Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz suffered a setback in the bid to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup following a 5-0 loss to world champions the United States, in the Concacaf W Championship on Thursday.
The loss was the first for the team in group A, after opening its campaign with a 1-0 over hosts Mexico. It did not take an industriously starting United States long to get on the score sheet as they broke the deadlock in the 5th minute courtesy of the boot of Sophia Smith.
The player doubled the lead just three minutes after with a lob over the head of Jamaica goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer, which looked to have been cleared off the line, but was judged to have crossed it.
A dominant performance for the Stars and Stripes continued in the second half when Rose Lavelle fired wide of Spencer after a 14-minute spell of resistance for the Jamaicans. With the game winding down substitute Paige Bailey-Gayle brought down Margaret Purce and Kristie Mewis scored the resulting penalty in the 84th minute. Substitute Trinity Rodman completed the rout with a goal two minutes later. The win saw the United States stay at the top of the group with 6 points, while Jamaica were second with 3 but with Haiti and Mexico yet to play in the later game.