Coach Busby was encouraged despite the Reggae Girlz losing to France

DESPITE losing 0-3 to powerhouse France in an international friendly on Friday, Jamaica women’s soccer head coach Hubert Busby expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance under the circumstances.

Clara Mateo (22nd minute), captain Wendie Renard (39th minute) and Sandy Baltimore (48th minute) got on the scoresheet for the home side in the match at the Stade Auguste-Bonal in eastern France.

Busby acknowledged the limited training time but highlighted the team’s improvement throughout the game, particularly against a strong French side in a challenging environment.

“Considering the lack of preparation I’ve had, I think I’ve had a good three or four days of practice,” Busby said in a post-match interview.

“Again, coming up against a very good French team and in a really competitive environment, I thought as the game went on the team got better. I think these are the games we want to play. We have to keep building on what we want to do as we go into the next window,” he added.

Busby stressed the importance of building on the team’s progress and refining their strategies for future matches. He mentioned the upcoming window in Jamaica, where they will face South Africa, and outlined his goals to strengthen his principles and address the weaknesses identified in the match against France.

“So from now on we will turn the page and prepare for the next window in Jamaica when we host South Africa and then look to build on the principles we set this week and look to put some of the things right on which we didn’t do as well in tonight’s game,” said the head coach.

Busby also acknowledged the challenges of incorporating new players into the squad and the resulting inconsistency. He stressed the need for continuous cohesion and building strong relationships between players as this will lead to improved performance.

“Yeah, I think our ability to continue to have some cohesion (is needed.) I think when you bring new players into the group, you can see that they’re a little bit divided, and so the more we can. continue to be together and continue to build as a group, the better we will be,” stressed Busby.

“I think just having some of the cohesive elements and understanding and building relationships on the ground are always very important. So when you bring in new players, to get a better understanding of how some of those players around you play, it’s going to take some time.

“But as the game went on, we saw that he got better. And I think one of the things in the second half that I definitely wanted to see was their ability to compete a little bit more. And that was better in the second half,” Busby said.