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• Busby aiming to reset culture, objectives ahead of World Cup Qualifying campaign

  A reset of the culture as well as objectives of the Jamaica Senior Women’s National Team or “Reggae Girlz” is of paramount importance to returning Head coach Hubert Busby Jr.

  Busby Jr was rehired last week after previously serving in the role in 2021 and won’t have a lot of time to settle back into the role as his first assignment will be to navigate a pair of international friendlies with global football powerhouses Brazil on June 1 and 4.

  The two teams last met at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup where a 0-0 draw secured the Reggae Girlz spot as the first Caribbean nation to ever advance from the group stage at a World Cup.

  

  The squad for these two friendlies can be looked at as a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, 18 of the members of the squad were in that history-making World Cup squad but, on the other hand, they haven’t played together since that tournament which was nine months ago.

  “I think coming back in with two weeks to go, there is a lot of work to do in a short period of time and the idea that the core of this particular group hasn’t been together in nine months so there’s a lot of work that we’re doing now behind the scenes to get up to speed in terms of watching Brazil and getting the players organized,” he said in an interview with JFFLive on Wednesday.

  Busby Jr then went into detail on two of his major objectives in his second stint as Head coach of the Reggae Girlz.

  “More importantly, I think, some of the objectives for us is to reset the culture, reset the objectives in terms of what we’re looking to do and understand, I know it’s the most used cliché in sports, but whatever we do, we really have to stick to a process of how we look to get back to the next World Cup in 2027,” explained Busby Jr.

  “This is just the first part in utilizing each and every window, making sure that, regardless of the results, we are hitting our targets of what we want to accomplish heading into the World Cup Qualifiers,” he added.

  Brazil will be using these friendlies as preparation for the Olympic Games where they won consecutive silver medals at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

  These two friendlies will also be the last home international appearances for perhaps the greatest female footballer ever, Marta, who has announced that she will retire after the Paris Games.

  

  “This is going to be a little bit of a send-off match for them. It will also be Marta’s last game in Brazil in front of her home crowd before she retires and there’s a little bit of a revenge factor from what happened at the World Cup so we’ve got to manage all of that,” Busby Jr said.

  “We’re going to have these three training sessions and prepare the team for these matches,” he ended.

   

• Scheffler not looking too far ahead with PGA Championship looming

  Scottie Scheffler admits he does not allow himself to look too far ahead as he prepares to launch his bid for a first PGA Championship title.

  The world number one, who finished tied-second behind champion Brooks Koepka at Oak Hill last year, is the player in form and favourite to go one better 12 months on and claim his third major.

  The reigning Masters champion is aiming to become only the third golfer since the turn of the century to win the opening two majors in a calendar year, after Tiger Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015).

  Scheffler arrives at Valhalla having won four of his last five tournaments, and is 161 under par across his 10 PGA Tour events in 2024 - shooting 60s in 30 of the 39 rounds he has played.

  One of only two players to finish inside the top 10 in each of the last three majors - along with Cameron Smith - big things are expected of the 28-year-old, but he highlighted the importance of staying grounded.

  "I don't really try to look that far ahead," he said. "If I listen to the narratives around myself, if it was two months ago, it would probably look significantly different than it does now.

  "I'm sure that wasn't a conversation you were all having two months ago and, all of a sudden, now it's like: 'Oh, he's going to win this many tournaments, or do that and do this'.

  "I don't really pay attention to it, I don't really care about it. I'm trying to do the best I can out there each and every week, and as far as anything else, I'm not really too concerned with it.

  "I may win a lot of major championships, I may be stuck at two the rest of my career. It doesn't really concern me at the moment. I'm just trying to prepare as best as possible for this week."

• D.C. United v New York Red Bulls: Lesesne fortunate to work with 'incredible' Benteke

  D.C. United coach Troy Lesesne feels fortunate to work with Christian Benteke, who is battling the likes of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi for the MLS Golden Boot after a flying start to 2024.

  Benteke has been in incredible form this year, scoring 11 goals in 10 MLS appearances to join Suarez and Cristian Arango at the top of the scoring charts, with Messi one behind that trio.

  The former Liverpool and Aston Villa man scored a hat-trick of headers last time out, helping D.C. recover from behind for a 3-2 win over Atlanta United. 

  With Lesesne's former employers the New York Red Bulls visiting Audi Field on Wednesday, the D.C. boss will be hoping for more of the same.   

  "He's incredible," Lesesne said of Benteke. "He's got two hat-tricks this year, he's on 11 goals now and he's just such an incredible presence in our team, even beyond scoring.

  "He deserves to be talked about first. He is a handful, and he allows other players to come into the match and have dangerous opportunities themselves. I'm very lucky to work with him."

  Benteke's form has helped put D.C. in the playoff picture early on this campaign, but the Red Bulls are three points clear of them, sitting third in the Eastern Conference.

  They also came out on top in a thriller last week, with two late goals helping them overcome the New England Revolution 4-2.

  One of their goalscorers, Elias Manoel, says the Red Bulls' ability to pick up results when not at their best will take them far this term.

  "It was really important to keep the consistency because even though we had some unfavourable results, in some games we didn't lose as well," Manoel said.

  "This consistency is going to be really good at the end of the competition."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  D.C. United – Christian Benteke

  Against Atlanta last week, Benteke became just the second player since 2010 to score three headed goals in a single MLS game, alongside the Five Stripes' Juan Purata in 2022 (versus Toronto FC).

  New York Red Bulls – Elias Manoel 

  Manoel recorded both a goal and an assist as a substitute in New York's win over the Revolution last week. 

  He joined Cameron Harper and Bradley Wright-Phillips as the only Red Bulls players over the last 10 seasons to come off the bench and record both a goal and assist. Will he be rewarded with a start?

  MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

  This will be the 107th meeting between D.C. and the Red Bulls in all competitions – it is the most-played match between two MLS teams. The Red Bulls, winners of the last three meetings, have never won four straight against D.C.

  D.C. have gone unbeaten through their last three games, winning two and drawing one, while scoring multiple goals in each match. An entertaining draw could be on the cards here… 

  The Red Bulls are coming off a 4-2 win over New England in which they only had 33.1 per cent of possession. They have had four games with less than a third of possession and four or more goals in the last three seasons, more than every other MLS team combined.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  D.C. United – 39.1%
  New York Red Bulls – 32%
  Draw – 28.9%