has called on the support of the Jamaican public for the home games, which he believes will be important to the team.
English (US) ·