Ahead of their second Group F match at the Women’s World Cup this Saturday, Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson said he expects a “dogfight” when his side go up against debutants Panama.
The former Jamaica international believes Las Canaleras will be looking to put behind their disappointing start when they come up against his team and he is looking forward to a tough game as both sides have something to prove.
“Nothing has been decided group-wise, so we expect Panama to come out and it’s going to be a dogfight,” he said. “So, you know, we expect a tight game from Panama.”
“Again, Panama is here for a reason, to qualify [for the knockout phase] and as I said before, nothing has been decided. And all the teams in this World Cup seems to come out and give it their best. And we have to be very good, to get a result against Panama. So, but I expect Panama to come out and fight to the bitter end.”
The Raggae Girlz, who picked up their first-ever point in the Women’s World Cup following a goalless draw against France in their opening game, will be without captain and talisman Khadija Shaw after she received a red card late in the game.
However, Donaldson, who praised Shaw – the country’s leading scorer in both the men’s and women’s game, responded by saying his team is very resilient and they will find a way to play without the Manchester City star.
“Yeah. I mean, your all-time leading scorer, I mean men and women in Jamaica football, yeah, that’s a tough replacement,” Donaldson added. “But as a group, we’re very resilient.”
“We always find a way to get stuff done and we have somebody, you know, ready to go. People are aware and ready to go. It’s the World Cup. We will obviously put somebody in there.
“Could take more than one, to get her job done. So, I mean, I don’t think I’m going to… we’ll just prepare them. I prepare that person and just get after it. We might change a few things, but not much.”
Panama currently sit bottom of the table following a 4-0 thumping by Brazil in their opening game, while Jamaica are third with a point and will be hoping to get all available points against a less experienced opponent with the aim of kickstarting their tournament.
The two teams will face off at the Perth Rectangular Stadium in Australia at 1:30pm WAT on Saturday, July 29.
