It's the best I've seen them play, says Blaine
Hurbun Williams, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Reggae Girlz head coach Vin Blaine (left) he made his way through arrivals at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday. Inset: Venicia Reid displays trophies for individual awards won. Reid was the top goalscorer with six strikes. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
Vin Blaine, coach of Jamaica's women's football team, has revealed that his Reggae Girlz are rapidly becoming the model for the region and that with proper financial support, they have the capacity to move into one of the top three positions in CONCACAF.
No idle boasting, an ecstatic Blaine said it was "the best he had seen the women's team play" after arriving at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday with his triumphant Reggae Girlz from Trinidad and Tobago, where the team qualified for the women's Gold Cup in the USA in November.
The Reggae Girlz beat Bermuda 7-0 and then outmanoeuvred a hard-tackling Haiti 3-0 in the second game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifiers in the twin-island republic on Sunday to book their spot in the Gold Cup.
After a below par performance against Bermuda in their first match last Wednesday, the Reggae Girlz returned four days later to give an awe-inspiring performance against Haiti.
It was a display of scintillating football characterised by quality passing, marking, timely interceptions and sometimes astute positional play, reminiscent of men's football. And this convinced Blaine that Jamaica's women's football team is well on its way to becoming one of the finest in the CONCACAF region.
"It is the best I've seen them play, ever," Blaine revelled in the thought. "The entire unit came together as one. A single entity when forwards, mid-fielders and defenders all combined as a symphony to play very well and consistent. I could not single out any one player to be the outstanding among all others. It was truly a magnificent display," Blaine said.
Outlining how Jamaica qualified, Blaine said: "We played two games, Bermuda first and that was a fairly easy game, though we did not play as well on that day. The second game against Haiti was much tougher. I saw them playing on the Friday and they were a hard-running, hard- tackling team.
"We therefore sat down and worked out how we were going to counter that approach and with flying colours the Girlz came on and did a fine job. Countering their every aggressive play, the Reggae Girls kept running at them and playing good tactical football.
"In the end, we proved technically superior to the Haitians. They ran well, but if you pressured the ball then you throw them off their game. We did just that and it paid rich dividends for us," Blaine said.
Jamaica's next stop is the Gold Cup in November, and despite the team's good showing in the recent qualifiers Blaine said there was still a lot to do. "We still have a lot of work to do to prepare for this. Hopefully, we can get some good preparation in as we will go up against the USA, Mexico, Canada, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.
"We've seen Trinidad play, we've played Panama before. These two will not be too much of a threat right now. It is the three top teams (USA, Mexico and Canada) that are now our major concern."
However, the Reggae Girlz team coach thinks that "generally the team is pretty close to where we want to be at present. Mentally, we showed in the game against Haiti that we have the capacity to excel when called upon to do so. The Girlz are really playing some wonderful football," Blaine ended.
