Jamaica’s nationwide girls’s soccer workforce, the Reggae Girlz, made historical past on the 2023 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup on Wednesday, advancing to the knockout spherical with a 0-0 draw in opposition to Brazil, booting the powerhouse workforce from the match.
It’s the primary time a Caribbean nation has superior to Spherical 16 within the Ladies’s World Cup, according to FIFA.
Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson stated in a post-game interview that qualifying for Spherical 16 was “among the finest emotions” he’s had in his life.
“Simply to see these ladies, and to see a rustic like Jamaica, be capable of do that, it’s unbelievable to simply watch it whereas I’m alive proper right here standing,” he stated.
He later added, “I thanks ladies to do that for the nation, and the nation must be proud.”
The Reggae Girlz made their 2023 World Cup debut in a recreation in opposition to France on July 23, which led to a 0-0 draw. The workforce then defeated Panama one week later, 1-0. Their subsequent recreation is slated for Aug. 8.
![Player Deneisha Blackwood holds a Jamaican flag after the Reggae Girlz played the Brazilian team to a draw in Wednesday's FIFA Women's World Cup match.](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/64cab7c92200006e00ec711e.jpeg?cache=G8O9dNjjYl&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
NurPhoto through Getty Photographs
The Jamaican nationwide girls’s soccer workforce has made headlines for its financial struggles in recent months.
In June, the workforce publicized its “utmost disappointment” with the Jamaica Soccer Federation in a letter shared on social media.
The letter stated that the federation had supplied the gamers with “subpar” planning, transportation, lodging, compensation and vitamin, amongst different grievances.
“We’ve got additionally confirmed up repeatedly with out receiving contractually agreed upon compensation,” the letter stated, including that “excessive disorganization of camp logistics” induced them to overlook a number of FIFA pleasant matches forward of the World Cup.
Rebecca Spencer, the Reggae Girlz goalkeeper, seemingly referenced the workforce’s points with JFF in a post-game interview on Wednesday.
When requested what makes the workforce so sturdy collectively, Spencer replied: “Like I stated, those up above us, they don’t imagine in us, and so they all the time put us by means of issues that we don’t need to undergo.”
“And that simply offers us extra fireplace in our bellies to go on the market and do effectively,” she stated.
Cedella Marley, the daughter of Bob Marley and Rita Marley, has spoken out in regards to the lack of funding, assist and widespread recognition for the Reggae Girlz over time. In 2014, she grew to become an envoy for the workforce, which had remained dormant for years because of a scarcity of funding.
In 2019, the Reggae Girlz made their World Cup debut after turning into the first Caribbean national team to qualify for the FIFA Ladies’s World Cup.