Reggae Girlz face Nigeria today

Jamaica's Reggae Girlz play Nigeria in an international friendly match at the BBVA stadium in Houston, Texas, today at 4.30 p.m.

Coach Hubert Busby Jr says it will be a good test to see where the team is after a year apart.

He said that for some time, he has been requesting top-ranked international opponents for practice games, as Jamaica prepares for FIFA Women's World Cup qualifiers in November. He is curious to see how they, ranked 51st in the world, match up against the 38th-ranked team.

"Historically, they are our cousins from West Africa, so a lot of the same qualities in terms of athleticism and aggression, along with good technical ability, are similar," Busby told STAR Sports.

Senior players

"They have a lot of senior players who have been around and been to a lot of World Cups, and they have been fairly successful in attending World Cups. So it will be a very challenging game for us.

"But we have a good group to go out and play and show our Jamaican fighting spirit. We wanted demanding, tough games and now we got them. So let's see where we are at."

Since settling into the prematch camp last Thursday, the team has concentrated on rebuilding its coordination as a group and re-establishing the team philosophy. Busby has been satisfied with the response of the group so far.

Five newcomers are in the squad, including England-based players Rebecca Spencer of Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa's Shania Hayles, and Vyan Sampson of Charlton Athletic. The others are USA-based Mikayla Dayes from University of Maryland, and Satara Murray of FC Austin Elite. Busby expects good things from them.

"We want to improve our national senior pool," he said.

"The players have been great and we are focusing on getting them ready tactically for what we want to do against Nigeria.

"They have integrated very well and it is like they have been here all this time, and that is a good sign."