‘Donaldson’s appointment would provide continuity’

Former national women's head coach Charles Edwards says that the likely return of Lorne Donaldson as Reggae Girlz coach will be instrumental in providing continuity to a team that has suffered setbacks in its preparations for the final round of the Women's World Cup qualifiers.

Multiple sources have told STAR Sports that Donaldson is on the verge of being named as the new Reggae Girlz head coach for the Concacaf Women's Championship in Mexico next month, ending a two-week search following the resignation of Vin Blaine on May 17.

Blaine resigned after 20 players demanded his departure citing communication and preparation deficiencies.

According to one source, Donaldson was recommended by the technical committee after a re-evaluation following the unavailability of Englishman Jonathan Morgan as he accepted a job offer to coach Burnley's Women's Team. The recommendation was sent to the Jamaica Football Federation executive who met last night for final ratification. According to another source, an announcement is expected today.

While Edwards says that Donaldson's impending appointment doesn't erase the time lost because of the uncertainty, it provides the team with necessary continuity as Donaldson has worked with a majority of the core that he helped take to the 2019 Women's World Cup as assistant to then head coach Hue Menzies.

"We can never be in a better place than we were a couple of weeks ago because we have lost a lot of time in terms of the coach communicating and getting a programme out to the girls. It's a matter of playing a catch-up game right now," Edwards told STAR Sports. "But the beauty with getting a Lorne Donaldson in the programme means catching up will be an easy task."

Donaldson, who took over the Girlz first-round Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in 2019, resigned in 2020 citing irreconcilable differences with the JFF. When contacted Donaldson said that he had not been contacted about the job since his interview with the technical committee.

"I cannot comment on something that I don't officially know about," Donaldson told STAR Sports.

Edwards stressed the importance of accelerating their preparations, with only five weeks left before their opener against Mexico on July 4.

"The important issue is to get the training camp sorted and then one or two practice games so that they can get that cohesiveness together," Edwards said. "Because it is not an identical squad to what he had when he left, there are new players in it so he has to come in and get them organised and playing as one unit."

The Reggae Girlz are drawn in Group A with World champions the United States, Mexico and Haiti. The top two teams qualify automatically for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand while the third place will go to a continental playoff.