Reggae Girlz take Caribbean crown

Jamaica topped the CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s qualifying stage with maximum 12 points, following an easy 6-1 win against Cuba at the National Stadium last night. Khadija Shaw netted a double in the 20th and 38th minutes, Chinyelu Asher also scored twice in the 19th and 71st minutes, while Jody Brown (34th) and Lauren Silver (32nd) produced the other goals for the rampant Jamaicans. Maria Torres scored a late goal for Cuba in stoppage time to spoil the hosts’ cleansheet just before the final whistle.

The Reggae Girlz commanded the game and certainly could have won by a much wider margin with Cuba providing little resistance throughout the contest.

Jamaica’s head coach Hue Menzies was left quite pleased with his team’s performances and was proud that the Jamaicans were able to put on a good show at home.

“We wanted to show Jamaica what we were working on in the last four years, we put on a show. Credit to the players for coming out the number one team in the Caribbean,” Menzies said after the game.

“It was not easy, it was a hard fought 6-1 game. We prepared for it and got the result. We will now focus and prepare for the CONACAF final stage of the qualifiers,” he added.

Jamaica won the championship ahead of Trinidad and Tobago, who finished on nine points and Cuba (six), with the three now moving on as the Caribbean’s representatives to the CONCACAF final round in the United States of America in October.

The top three CONCACF nations will gain automatic spots to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. The fourth-place team will play off for another spot.