‘We want to play our football’

Having booked their spot in the Concacaf W Championship after a perfect run in the Concacaf W Qualifiers, Reggae Girlz head coach Hubert Busby says his charges must continue to express themselves through their brand of football.

The Reggae Girlz enjoyed a dominant run in Group B of the W Qualifiers, finishing with a perfect record of four wins in a row, scoring 27 goals along the way, while only conceding twice.

The Girlz also impressed with their performances on the pitch, playing a fluid and exciting brand of football.

Busby said one of the aims of the qualifying campaign has been to establish a style of play that reflects the creative and exciting culture of the Jamaican people.

“It’s not about creating something that’s another nation’s. It’s about who we are as Jamaicans. The principles are the principles and I think that’s really why it’s not so much about the formations, it’s about the principles and how we want to play,” Busby explained.

“We talk about the identity. As Jamaicans, we want to be able to take players on, be creative. Whether it’s a salad or an air pile, it gets the crowd up and ready, and that also gets that momentum behind the group,” he continued.

“If the player is able to take on those roles or take on players in the attacking third, we want to see that more often. Again, they’re dynamic, and that’s what we want. That kind of speaks to the nature of Jamaican players.”

BIGGER TEAMS

Busby, however, admitted the W Championship will prove a more difficult challenge as the Girlz will face off against bigger teams with a smaller margin of error.

The W Championship will be played in a single-legged knockout format with the four winners from the quarterfinals qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

This means the Girlz are now one win away from qualifying for a third-straight World Cup.

They will face off against Costa Rica in their quarterfinal fixture, a repeat of the 2022 W Championship third-place playoff match, where Jamaica came out 1-0 winners after extra time.

Busby is expecting a stern challenge in the W Championship, and said while they will not be able to play as freely as they did in the qualifiers, he is confident they have the quality to play their brand of football.

“Each game poses a different problem and we have to have a different solution,” Busby explained.

“This team’s defensive solidity has been the backbone of the success, and so we need to obviously continue to improve on that out of possession.”

“We have to be brave to want to be able to play because it speaks to the nature of the quality of the players we have. Now, can we go and do that against top-five opposition? No. It would be a different sort of game,” he continued.

“But we want to be able to at least sort of express ourselves and get on the ball a bit more. It will depend on what the game requires, but ultimately, we want to be able to play football the way that we want to as well.”

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com