The four-team women's tournament will take place in Sydney within the FIFA window, February 13 to 25. Home team Australia won the inaugural edition in 2019; with Argentina, South Korea and New Zealand the other participants.
There are two other FIFA windows in March and early July before the Women’s World Cup gets underway in Australia and New Zealand from July 20.
Jamaica will look to play International friendly games in all the windows in 2023 as they prepare for the World Cup and the Olympic qualifiers against Canada next September.
Football Australia announced today, that with the support of the New South Wales Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW, they will host the four-nations Cup of Nations comprising three double-header matchdays in Gosford, Sydney, and Newcastle.
The six-match tournament will kick-off at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford on Thursday, 16 February with FIFA number seven rank Spain playing Jamaica (44th) followed by the CommBank Matildas (12th) against Czech Republic (27th).
Three days later, the tournament will shift to Sydney as Jamaica and the Czech Republic go head-to-head at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, followed by a blockbuster clash between the CommBank Matildas and Spain on match day two on Sunday, 19 February.
Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium will play host to match day 3 of the Cup of Nations on Wednesday, February 22, where Czech Republic will take on Spain, and the CommBank Matildas will meet Jamaica in the last game of the competition.
The highest-placed nation following the completion of all three match days will be crowned the Cup of Nations champion on 22 February in Newcastle.
Football Australia Chief Executive Officer James Johnson said he is delighted with these opportunities for the Australian public to experience world-class football and cheer on the CommBank Matildas and their football heroes in the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign.
“In 2022 we have seen the drawing power of the CommBank Matildas with matches in Townsville, Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Gosford, and Melbourne drawing over 109,000 spectators as we took the CommBank Matildas to different parts of Australia,” said Johnson.
“February’s Cup of Nations will build on the success of the first tournament held in 2019 and be one of the final opportunities for fans to see the CommBank Matildas on home soil before the commencement of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
“The Cup of Nations will continue to take football to regional areas with the Central Coast, Greater Sydney, and the Hunter presented an opportunity to farewell the CommBank Matildas ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as get a taste for the international football festival that awaits in 2023.
Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts, believes that the tournament is excellent preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2023.
"Engaging in tough games like these in World Cup venues in front of large audiences will help to prepare our team for their World Cup challenges in July. The atmosphere will be similar to what can be expected come summer, so the coaching staff will be able to assess the conditioning and mentality of the players at their disposal. We are extremely happy that Jamaica has been invited to this prestigious tournament and we anticipate some outstanding performances," said Ricketts.
Goals from Matie Oroz, Esther Gonzales and Fiamma Benitez settled the issue for the Spaniards, who dominated play with 74 per cent possession during which they took 18 shots at goal, five of them on target.
After controlling the state of play, early Spain took a 1-0 lead through Oroz when a deflection rebounded from the crossbar and into her path.
Meanwhile, Jamaica seemed incapable of maintaining possession with Spain capitalizing on turnovers to start raids on Rebecca Spencer’s goal.
As the match approached half-time Gonzales thought she had scored Spain’s second when she appeared to leap above defender Victoria Williams to head past Spencer after the ball had rebounded by the crossbar.
However, the referee deemed she had fouled the defender and hence the goal was waved off. Gonzales would find redemption minutes later as running onto a left-side defense-splitting pass, she slotted into the right had corner.
Spanish coach Jorge Vilda subbed off most of his starters after but Benitez still managed to put the finishing touches on the dominant performance with a long-range strike in the 78th minute.
The loss means Jamaica are currently third in the four-team competition just above Czech Republic who were blanked 4-0 by hosts, Australia.
Spain are second on goal difference.
