Defence needs to step up to secure knockout berth – Gilbert
Published:Wednesday | March 2, 2022 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
ALTHOUGH JAMAICA are in a favourable position to qualify for the next round of the Concacaf Under-20 Women’s Championship, national under-20 coach Xavier Gilbert says the young Reggae Girlz need to improve their defensive shape if they are to continue their quest for an Under-20 World Cup berth.
The young Reggae Girlz will face Haiti this evening at 6 at the San Cristobal Panamerican Stadium in the Dominican Republic, with a draw guaranteeing their place in the knockout round.
After an opening group H defeat to Guatemala on Saturday, Jamaica bounced back on Monday dispatching Cuba 3-0, thanks to a brace from Kameron Simmonds and a late tally from Christina Salmon.
STILL EXPOSED
Despite an improvement in their offensive execution, Gilbert says they were still exposed in parts of the game by Cuba.
“We have to be tighter at the back. We have to be more compact defensively. There are some spaces that we need to ensure that we converge to not allow the opponents to play in those spaces. So that is something that we are working on,” Gilbert told The Gleaner. Haiti and Guatemala drew 1-1 in their game on Monday.
Simmonds said that the improvements in their communication, which was lacking in Saturday’s game, needed to be maintained if they are to get past the last 16.
“We need to keep building off of the much better performance from Saturday. We were talking much better, we were handling the ball much better. We just need to grow and continue on that,” Simmonds said.
Jamaica are currently in third place with three points with a plus two goal difference while Cuba, who have lost their first two games, are at the bottom of the table with a minus four goal difference.
Cuba would need to defeat Guatemala by at least four goals and hope Jamaica lose by at least three to go through. Although Gilbert says they will have the advantage of knowing what will be required with Cuba and Guatemala playing earlier in the afternoon (3 o’clock), their goal to win the group has not changed.
“Fortunately for us, we will know the result of the Guatemala-Cuba game before [we take the field]. But our job is to advance to the next round and take it from there. Offensively, we have to be a little bit more composed in front of goal and see if we can [improve] our conversion rate,” Gilbert said.