 Yeah, football remains center stage on the Sportsmax zone. Spreading their knowledge across multiple teams is by no means a new phenomenon for Jamaican coaches, but our next guest has found himself in two of the most high-pressured coaching jobs in the country, having most notably coached the Excelsior High Girls team to astounding levels of success, plus the Breaker Girls at the under-15, under-17 under-20 levels. His talents have been acquired by two of Jamaica's most high-profile teams. He is currently the interim coach of the senior Breaker Girls. In difficult circumstances, the team lost 2-1 in women's gold cup qualifying in Panama before earning a 2-all draw at home against Guatemala. He's also the head coach of Jamaica Premier League club, Arnett Gardens. By now, you've probably gleaned that we are speaking of Cynthia Gilbert who joins us in studio. It's been a few weeks in coming coach Gilbert. It's a pleasure to have you on the show. First of all, how are you doing? I'm doing good. Thanks, you know, and thanks for having me. I feel good to be here. Yes, it's a lovely space, isn't it? How would you describe the last month of your coaching career? Busy, extremely busy. Any aspect of it has come as a surprise to you? Yes and no. Surprising that I was elevated to head coach, but based on the circumstances, at the time it didn't, and the length it took to replace Lauren. By that time, you need to find the head coach. I probably would have been the one making some of the decisions because, you know, at that point in time, a new coach coming in, probably just for observation at the time. The first game, the Panama game, was the 25th of November. When did you get the call that you were going to be leading that team? A few days before. 22nd? The 22nd is when you got the call. The same day the release went out. Wow. How did that strike you? It was not necessarily shocking. I think the call should have come a little bit earlier. But based on how things were happening, it was leaning towards that, so I had mentally pretty much prepared myself. How did you mobilize? I mean, were you given a group of players to say you can choose from this? Did you have to come in and start the process of reaching out to players? That was the toughest part of the job. I had to find players at such short notice, speaking to players, coaches, college coaches, asking them to release, because in the States it's their playoffs season now, and all the teams are in playoffs. So I'm trying to find a way for coaches to release their players, missing one or two games, and then, of course, find a unit that could represent Jamaica well, players in different positions, goalkeeping. It was crazy. You know, I've heard it said, I don't remember where, but I've heard it said that you are probably the only man who could have done that job in such a short space of time because of your knowledge of Jamaica's women's football, having worked with many of the players from the youth levels and your coach in the high school system as well. Yeah, that's true. I mean, I don't think anybody could have done it. To be honest, and I mean, keeping in touch with players, tracking their progress and everything, and that was also important. And it's important that you keep the pool of your players, you know, where they're playing, what they're doing and all of that. So with that knowledge, it had the challenges, but I was able to come up with a formidable unit to compete for Jamaica. Yeah, yeah, kudos to you. Just one more quick one. At the post-match press conference, following the Guatemala game, you were asked about whether you would take this job full time. And you said, well, there are some things I would have to think about before determining whether I would want this job. I want to know what some of those things, because I'm thinking we're talking about Jamaica's women's football, top three in the ConquerCaf region over the last, what, six, seven years, given that the reggae girls have gone to two World Cup tournaments based on what we saw against Panama and Guatemala and women's gold cup. The depth of Jamaica's women's football is greater than most people realize. So what would you need to think about if you were offered this job full time? The reality is there are lots of things that happen behind the scene in terms of staffing, players, you don't want to go down the same roads, all of those things. So all of those things would have to be resolved and ensure that we continue with most or probably all of the staff that were there before we have the history and the camaraderie, everything. I mean, they're all into women's football and know the game inside out, they follow the game, follow other teams right across the world like what all of us do. Yeah, you were in charge for two matches so far. I think it's a very little body of work to, of course, judge you by. But based on what you saw, coach, the group of players that you had at your disposal, how would you rate one, their performances and two, the crop of ladies? First, their performances for me was good. To be honest, a lot of them would have either just finished playing or still, and it came as a surprise and most of them traveling from far. So to perform so well was, I think they performed credibly, especially against Panama. I mean, we had a one hour session and that was chaotic on the day because they had a strike in Panama. So a lot of things were uncertain. We were waiting for training with delay, delay, delay, delay. So and to get in our session with 14 players and then have a game the next day, I think it was tremendous. I have a quick one, coach. I want you to take us into the dressing room on the night that you lost that Panama game because I thought it was an excellent performance and things could have so easily gone differently. I want you to take us into the dressing room because I want to get an understanding of how the players reacted to that defeat on a night when they probably felt they deserved to get something out of that game. Yeah, it was tough. In particular, one player, we had to console her even the following day. I know you don't want to call the name, but she scored the own goal and she had a kick and a miss in the 84th minute for Panama to win the game. So, I mean, that was difficult. But the good thing, the players rallied around there and encouraged her and ensured that we're all in this thing together and come back again. Yeah. And coach, I know you mentioned that you would have things to consider if you were to take up that head coach role on a permanent basis. But one of the things I have an issue with and I've always expressed it on the show is the fact that we chop and chain so much, like something goes wrong, coaches start to bring in a new coach and new tactics, new leadership, new style. How do you feel about that? The fact that the ladies, I think has been at a disadvantage because when they get used to you now, let's just say you're not renewed, you're not the appointed permanent coach, they have to learn somebody else and learn a new system. Yes, it is. But that's a sad reality of a coach, you know. I always say, I mean, wherever you're going, take a bag pack with you. Don't take a big suitcase because you might leave tomorrow. And how has it been managing the suitcase at the Reggae Girls Camp and the one down at Annett? I mean, it's okay so far. And I have to give credit to Annett Gardens for giving me the time off. And we had preliminary discussions when I was before I took the job, in terms of my absence with the windows coming up, which would have been October and November. So they knew about it from the from the outset. And they didn't want to to go down the route again. We are one of their national coaches is always a national duty and not spending a lot of time there. So those discussions were on the forefront before I took up the job. Yeah, Xavier, we're going to talk more about Annett Gardens and your responsibilities there in a moment. But the conflict between the World Cup Reggae Girls and the Jamaica Football Federation is yet unresolved. And the next window is about a month from now, roughly just weeks just under a month. We are unsure at the moment, if they World Cup Girls, who announced their unavailability for the World Cup Gold Cup qualifiers, what that story will be. What is your feeling about them becoming available again, if they do, against the fact that you had a group of girls who filled in at the last moment and show the kind of courage that kept Jamaica still in with a chance of making the the Gold Cup qualification, you know, in a situation where they were just called upon at the last minute. Yeah, it's tough, but I always believe that best players that are available should represent Jamaica. And I did make mention of this when I met with them. Nothing is guaranteed, but it's one thing once you get the opportunity, you make the best use of it. And if it means that you will be called back based on your performance, then so be it. And for sure, even if all the other girls are ladies are available for the next window, some of them will perform here will be called back. Yeah, I was about to ask you that because for you to go back to some of those girls know and tell them that they won't be in the setup. If it is that they the front line players become available again, that that would be a tough job, wouldn't it? And it's part of building to trust with the coach. And further down, you're gonna have there are a lot of young players in the previous in the just concluded game squad that you I think will be part of the future of the girls. I really want to keep them around and expose them at this level for the World Cup qualification next year. Arnett Gardens, Xavier are five time champions of the Premier League and are among the most popular clubs in domestic football. Not an easy team to coach as well, because we've seen the transition of so many coaches go to Arnett and leave because Arnett fans are a bit unforgiving. How difficult is it a job to tackle this Arnett Gardens assignment, given the pressure that is on our coach to coach the jungleists? I mean, I think I've I've managed to to handle myself well so far. Even get going there. Persons are asking what are you doing? You know, well, I mean, that's me. I love challenges and being the professional I am. I take my principles, my philosophy. And once the players understand, you'll get the support from them. And that's important. And I must commend the management for for the support they have landed me so far. And the players have responded well. I have been responding well so far. And we just want to keep it going. Once we get good results, I mean, the pressure is off. Well, your thoughts on the four and it went over and what lines it was? Yes. How satisfying was that? It was a good performance. I decent performance. I don't think we are hitting the right notes as yet. Because there's still some some things that I think we need to fix. But one of the things I impress upon on the team is to tactically, we have to be smarter in terms of our approach. We still want to play that attractive football. But in the same way, you don't want to leave yourself vulnerable at the back where teams are going to be considered. You're going to consider a lot of goals. All right. Arnett were last champions in 2017. And since that time we have seen Arnett go through a rebuilding process, the 2019-2020 season that was aborted because of COVID, they weren't in the playoff position at the time. And then 2021, when we had the condensed COVID season, Arnett did very badly. Probably their worst season ever. But since then, 2022 and 2022-23, they have rebounded last season. They were actually regular season champions, playing normal, attractive Arnett Gardens football that the fans like with a lot of goals. Your philosophy for the Arnett Gardens team, will it mesh with the philosophy that the fans have grown accustomed to? I heard you mentioned just now about being smarter, which suggests to me that you don't want to concede too many goals. But the Arnett philosophy is scoring goals, whether you concede goals or not. You score three, I'll score four or five. Can you talk quickly about your philosophy with this Arnett Gardens team against the tools that you have? Because sometimes a coach has to manufacture its philosophy around the tools that he has to work with. Yeah, that's what I'm there. I lose a lot of players last season, quality players too. And the season before you lost to Ronaldo during the season. And injuries are affecting us now. We have a few players out on injuries and might affect us further down the season. But it's important that because when I met with the club first, you know, outline what were their philosophies and then I mean, I would not take the job if I don't think I can fit in and work based on the club's philosophy. Because that's important. You don't want the club have one vision and you have a different vision. You know, so it's important that everything coincide and I think things will fall into place. Yeah, on the point of coaching philosophy and I know we're talking about Arnett Gardens, but I also want to put to you a question regarding the reggae girls because a lot of fans leaving the national stadium for that Guatemala game said that the reggae girls showed or those reggae girls showed more attacking intent than the World Cup squad and it is something that I know some fans were even calling for that the team needed to show more attacking intent. Is that the type of football we can expect under Xavier Gilbert? I mean, wherever I go, that's my type of football. I mean, I support one of the best teams in the world, Arsenal. Oh, dear. You lost us there. You mean one of the best teams in England. I think it's my kid. And the player attracted football and that's my style too, but while playing attractive football and getting goals, you still have to maintain integrity and defense to make sure that you get good results in games. When you look back, especially the Guatemala game, where there were a lot of chances for the Guatemalans, yes, a lot of chances for the reggae girls, but a lot of chances for Guatemala as well. Have you already started to pinpoint how you are going to make that area better, even as you keep that attractive attacking style? Yes. I've started looking at how we can nullify their strengths going forward. We spoke about it, we knew about it even before the game in terms of their counter counter attacking plays, but with these ladies, I mean, two games travel, it wasn't easy on their legs. The squad was really short and in terms of depth, and we just have to give them credit. We didn't have a lot of time to prepare to do a lot of things, so in these and those circumstances, we did well. It's important that we plan properly now, heading into the next window. We knew about Panama because the reggae girls have faced Panama in several big matches over the last four or five years, but many may not have realized the quality of Guatemala. Did their quality surprise you in any way, and what did you make of it? No, I didn't. I watched them, you know, because every team that you play have to do your research, and in particular, some of their best players who play in Europe, one who played in Italy, she gave us a lot of problems on Sunday. So we knew some of the things, unfortunately we didn't manage to close down some of their threats coming forward, but there's still area of improvement that we have to do and we know we have to do. We're going to try to see if we can get some better personnel. Hopefully, the college season should be done by then. So even if issues aren't resolved with the World Cup players, which I hope things are, that we would have some other college players to call upon. Yeah, we're out of time, but one quick one before we go. Reggae girls job or Arnett Gardens job, which one feels tougher at the moment? Arnett Gardens. Wow! Wow! I didn't see that one coming. I'm not too expecting that answer. I didn't, I definitely did not. Even though I just outlined how difficult it is to coach, aren't it? Yeah. I just told coach, right, that I feel it more when Arnett Gardens lose than when Manchester United is on the losing end. What did we see? And I didn't believe him. And I neither did I. That's fine, I don't know if you believe coach either, so it doesn't really matter. So do you believe him? Do you believe him? Not really. I know. Let's end this segment on that note. We'll take a break. We'll be back. Thank you so much for joining us. You're most welcome.