Powerhouse of an opportunity
Reggae Girlz coach backs Gold Cup to establish dominance
Published:Thursday | March 9, 2023 | 1:18 AMLivingston Scott /Gleaner Writer
REGGAE GIRLZ head coach Lorne Donaldson believes that the introduction of the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup will help the Jamaican team establish itself as one of the best in the region.
Donaldson pointed out that the absence of regular games for teams like Jamaica makes it difficult to establish their pedigree against the elites of the region, who consistently play high-level games.
However, he believes that with the quality players the Reggae Girlz have, by playing regular matches against top teams in Concacaf, they can make Jamaica a more respected force in the region and the Gold Cup allows for that.
“As it is right now, we do not get (many) games. Teams like Canada, the USA, and Mexico play a lot of games.
“But this will help us play more games so we can get into the top echelons of teams in the region and make ourselves one of the dominant teams,” he commented.
The Reggae Girlz are currently ranked fourth in Concacaf and Donaldson does not think they are far off from becoming a regional powerhouse in the women’s game.
“I do not see us very far from that because we have top-notch players. But we still want more, and this will give us a platform to build more.
“Concacaf is a very strong region with some of the top teams. It will expose more players on a higher-level platform. This is going to make us better as a country.
“So this can just be a win-win situation. I just hope Jamaica will support it because it is going to be good for the young females playing high school and the local women’s league,” he said.
On Wednesday, as part of the commemoration of International Women’s Day, Concacaf announced the dates and format for the inaugural tournament, which takes place from February 17 – March 10, 2024, in the United States, with the qualification process set to kick off in September 2023.
The Reggae Girlz can secure an automatic spot in the tournament if they can beat Canada in their Olympics play-in berth in September. They would join the USA, who qualified automatically by winning the 2022 Concacaf Women’s Championship.
However, if Jamaica fails to secure that automatic spot, they will be one of the top nine ranked regional teams that will be place in League A, which will consist of three groups of three.
The top three teams from each League A group will qualify for the Gold Cup group stage.
The three League A runners-up will then play off against the three League B winners for the other three spots.
Four invited South American teams, along with the two automatic qualifiers, will make up the 12 teams to contest the tournament.
Donaldson added that having the South Americans will give the tournament a whole new dimension
“It’s good for the women to have this competition, so we can play against other countries, especially the South Americans.
“People will be attracted to us more because they will see us more on a platform like the Gold Cup playing against high-level teams. So this is excellent. It is long overdue and Concacaf has finally come good to make this happen.”