New national women’s coach Lisa Cole says she would like to see changes made to the Digicel Women’s Inter-District Championship format to allow for enough recovery for players to showcase quality football.
The 2021 Digicel Women’s IDC started at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka on Wednesday with the group stages followed by the semi-finals yesterday.
The two finallists — Ba and Labasa — played their group games on Thursday and Friday then participated in the semi-finals.
They will clash in the final at the ANZ Stadium in Suva at 12pm today, making it four 90-minute games in as many days.
Cole said this was not an ideal format for the teams, asking them to play back to back games.
She said a break between games would have been ideal.
“It would have been nice if they had more teams like eight in the competition,” Cole said.
“Then you could have Group A play on one day then get a break the next day when Group B plays its games and so on.
“But I’m not sure of how the format for this IDC was formalised. I think this was put together to make sure that they got the games on.
“We obviously appreciate the games happening but the format could be a bit better for the players and the quality of football.”
Cole is building the national team for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Women’s Nations Cup in July.
The regional tournament will serve as the qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted by New Zealand and Australia.
Cole has been impressed with some players who are part of the national training squad.
She has also spotted a few new talents who will be drafted for the next training camp.
“I have been impressed with some players that I have seen and they are showing me what I thought was right,” Cole said.
“There have been a couple of players who have surprised me. So I definitely have a list of new players who will be added to the next camp.”
The OFC Women’s Nations Cup will be held from July 5-31.
