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Burton expecting better from Reggae Girlz
April 08, 2025
Reggae Girlz assistant coach Deon Burton promises that the team will be better prepared for Mexico in the second of two international friendlies, at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas, this evening at 7: 30.
The Reggae Girlz were outplayed in all departments by the Mexicans in their first match on Saturday, as they went down 3-0.
Burton said they have reviewed the game and even though they had just one day of training to work on the issues, they will be fully prepared to undertake the challenge.
"We've done a lot of reflection from the videos of the match and held team meetings and individual meetings to resolve problems from the opening match.
"It has been very good to have the time with the players to do that and put it in place for training today (yesterday) and obviously for the game tomorrow (today)," he said.
"We have been reiterating the same objectives and to knuckle down on them more and to be more on point in everything that we do in and out of possession."
The Jamaicans struggled to handle crosses into the box, with all three goals coming from crosses. Burton said they have worked on how to cancel this threat.
"One of the balls that came in was misjudged and you expected someone to get something on it, and when they don't, the 'keeper' doesn't know whether to come or to stick (stay) and it just went in, and it was just an unfortunate error," he assessed.
"We all agreed that we were a little bit off in some areas of the game, so everyone had their hands up for individual errors. But it's a learning experience and we move on to the next game. We take a lot from it and we go again on Tuesday and we will be ready to go," he stated.
Meanwhile, Burton has had to lead the team due to the absence of head coach Hubert Busby Jr due to personal reasons. The 1998 World Cup qualification hero says it is a honour dealing with the Jamaica outfit.
"In the absence of coach Busby it has been a honour and privilege to lead out the team. It has been great help from the rest of the staff. We have been working together in his absence to make everything still run as smoothly as possible, as if he was still here.
"So credit to the staff around me who have helped me. But on a personal basis, it is an honour and a privilege to be the one to step up. But he (Busby) is still leading the ship. He is still giving us the okay on everything that we are doing. He is in non-stop communication, even with the team meetings he is involved via Zoom or Face Time, so he has been part of the the processes and will carry on doing so," Burton stated.
