Despite losing both games played thus far in the ongoing four-team Cup of Nations tournament in Australia, head coach Lorne Donaldson remains fully focused on the task at hand which is to expose and test fringe players in his player pool.
The Reggae Girls lost 2-3 to the Czech Republic at CommBank Stadium in Australia on Saturday to follow up their 0-3 loss to Spain in their opening round game the previous Thursday.
But for now, victory is not the most important goal of Donaldson, as he continues to examine the talent and quality at his disposal ahead of this summer FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in Australia and New Zealand.
“We are building so we are still looking at players, and some of the players here are players that we are looking at and we put them in some tough situations [because we’re testing them]. Yes, you want to win games, but you have to look at the bigger picture and just see where we want to go,” the head coach told the media at game’s end.
“We are trying to build a squad, and because of that we had a couple of good players that didn’t play because we want to look at some other players. We have to continue the same way, thinking that we are building towards something special,” he added.
The victors got their goals from Andrea Staskova in the 24th minute, Kiara Cahynova in the 45th +5 minutes, and substitute Alena Peckova in the 90th minute.
Jody Brown in the 42nd minute and 19-year-old Kameron Simmonds with her first international goal in the 55th minute twice pulled Jamaica level.
Despite the result, there were some pleasing facets of the game for Donaldson. “We had some young players out there and I think they did very well. Some of them are first-timers and I thought they came out and gave us a good shift, so we were pleased with the young players’ performances.”
And on the other hand, the tactician was also dissatisfied with some basics which were not executed properly. “Whether you win or lose a close game such as this one comes down to how well you manage the game — especially when you’re tired — and we were awful at that. Our execution at the back wasn’t up to par. We gave up a goal in the last minute of the first half and again at the end because it’s almost as if we think we can’t play the game outside of the box,” he lamented.
Looking ahead to the final game against Australia who edged Spain 3-2 in their clash on Saturday, Donaldson promised more of the same, in terms of approach.
“They [Australia] are home, they are energetic, and they are a good team, so we have to come out again and do some good stuff against them. We are still going to do what we set out to do, which is to continue looking at players, because we want to make sure that we leave no stone unturned so [that] when we get back, we can narrow down our squad. We are looking at players and so they have to perform.
“We are trying to build into the World Cup so when we select the final group then the little things in terms of closing out a game or getting a pass right, and stuff like that, we can correct that, but we have long ways to go, and we know that.
“We came here because it’s three quality teams, so we wanted to mimic what things will be like at the World Cup, so players know what to expect. It’s been great so far and we look forward to the last game against the Matildas,” the coach concluded.
