Donaldson adopts wait-and-see approach

After a historic Women's World Cup campaign, national senior women's head coach Lorne Donaldson was non-committal about continuing on for a full cycle but is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Jamaica's run ended yesterday after their 1-0 defeat to Colombia in their round-of-16 clash at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Australia. It was the only goal that the Jamaicans conceded all tournament.

Reflecting on what has been a historic run since taking over the job in June 2022, Donaldson did not say much about whether he wants to return, knowing the dynamics that are at play.

"That is a question for when we get to the end of the road. We work in a country where sometimes there is a lot of chaos," Donaldson said. "So we got to figure that out and see what we want to do."

Donaldson took over last June after the resignation of Vin Blaine and guided Jamaica to back-to-back qualifiers as well as their best-ever World Cup finish. Additionally, under Donaldson in this year's tournament they only conceded one goal, the goal that ultimately knocked them out.

Jamaica will have an opportunity to qualify for next year's Paris Olympics as they face Canada in their two-game aggregate series which begins in September.

But for Donaldson, whose contract runs to the end of September, while his commitment to the country has not been the issue, he is keen on sorting out key issues first.

"Maybe I have had a good run. So maybe after the September game, the Olympic qualifiers, I don't think anybody is going to do anything before that, knowing the way we work in Jamaica. I don't think anything is going to happen before, so we will wait until after that and see what happens," Donaldson said. "It is my country but we have to sit and sort some stuff out."

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com