Returning Los Perfectos humble despite strong JWPL start

Despite Los Perfectos’s dominant return to the Jamaica Women’s Premier League (JWPL), Head Coach Maurice Duncan says title ambitions aren’t on the forefront of their minds for the season.

The Manchester-based club ended a near nine-year hiatus from the women’s league with a commanding 6-1 win over Federal United in the opening match week at Spanish Town Prison Oval on Saturday.

Jamaica Under-20 representative Andrene Smith, who recently returned from the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship qualification, led the way with a hat-trick, while former Reggae Girlz defender Sashana Campbell, who featured at the 2019 FIFA World Cup, also got on the scoresheet.

Duncan was pleased, despite the team not more effectively capitalising on a 5-0 first-half lead.

“The first half was fairly good. Second half, however, I think we took our foot off the gas. We started playing sloppy but that was probably due to the condition where the sun was really hot and players probably wanted to preserve some energy. The energy level just wasn’t there, we scored only one goal in the second half and we gave up a soft goal but leading 6-0 you’re expecting stuff like that to happen,” he said.

Prior to Saturday’s contest, Los Perfectos last game in the JWPL was in 2016 when they lost in the final to perennial champions Barbican.

However, the club decided to make a return to the rebranded competition, now led by the Professional Women’s Jamaica Football Limited (PWJFL).

Duncan says preseason training wasn’t ideal but believes the team has enough quality to manage throughout the season.

“The information we got [about the league] was a bit late so in terms of preparation, there’s not much we could have done training wise,” he said.

“Some of these players are working or school girls, so we didn’t have a lot of training sessions per se but we put in some work when we got the chance to. The quick start to the season has hampered us a bit but we have the talent, it’s just about getting them to play together more,” Duncan added.

Despite several final appearances, Los Perfectos have never won the JWPL. Though believing they have the quality, Duncan says he’s not putting any title pressure on the team.

“For me, as a coach, it’s to take it one game at a time. If it comes where we can win it, then we’ll do our best but for me, it’s one game at a time and just do our best and hopefully the girls will represent the best for Los Perfectos,” he said.

WEEK ONE RESULTS

Federal United 1, Los Perfectos 6

Frazsiers Whip 6, UWI 0

Real Mobay 3, Mile Gully 3

Cavalier 2, Arnett Gardens 2

Wifi United 2, Proven Girls 2