Reggae Girlz still upbeat despite loss
Although they were trounced 6-0 by USA in the semi-final stage on Sunday, the Reggae Girlz are still confident they will qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France next year before the CONCACAF Women’s Championships comes to end tomorrow, assistant coach Andrew Price said.
The Girlz are scheduled to play Panama tomorrow night in the third-place playoff, and a victory would give them the third automatic CONCACAF qualifying spot.
“We are definitely still upbeat,” Price told STAR Sports. “We are now focused on beating the Panamanians on Wednesday and getting to the World Cup. This will definitely be the biggest game of the young ladies’ lives. We are determined to end it (qualification hunt) on Wednesday.”
The Girlz were outclassed by the Americans, who are ranked number one in the world.
Before the first half of the game came to an end, USA scored five of their six goals.
“We played against the defending World champions and the number one team in the world and they were playing at home. Against a team of that stature, the margins are very small and you can’t make any errors. We always knew that we had to win one of two games in this round and now it has come down to the Panama game,” Price said.
The Jamaicans can take some comfort in the fact that the opponent they will be facing were thrashed 7-0 by Canada in their semi-final as it was the same Canadian team who only managed to get past them by two goals in the first round of the championships.
If the Girlz fail to beat the Panamanians tomorrow, they will have to use up their final opportunity to realise their dreams of playing in the World Cup by playing Argentina for a playoff spot.