THE ROAD TO FRANCE 2019

Having not played an international match since a 2-1 defeat by Guyana in November 2015, the Reggae Girlz played Barbados and Cuba in April 2018 before starting their World Cup qualification campaign in May.

It got off to a bright start with a thumping 13-0 win over Guadeloupe in the opening match, followed by a 3-0 victory over Martinique and a draw with Haiti. Victories continued, against Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba before, to no one’s surprise, the team lost to Canada.

But it was the match two days after the defeat by Canada, a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in Texas last October, which gave the team belief they could achieve what many had felt impossible.

“That win against Costa Rica was a big turning point for us.”

In 2008, funding was cut and the women’s senior team was disbanded. Six years later, Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella, attempted to fix things by becoming an ambassador and sponsor through the Bob Marley Foundation, raising just enough for the team to re-form. But in 2016, the federation disbanded the team again.

How she saved their women's national team: https://glintztv.com/2019/05/26/how-bob-marleys-daughter-cedella-marley-saved-jamaican-womens-football-as-they-qualify-for-world-cup/

Pretty Gem