THE head coach of Guyana’s senior women’s national team, Ivan Joseph, expects to face a strong, physical Dominica team in the first step towards the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup at the Leonora stadium this evening, as he prepares to select his starting eleven from a training squad of 36 international-based and domestic players.

The Lady Jags are engaged in intensive preparations at the Guyana Football Federation National Training Centre ahead of their opening qualification match of the 2022 CONCACAF “W” Championship, which acts as the gateway to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The encampment is the first time many key squad members have been involved with the national team since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Joseph said the first few training sessions were designed to “get the rust off” and “help the players get introduced to each other”.

“You’re going to see us assess the players here,” Joseph said. “We’ve got 36 players in the camp and the talent is pretty deep. You’re going to see us try to sort out the players who play in the best positions, who have the right chemistry, and move that 36 down to 23 players and then our starting eleven.”

He said his coaching team would be gauging players on a range of criteria, including skill, decision-making and level of competitiveness, with the latter attribute likely to be crucial given the nature of their opponents today.

“Dominica are a formidable team,” he said. “The video that we’ve been able to see from them is from 2018, but they are strong, they’re physical and they can play football.”

Guyana have been drawn in Group F of the qualification stage for the CONCACAF regional competition, alongside Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Only the winners of each of the six groups will progress to the final tournament, alongside automatic qualifiers Canada and the United States.

After todays opening fixture, Lady Jags will travel to Turks and Caicos for their next match of the FIFA international window, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 19.