Young Girlz impress Donaldson, Spence

Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson and midfielder Drew Spence hailed the young players that made an impact and impressed against the Czech Republic, although Jamaica failed to hold on to a valuable point in their Cup of Nations tournament encounter on Sunday.

Donaldson and Spence argued that the young Girlz' performances showed their worth to feature in the final Women's World Cup roster this summer in New Zealand and Australia.

The Reggae Girlz will wrap up their Cup of Nations run against hosts Australia tomorrow at 3:10 a.m. (Jamaica time) at the McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, Australia.

Jamaica were blanked 4-0 by Spain in their tournament opener and lost 3-2 to the Czech Republic on Sunday, with the Girlz equalising twice through Jody Brown and Kameron Simmonds.

Donaldson praised the young players that stepped up to the plate and impressed as he continued to evaluate the talent at his disposal, seeking to narrow down the list for the final roster.

"We have some young players out there, and many of them did really well. A lot of them were first-timers and they came out and gave themselves some good minutes," Donaldson said.

One of those players was Simmonds, who scored her first international goal in her first senior start, which Spence says will help them as they go forward.

"I am so proud of the youngster (Kameron), who got her first goal. That is something that we can take from the game," Spence said. "For the youngsters, they go out there with no fear, and that's what you want. I think that we can take positives from that and take it into the next game against Australia."

Seventeen-year-old Solai Washington also featured, as did Peyton McNamara.

The results haven't changed Donaldson's goals as they wrap up the tournament against Australia in their first meeting since the 2019 World Cup. He says he will give all players the chance to test themselves as he eyes his core group for the World Cup.

"Australia are at home, they are energetic, they are a good team. So we have to come out again and play some good stuff against them. We are still going to do what we set out to do. We are going to look at players, because we want to make sure that we want to leave no stone unturned," Donaldson said.