Shaw hails team unity after Reggae Girlz stun Mexico
In the aftermath of their 1-0 Concacaf Women’s Championship win over Mexico on Monday, national striker and captain, Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw credited the togetherness of the team in being able to upset the hosts and give themselves the best possible start in the ‘Group of Death’.
Shaw’s eighth-minute header stunned a partisan crowd, giving the Reggae Girlz their first win over Mexico in tournament history and taking a major step in qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
While anticipating a difficult environment, Shaw said that she was pleased with how they battled against the Mexicans.
“It’s always good to win especially in this atmosphere. We knew that it was going to be hard. it was going to take a team effort and I’m so proud of the girls because we stuck to the task and we got the job done at the end of the night,” Shaw said.
While Jamaica had their one-goal advantage they had opportunities to extend their lead, with Havana Solaun missing a penalty in the 39th minute, Jody Brown missing the target after being sent through on goal in the 48th minute and Shaw who hit the post five minutes later.
Goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer who started in her third straight game said that it was a professional performance, with the early goal being the catalyst in keeping the Mexicans at bay.
“I thought it was a really good team performance. Obviously scoring so early on and having the lead for so long was big for us, it was a (mature) performance from the team,” Spencer said.
Jamaica are tied on three points with World champions the United States. The Reggae Girlz will face the United States tomorrow at 6 p.m. The Americans defeated Haiti 3-0 in their group opener and interim head coach Lorne Donaldson said that he is under no illusions of the magnitude of that assignment.
“The mindset is the same in that we have come here to take care of business. We know what the USA (delivers). People are saying that they looked a little bit off against Haiti but we are not watching that because we know what they can do, we know what kind of players they have,” Donaldson said. “We have to match what they have and try to exploit their weaknesses.”