Jamaica’s senior women’s national football team, the Reggae Girlz, stands on the cusp of making regional history, but two former top team leaders are emphasizing that meticulous, long-term preparation will be the key to locking in qualification for both the 2025 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics later this year.
Currently, the Reggae Girlz are just one win away from booking their spot in a third consecutive World Cup. After dominating Group B of the Concacaf Women’s Championship qualifiers with a perfect 4-0 record — highlighted by a 2-0 victory over Guyana at Kingston’s National Stadium last Saturday — the team will face Costa Rica in the tournament’s quarter-finals this November, hosted in Texas. A win against the Central American side will not only secure Jamaica’s place at next year’s World Cup in Brazil but also open the door to the country’s first ever Olympic women’s football appearance.
Charles Edwards, who served as the Reggae Girlz’s head coach from 2007 to 2008, called a third straight World Cup qualification a milestone that would cement the program’s legacy as one of the strongest in the Caribbean region. “I think for the Girlz to make it a three-peat would be a significant accomplishment,” Edwards shared in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. “That has never been done in the English-speaking Caribbean, and I think all of Jamaica would be so excited — especially after the men’s team failed to qualify for the World Cup. When you look at it, a three-peat this side of the world — even some of the Spanish-speaking Central Americans and all of these countries, I don’t know if anyone has ever made it a three-peat so it’s a very great accomplishment for us, and to make the Olympics would be great.”
Andrew Price, who was an assistant coach for Jamaica’s groundbreaking first World Cup appearance in 2019, echoed that excitement, noting the program has grown by leaps and bounds since its first historic qualification run. He pointed to the team’s depth of professional talent as a major advantage going into the November match: many of the squad’s players compete in top European and American club leagues, and even star players Jody Brown and Konya Plummer were absent from the final qualifying round, a testament to the team’s depth. “They are now going to be three World Cups older, more experienced, and I believe that will serve its weight in gold when they go to the Concacaf Women’s Championships,” Price said. “I’m expecting the game against Costa Rica to be a difficult game but it’s a game that the Reggae Girlz can win. They have beaten Costa Rica in the past at the Women’s Championship, and I believe that once they go in there mentally and physically prepared they should be able to overcome them.”
With seven months remaining before the do-or-die match against Costa Rica, both former coaches laid out clear plans to maximize preparation time. Price argued that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) should take advantage of the June and October international match windows to schedule friendlies against high-caliber opponents from Europe or Asia, to help the team adapt to different playing styles including organized defensive setups and fast counter-attacking transitions.
Edwards agreed that competitive friendlies are important, but added that targeted pre-tournament training camps are also critical. He proposed holding two camps in the United States, ideally near the match venue in Texas, to let the full squad acclimatize to the local environment and build on-field chemistry ahead of the November fixture. “Another big plus for us, it’s going to be over the summer when all the international players should have time to be together to work so I’m looking at camps — maybe two camps somewhere in the US and maybe within the area where they’re going to play the games (Texas) — so that they can acclimatise and get accustomed to all of that environment,” Edwards explained. “So a lot of simulation will have to take place and a lot of fine-tuning. It’s like an engine — you’re going to fine-tune it now, you want it running at maximum, you want to be going top speed. So [it’s] the coaches’ responsibility and the JFF, coupled together, and I think they have been doing a pretty good job so far and should be able to get us in good stead going forward into the game.”
Current head coach Hubert Busby has already confirmed that the technical staff is moving forward with preparation plans, matching the ex-coaches’ focus on the June international window. “We’re turning to what happens within the June window and looking to maximise those two games in terms of preparations,” Busby said last Saturday after the win over Guyana. “I think it is really important for [the players], when they go back into their environment, that they are playing, they’re doing well, and continuing to push the level. We’ll have the chance to take this week and look at our reflection in terms of coaching staff and what we need to do to keep on improving as well so we can improve the group.”
Notably, the Reggae Girlz have beaten Costa Rica in qualification matches on their way to securing spots at both the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, giving the team a historic edge ahead of the November showdown.