Related items

• Donaldson: we have to now go to Canada and change our fortunes

  It was another case of could have and should have for Lorne Donaldson and his senior Reggae Girlz as they were left ruing the substandard performance in a 0-2 defeat to Canada, a blow to their Olympic Games qualification hopes.

  A positive start in which they kept Canada at bay gave the Reggae Girlz and the moderate spectator turnout at the National Stadium hope that they could have pulled off a big win.

  But when it mattered most, they lacked accuracy in the final third, and that, coupled with amateurish defending at times, resulted in Nichelle Prince (18^th) and the menacing Adriana Leon (90+3), putting Canada in the driver’s seat to secure the coveted spot to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

  While the Bev Priestman-coached reigning Olympic champions will be confident heading into Tuesday's second leg, to be played before a sold-out crowd at BMO Field in Toronto, Donaldson and his team will have to pick up the pieces and get their offensive and defensive shape right in their bid to achieve an improbable win in hostile environment.

  “Canada is a team that played like 100 games together. We are a team that is coming together, and we are still searching for some combinations that we think can work. Scoring goals is very difficult. I mean, we haven’t played anybody who is a slouch, so we have to get games that are winnable games for us that we can start building and building.

  “But it doesn’t come easy when you play teams like Canada, France, and Brazil among others, but hopefully we can find a way to get through this situation and start scoring some more goals,” Donaldson said in his post-game press conference.

  Reflecting on the performance, Donaldson pointed out that he had nothing to be satisfied with, especially in a loss where the team’s execution fell below expectations.

  The Girlz throughout the contest, had some half chances fall to Cheyna Matthews, Jody Brown, Tiffany Cameron and Konya Plummer, in the latter stages. From a defensive perspective, the score could have been much wider in Canada’s favour had it not been for some excellent work from goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer.

  “We had a couple of chances, and we didn’t finish them. Canada got their chance, and they finished it. For the first 50 to 60 minutes they [Canadians] were better than us moving the ball around and they did some stuff that really caught us off guard tactically. We made the adjustments but chasing a one-goal lead a lot of time you then gave up another one and that’s what happened,” Donaldson reasoned.

  “There’s not a lot of satisfaction when you lose games. We weren’t as good as we should be. Maybe for first 10 or 15 minutes we got two chances that we should have done something better with.

  “Canada had one and they finished it and so right there it could have been a big difference. Chasing the game is very difficult at times when you play good teams. Canada are the defending champions and I think we had forgotten that," he added.

  With the situation being as it is now, Donaldson like many Reggae Girlz supporters at home and abroad, hope it will serve as added motivation for the players. 

  Being more committed and focused, the tactician believes will lead to lead to a better second-leg performance, especially as they now have a very specific aim which is to not just win but win by two or more clear goals, if they are to achieve another historic feat of being the first Caribbean team to qualify for women's football at the Olympic Games.

  “I think everybody should be okay and ready to go because we have to now go to Canada and change our fortunes and make something happen differently,” Donaldson declared.

  Should the Girlz fail to overturn the deficit, they will next be in action against Panama and Guatemala where victories would secure their berth in next year's Concacaf Women's Gold Cup.

• Prince, Leon on target as reigning Olympic champions Canada blank Reggae Girlz 2-0 in first-leg playoff

  Jamaica...0

  Canada...2

  Prince (18th), Leon (90+2)

  Jamaica's senior Reggae Girlz dreams of an historic Olympic Games qualification is all but up in smoke, as they suffered a 0-2 defeat to Canada in their first-leg playoff encounter at the National Stadium on Friday. 

  Goals from Nichelle Prince in the 18th and the menacing Adriana Leon in the 90+2 minutes was enough to lift the Bev Priestman-coached reigning Olympic champions to a crucial advantage heading into Tuesday's second leg which will be played before a sold-out crowd at BMO Field in Toronto.

  For Lorne Donaldson and his Girlz it will be a case of pulling off the improbable win in a hostile environment, if they are to progress.

  The Girlz started out fairly disciplined, as they were quick on the ball and did well to contain Canada in the early exchanges. 

  In fact, the Girlz looked more threatening in opening play, but their first real chance in the final third came from Deneisha Blackwood’s teasing 10^th-minute free kick, which had to be mopped up by the Canadian defenders. 

  Such was the Girlz discipline when they gradually gained the ascendancy that Canada was hardly allowed to play their usual fluent passing game to get into the final third.

  Instead, they were on the back foot and almost found themselves a goal down in the 14th minute. This, as Jody Brown was sent on the break by Atlanta Primus, but the diminutive forward’s shot was charged down by a defender. 

  All the Reggae Girlz hard work was undone in the 18th when poor positioning by Blackwood allowed Ashley Lawrence to slip further down the right channel and deliver a weighted cross, which was expertly headed in by Prince, giving Rebecca Spencer no chance at a save.

  Still, the Girlz fought on and again went close in the 29^th courtesy of Brown, who orchestrated a tidy build up and picked out Cheyna Matthews on the left, but the run amounted to nothing.

  Matthews again went on the break five minutes later, as she shook her defender and should have initially struck a left footer, but was hesitant in doing so. When she belatedly got a shot off her favoured right foot, her marker had already recovered and averted the danger.

  Though the score remained unchanged at half-time, the Jamaicans seemingly failed to recover from the manner in which they ended the first half. A defensive lapse immediately on the resumption allowed Leon through on goal and it took a tidy save from Spencer to deny her.

  Canada again went close from the resulting corner with Prince's effort from the top of the 18-yard box rattling the crossbar. 

  By virtue of pushing a high line in their probe for the equalizer, the Girlz absorbed some amount of pressure from Canada's break, as Leon got by Konya Plummer a couple of times but found Spencer in her way.

  The Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper did her utmost best to keep the Girlz in the game as she was again called upon when Cloe Lacasse got away down the left channel in the 64th and struck a left-footed effort which Spencer had to parry at her near post.

  The Girlz had their best chance of the second half a minute later when substitute Tiffany Cameron’s shot from a rebound went just over the crossbar, after Khadija “Bunny” Shaw's initial effort was thwarted by Vanessa Gilles. 

  But just when the moderate turnout in the stadium may have harboured a glimmer of hope that the Girlz would pull one back, Leon broke their hearts with a cheeky finish at Spencer’s near post from a Julia Grosso cross to put Canada 2-0 up.

  Despite being down, the Jamaicans continued the push to at least reduce the deficit, but when Plummer fired a tame left-footed effort straight at Canada’s goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, deep inside added time, it all but summed up their lukewarm evening.

  Teams: Jamaica -Rebecca Spencer, Allyson Swaby, Konya Plummer, Tiernny Wiltshire, Deneisha Blackwood, Vyan Sampson, Drew Spence, Jody Brown (Solai Washington 55th), Atlanta Primus (Kayla McKenna 71st), Cheyna Matthews (Tiffany Cameron 55th), Khadija Shaw

  Subs not used: Sydney Schneider, Liya Brooks, Sashana Campbell, Chantelle Swaby, Kameron Simmonds, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Trudi Carter, Shaneil Buckley, Paige Bailey-Gayle

  Booked: None

  Canada -Kailen Sheridan, Sydney Collins, Kadeisha Buchanan, Rebecca Quinn, Ashley Lawrence (Gabby Carle 82nd), Vanessa Gilles, Nichelle Prince (Jordyn Huitema 64th), Jessie Fleming (Julia Grosso 79th), Adriana Leon, Cloe Lacasse, Jade Rose (Shelina Zadorsky 79th)

  Subs not used: Lysianne Proulx, Sabrina D'Angelo, Olivia Smith, Marie-Yasmine Alidou, Evelyne Viens, Christine Sinclair, Simi Awujo, Bianca St-Georges 

  Booked: Gillies (54th), Grosso (90+5)

  Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva (USA)

  Assistant referees: Kathryn Nesbitt (USA); Felisha Mariscal (USA)

  Fourth official: Natalie Simon (USA)

  Match Commissary: Techell McLean (SKN)

• Raring to go: versatile Cameron faces birth country in high-stakes playoff fixtures

  After switching allegiance from Canada to Jamaica, Tiffany Cameron will play against her birth country in one of the most important fixtures of her career.

  Cameron, who earns her Jamaican stripes through her parents Yvonne Brown and Donovan Cameron, represented Canada at the Under-17 level and then played six friendly contests with the senior team, before making a switch from the Canucks to the Reggae Girlz in 2019.

  While it is not her first time playing against Canada since her switch, the significance of this two-leg Olympic qualifying playoff, is such that Cameron’s sentimental attachment to her birth country and former team, is almost non-existent.

  In fact, Cameron is buzzing with excitement ahead of the opening fixture scheduled for later this evening inside the National Stadium at 7:00pm, and moreso about her return to the BMO Field in Toronto where the second-leg will be contested before a sold-out crowd on September 26.

  “The last senior international cap I had with Canada was on June 2, 2013, against United States at BMO. We lost that game 0-3 and I haven’t played on the BMO Field since. So, it will be extra special for me to go back there now representing Jamaica,” Cameron told Sportsmax.tv.

  “Situations like these don’t happen often, so I’m excited. I’m ready to give my best and I think it will be a competitive match,” she added.

  The two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup representative, who has enjoyed a decorated career spanning 14 years to date, recently inked a deal with Liga F outfit, Real Betis, where she hopes to again put her versatility on display, much like she did with the Reggae Girlz at the global showpiece in Australia.

  Simply put, Cameron, though at age 31, is still very much in her prime and has a real hard desire to work hard and improve her craft, especially now in a country where she enjoys their brand of football.

  “I think it (Real Betis) is a great fit for me because I enjoy combinational play and playing with players that express themselves and make football an enjoyable sport to watch. Playing in Spain will improve my decision making overall, as the speed of play in Spain is ranked one of the highest in the world.  I have settled in well so far and I am very much looking forward to my time with the club,” she shared.

  But, for now, Cameron is solely focused on assisting her Reggae Girlz team in their bid to once again rewrite the history books by being the first Caribbean team to qualify for women’s football at the Olympic Games.

  The Reggae Girlz, are coming off a confident run at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where they finished second in Group F, holding top 10-ranked teams France and Brazil to goalless stalemates, complemented by a 1-0 victory over Panama, before losing 0-1 to Colombia in the Round of 16.

  It was the first time since 1938 that a Caribbean team –male or female –contested the knockout stages at the global showpiece and the Girlz have a chance to build on that momentum.

  “We are all proud of what we were able to accomplish at the World Cup and I think those accomplishments have given us a boost in confidence going into these games against Canada. We want to continue to make Jamaica proud and will give our best,” Cameron declared.

  “We know what’s at stake in these games, so we will go into these games with a similar mentality as the World Cup. The opportunity to continue to make history is a blessing within itself and we won’t be taking that for granted,” she noted.

  A win and a draw against 10th-ranked Canadians would be good enough to not only book the 37th-ranked Jamaicans one of 12 spots at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, but also a spot in the group stages of the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup, alongside United States.

  Both Jamaica and Canada are in this position after placing second and third at last year’s Concacaf Women’s Championships in Mexico. United States, by virtue of topping the tournament, earned automatic qualification to both the Olympic Games and the Gold Cup.

  Like many of her teammates, Cameron knows all too well that another history-making feat would add further impetus to not only their status, but to women’s football in the Caribbean on a whole.

  “It would mean a lot to us to be able to make history and be the first Caribbean team to qualify for women's football at the Olympics. The more successful we are, the more hope we will give to the younger generation in the Caribbean,” Cameron ended.