Photo Courtesy of Usain St. Leo Bolt / Twitter
Congratulations to Jamaica’s “Reggae Girlz” for making history by reaching the knockout phase of the Women’s World Cup on Wednesday — Jamaica is now the first Caribbean nation to achieve this success.
No Jamaican soccer team — men or women — has made it to the knockout stages.
According to CNN, Jamaica played against Brazil in Melbourne, ending in a 0-0 draw, ultimately knocking Brazil out of the tournament. This is the first time since 1995 that a South American team was eliminated from the group stage of the World Cup.
Not only is Brazil out of the tournament, but Wednesday’s game concluded Brazilian great Marta’s (full name Marta Vieira da Silva) World Cup career.
Jamaica’s latest success came after their three consecutive winning streaks. The “Reggae Girlz” defeated Panama, 1-0, on Saturday, July 29. They tied with France on Sunday, July 23, and beat Morocco, 1-0, on July 16. Behind France, Jamaica finished second in Group F.
The “Reggae Girlz” coach and manager, Lorne Donaldson, spoke with ITV about how he felt about his team’s success.
“It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” Donaldson said. “To be able to do this is unbelievable to just watch it while I’m alive. I think the girls for doing this for the country. The country should be proud.”
Donaldson continued, “The resilience, the fight. It’s a war, we know it’s a war, we’re going into a war, and we have to be ready, and it was a war, and we stayed in the battle, and we won the war. But we have some more work to do, but we’ll just enjoy tonight. I did a cartwheel, but I don’t know if it was a good one. I need a cup of beer, and I’m good. I’m not a big drinker. I will enjoy.”
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