All Forums  Reggae Boyz Supporterz Club  Everything Reggae Boyz Forum  Girlz qualify with 10!

Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply.
To register, click here. Registration is FREE!

Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Karl[/i] [br]Mac Another article: Girlz qualify with 10! Tue Aug 20 12:32:16 2002 130.91.16.87 Taken from www.jamaica-star.com Girlz qualify with 10! THE BOYZ HAVE done their bit. Now the Reggae Girlz are kicking some balls, having scored their first major goal in qualifying for the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup - a step away from the World Cup. A goalless finish against Haiti in Port-au-Prince on Sunday was enough for the Girlz, who took the tie 2-0 on aggregate after securing victory at Tony Spaulding Sports Complex in their home leg two weeks earlier. "It's a historical moment. It's a fantastic achievement and the girls must be congratulated. No praise is too high, we've made some progress in women's football," said Christopher Bender, coach of the first Jamaican women's team to qualify for regional football's most prestigious female tournament. Haiti though, still have a chance at qualifying as they will challenge Suriname in a two-way play-off on August 8 and 22 to decide the third and final Caribbean qualifier. Sunday's result sparked wild celebrations on the pitch from the Jamaicans, who along with Trinidad and Tobago, claimed automatic spots for Caribbean teams in the elimination series for the October 27-November 9 finals to be staged jointly by Canada and the United States. "It was a momentous occasion, the girls were jumping and running all over the place and the Haitian crowd was very receptive to us," said Bender. That was after the fact - a completely different story of what transpired throughout a bitterly fought contest in which Jamaica were put under additional pressure within the first five minutes, when one of their best players, Nicole Berwise, got a red card (two yellows). "She got two yellow cards, one for dissent and the other for retaliation. She was hacked down from behind and protested and got a yellow card. The referee did not award a foul. I think the referee was just imcompetent. "We're not saying she was a thief or anything. We've prepared for so many things but that's an eventuality we weren't prepared for," said Bender of the dismissal. "They really played, they got kicked, they got thumped but they still played. And I never had to make a change until the 80th minute when someone got injured and I had to pull her out." In a qualifying engagement against Haiti at the same venue couple years ago, Jamaica's women's team felt cheated when they had what seemed a legitimate goal disallowed, only for Haiti to score in controversial fashion after to win 1-0 and advance ahead of Jamaica. Will power The early red card brought a sense of deja vu but Bender said their will power was much stronger this time. "To play with 10 for 85 minutes, that showed a lot of character and will and determination, especially when you're playing away to a team that needs to win the game. It's a fantastic achievement." Succeeding in extra-ordinary circumstances, it seems, is fast becoming a habit of this team. Once, they publicly complained of not getting as much as a "stipend" and only days ahead of their first round qualifying schedule against Puerto Rico, the sport's governing body here, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), suspended all its national programmes to throw a chaotic spin on their preparations. Asked to comment on the Girlz' ability to rise over such adversities, Bender said: "It's about setting goals and achieving them. When I speak to the team each time I say you've to sell women's football to the public. "They wanted to be the first female team to qualify for a major tournament. We've qualified for the Gold Cup, we'll give them two weeks break so they go back to their clubs and play in the club league, but we're going to need help going forward. "We're going to need help in terms of finance because it's costing the JFF a whole lot to finance the programme. In terms of income and expenditure, this team does not earn revenue for the programme," he added. Funding apart, Bender says the team needs to be strengthened both in terms of personnel and its physical aspect to boost their chances of making it to the ultimate level, the FIFA Women's World Cup final. The Gold Cup's top two are guaranteed places in the next year's global event. "That's our long term objective. We'd set small, medium and long term goals. Our long term goal is to eventually to qualify for the World Cup. That's a big step," said Bender. Karl [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.