Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Spain in their opening match of the Cup of Nations at Central Coast Stadium in Australia on Thursday.
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.