- Junior DowiePuerto Rican goalkeeper Araceli Vazquez is left beaten as another Jamaican goal is scored. The goal was one of two scored by captain Alicia James. Jamaica won 8-0.
Charmaine Austin, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA'S WOMEN made a deafening statement when they hammered a weak Puerto Rico 8-0 in the first leg of a Caribbean Zone World Cup football qualifier at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday.
Goals by Diana Hue (10th minute), Bernadette Mairs (43rd), Tamara Honeywell (46th), Nordia Reid (56th and 85th), Tanisha Francis (79th) and captain Alicia James (45th and 50th), gave the team a resounding victory as well as a huge advantage going into next Sunday's return game in Puerto Rico.
The winner of this tie plays the winner of the Haiti-Dominica match-up.
Yesterday's game provided excitement for the fans present despite the Puerto Ricans' apparent weakness.
The Reggae Girlz looked good from start to finish - particularly the defence which starved the opposition of scoring opportunities.
Puerto Rico made only three real attempts at goal for the entire game, leaving local goalkeeper Nickeisha Thomas to improvise on ways to keep warm.
Scoring big was not a part of the plan, Jamaica's coach Christopher Bender said, but he was satisfied with the result.
"Playing at home gave us a bit of an advantage so we capitalised on that. We didn't really plan to score a lot today but that's the way it worked out and I'm satisfied with that," Bender said.
Puerto Rico did not provide much in the way of competition for the Jamaicans and Bender said this made it difficult to assess the overall performance of his team.
"Hopefully next week in Puerto Rico we'll get a chance to really see how we play. It's really hard to gauge the performance of our team because the opposition was very weak. They didn't offer us much competition but then our defence ensured that the Puerto Ricans didn't do too much," he added.
Puerto Rico's head coach, Toribio Rojas, was full of praise for the Reggae Girlz and made no excuse for his team's defeat.
"We played as best as we could but we were truly no match for Jamaica. We are experimenting with this team and this game showed us that we have a lot to learn. We also have to work on our conditioning.
"Jamaica were more tactical and better conditioned. They play very organised and off the modern structure. The team has a good system and every single player knows how to play the game," Rojas said.
Puerto Rico's plan for the return game?
"It's not possible for us to win. Jamaica are very good. We're just going to play the game and enjoy ourselves for the full 90 minutes. There's so much more for us to learn," he said.
The winner of this tie will advance to another knockout tie from which that winner will qualify for the Women's Gold Cup.
The finalists in that competition gain a place in the World Cup.
