Having achieved their main aim of qualifying for the 2023 FIFA World Cup, Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz will now turn their attention to regional giants Canada in the semi-final of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship inside Estadio Universitario on Thursday.
The match is 9:00 pm, and the winner will face the other semi-final winners, which pits World Champions USA against Costa Rica.
The third-place and final matches are slated for the following Monday, with the winners guaranteed a place in the 2024 Olympic Games, while the runners-up and third-place team enter a playoff next year for another chance to become the second qualifier from the region.
Jamaica finished second behind the USA in Group A on six points to advance to the semi-finals and gain automatic qualification to the Australia/New Zealand FIFA World Cup next year.
The Reggae Girlz defeated hosts Mexico 1-0 in the opening contest before being badly outplayed by the USA 5-0 in their second game, forcing them into a must-win match against Caribbean neighbors Haiti, who had slipped into second place at that stage.
But Jamaica rebounded from the USA, whipping to hammer Haiti 4-0 and book their tickets to the next global showpiece.
In Group B, the reigning Olympic Games champions Canada went undefeated to finish with a maximum of nine points to finish ahead of Costa Rica on six points.
The aim of head coach Lorne Donaldson is for his charges to give it their all against a very good Canadian team.
“The mood is good, the girls qualified, but there is more at stake, and that’s why we are pushing on and working towards getting some more out of this tournament,
said Donaldson, an assistant coach when the Girlz qualified four years ago.
“We hope to play some good stuff and leave it all on the field. Canada are the Olympic champions, and the world champions (US) are still in the tournament, (and) we are there with them, and to me, that’s good to be at this part of the tournament still playing for something,” he added.
Donaldson said Canada will try to get behind the Reggae Girlz, and it is for his team to try to combat their tactics.
“I’m not going to tell you what we are going to do, but obviously, we have to match their football and match their fitness and get after them with our strengths.”
Meanwhile, forward Kayla McCoy believes this version of the Reggae Girlz are much better than the team Canada met the last time around.
“Obviously, the game is going to be a really good test for us. I think we are a lot different team from the last time we played Canada, so I think we are all really excited to show how we’ve grown as a team, how we’ve developed as a team, and to show what we can do and to continue to show what we can do on the world stage,” she said.
“I think although it’s very exciting that we qualified again, I think as a group we knew we could, and we fully expected ourselves to do so, so we are qualified, but the job isn’t done yet, and there is still more to go so I think that going into the game against Canada we are still going to be all cylinders firing because we are still hungry, we are not done yet, and we want to show what we can do.”
Still, she admitted that the Girlz have had a poor record playing against the North Americans.
“Our history playing Canada has been a bit rocky in the past, but like I said before, we are a completely different team now, and we are a lot more developed, and we are coming in with a lot more confidence, a lot more self-belief, so I think we want to see what we can do, and I think we can get a result.”
