There is an English saying, “If you play with fire, you get burned.” Well, that appears to be exactly what the Vin Blaine-coached Reggae Girlz are doing after two games in the CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Reggae Girlz, who created history by qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Finals in France in 2019, have been drawn in a five-nation Group C in the preliminary phase of the qualifiers, where only the group winners advance.
Jamaica started with a 4-0 victory over Bermuda at home, then labored to a 6-1 win over Grenada on Sunday. Though gaining a maximum of six points from the two games, Jamaica sits in second place on goal difference behind the Dominican Republic, who have also registered two wins.
The Dom Rep defeated Grenada 9-0 then followed up with a 4-0 defeat of the Cayman Islands to lead the group with a positive 13 goal difference. At the same time, Jamaica has a positive nine goal-difference.
On April 9, Jamaica visits the Cayman Islands and hosts Dom Rep three days later.
Being four goals behind on goal difference, the Reggae Girlz could find themselves in a situation where they could need a win against Dom Rep on April 12. In contrast, the Spanish-speaking nation could require a mere draw to embarrass the Girlz, dumping them out at the first qualifying phase.
Since their historic journey to the France World Cup Finals, the Reggae Girlz have shown steady improvement, especially with several of them finding employment in professional clubs all over the world. Now they are expected to make another serious bid to repeat that historic feat by qualifying for the 2023 edition of the FIFA Women’s showpiece event.
Hugh Menzies, who was head coach of the team in 2019, was replaced by his assistants Lorne Donaldson and later Hubert Busby. Busby has since been accused of sexual misconduct by a player during his days as a club coach in North America.
Busby has been sidelined by the Jamaica Football Federation since, with Blaine, a former coach of the Reggae Girlz, being given the job to guide them to another World Cup.
But after two games, Blaine’s team has not looked the part at all, leaving many to worry about the team’s future.
The Girlz look disorganized, disjointed, and unconvincing against much weaker rivals, a far cry from when Menzies, Donaldson, or Busby had control of the team.
Based on the structure of the qualifying format, group winners stand a great chance of qualifying for the World Cup, so the Reggae Girlz needs to advance from this round.
No one can deny the upward trajectory of the Reggae Girlz since the World Cup. So, it came as a major surprise when Blaine was given the job ahead of Donaldson, who had made progress with the team during his brief stint in charge.
Should fate deal the Girlz a major blow at the first hurdle, one cannot help but place serious scrutiny on the JFF’s Technical Committee, who would have selected Blaine ahead of Donaldson.
Considering that the same committee recommended the firing of Theodore Whitmore as Head Coach of the men’s team, despite the opposition to do so due to the delicate position of the Reggae Boyz at the time, its competence would be on the line, and that of the JFF leadership as well.
Everybody within the federation must be held accountable for their actions, and the leadership “should use sleep to mark death.”
