SEOUL, South Korea, CMC – Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz improved after the break before going down to a 1-0 defeat against South Korea on Saturday as they gear up for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Choe Yu-ri, 27, scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute at the Hwaseong Sports Complex Stadium to decide the first of two friendlies against the Jamaicans.
Goalkeeper Sydney Schneider, who made her first start since February, told the Jamaica Gleaner: “It was not the result we wanted, but we put up a good fight. We are working on things that we need to work on.”
Interim head coach Lorne Donaldson, whose team will face the higher-ranked South Koreans again on Tuesday, said it was important to see how they reacted to a different style of play, which caused them difficulties in adjusting.
“Playing the Koreans, we are not used to playing this style of football. We want to get used to it.,” Donaldson told the Gleaner.
“We don’t know in the World Cup draw who we are going to play. So we want to at least have a look at it. But we are here to get some good competition in and get some good evaluation, and that is what we are doing. And we are not going to change that,” Donaldson said.
“I think in the first half we were very tentative. We gave up a goal which we shouldn’t have. We gave up the ball in the midfield and we got punished.”
Donaldson continued: “Second half, we came out and it was a much better (performance). We might have scored but that’s football.
“But we will make some adjustments. Winning is good but sometimes just evaluating and seeing what you have, that is what we are here for, playing good competition.”
The starting line-up included familiar faces from the team that helped Jamaica qualify for back-to-back Women’s World Cups last July, but also saw England-born Siobhan Wilson make her international debut in the centre of defence, alongside Allyson Swaby.
