Jamaica continued to impress in the Concacaf Caribbean Women’s qualifiers final stage with a come from behind 4-1 over arch rivals Trinidad and Tobago inside the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica on Friday night.
After falling behind to a tenth minute goal from Kayla Taylor which was against the run of play, the Hue Menzies coached team battled bravely but wasted numerous chances to draw level in the first half.
The Reggae Girls found their range in the second half and a brace from their leading scorer Khadija Shaw helped inspire them to what was in the end, was a comfortable third win from as many games and back to the top of the tables.
Shaw who now has six goals from three games said that they expected their opponents to come at them.
“Every time we play against Trinidad and Tobago it’s always history and we know that they were going to come out flying.”
The former St. Jago High player said the team backed themselves and having been in a similar position before knew they had the capacity to get the job done against T&T.
“We believed in ourselves and we know that we were the favourite team and we were the better team so when they scored…it was not the first time we were down, because we were down in Haiti.
The self-belief in the squad was a significant factor in getting the job done.
“We just held our composure, came out in the second half, know that we have 45 minutes to win and that is what we did,” she said.
Substitute Giselle Washington scored from a corner kick in the 70th minute, firing through a crowd of players from about six yards to restore parity for Jamaica before Shaw scrambled home her first at the near post to put Jamaica 2-1 ahead in the minute 79th minute.
The big striker then made it 3-1 for Jamaica with a thumping left footed drive from eight yards to kill the game off as a contest ten minutes later.
Jody Brown who had replaced Deneisha Blackwood at half time, then put the icing on the cake in stoppage time, rolling the ball calmly into an empty net after the Trinidad and Tobago defence had been caught out of position.
Jamaica will play their final qualifier today against another quality team in Cuba, but Shaw expects that she and her teammates will make it four from four in the five team playoffs to underline their qualification to the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship in the United States next month.
“Cuba is another tough opponent, they are a good team and they are very composed also but as I said, once we play our game, we are unstoppable!” she boldly declared.
A win or draw for Jamaica tonight will see them finish as Caribbean champions.
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