This summer women’s football from both a global and Caribbean perspective took over sports public consciousness for both equally positive and negative reasons.
The first positives were the FIFA Women’s World Cup which was won by Spain. It saw clear advancement in the global game highlighted by former winners and powerhouses Canada, Germany and Brazil being shockingly eliminated at the group stage while four-time champions, the United States of America (USA) was bounced in the round of 16.
From a Caribbean perspective a second positive was the inspiring performance of Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz as they qualified from their World Cup group.
What the Reggae Girlz did was one of the most significant Caribbean accomplishment by a Caribbean sports team not taking anything away from the Jamaica Reggae Boyz in 1998, Trinidad & Tobago Soca Warriors 2006 & Haiti 1974.
Here is where the negatives come in.
Women’s football, even when it reaches its zenith, can still be under appreciated and disrespected.
The Spanish team, unlike the men when they won their maiden World Cup in 2010, has been completely overshadowed by the sexist incident with now resigned President Luis Rubiales kissing star player Jenni Hermoso. The Reggae Girlz had a very public spat with the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) over money, which forced one of the players’ mothers to help raise funds via an online petition.
This leads us to the Lady Jaguars in the ongoing qualifiers for the inaugural CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup that will be held in the USA from February 20 to March 10, 2024.
These qualifiers which run from 20 September to 5 December 2023 are currently contested by 34 of the senior women’s national teams of the member associations of Concacaf. The competition will decide six of the 12 participating teams for the Gold Cup.
The three group runners-up of League A and the three group winners of League B will advance to the play-offs. The six teams will be divided into three pairings based on the December 2023 Concacaf Women’s Ranking. These single-leg games will be contested in the United States on 17 February 2024, immediately prior to the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. The three winners will qualify for the group stage.
Guyana’s Lady Jags are currently second in League B group (3 points) behind Suriname (6 points) and other members Antigua (3 points) and Dominica (zero).
The Lady Jaguars last played in April 2022 during the Concaf women’s championship. For those who saw the game on Concacaf YouTube, the ladies in front of a jam-packed partisan 10,000 strong crowd in Tobago – drew 2-2 against Trinidad & Tobago.
This game gives the best example of the current state of the Lady Jaguars under the tutelage of former Canadian based coach Dr. Ivan Joseph, that Netherlands-based coach Omar Khan has inherited.
Considering the magnitude of the game, the performances of many players gave a clear indication that his recruitment of a new generation of players in Canada, the United States and England had unearthed some exciting new talent.
Of the original veteran group of Canada born Lady Jaguars that played in the 2011 World Cup qualifiers only the De Sousa’s Kayla and Brianna, Mariam El Masri & Justine Rodrigues were present last year.
The new generation from Canada included versatile midfielder and defender Brianne Desa, midfielder Stefanie Kouzas, full-back Rylee Traicoff and winger Shanice Alfred.
Based in England there is midfielder Hannah Baptiste and finally from the USA, defenders Sydney Cummings, Ghilhene Joseph and forward Cameo Hazlewood.
All impressed in those matches and in particular that high pressure game versus Trinidad.
However, the biggest new talent was defender and scorer of both goals vs Trinidad & Tobago, New Jersey USA born Cummings. Fast forward 15 months later she is now playing for renowned Scottish club Celtic FC women.
In 2016 quietly at the Ato Bolton, Couva Trinidad – the Lady Jaguars toppled the Reggae Girlz 2-1 in a game that Guyanese football fans never saw live. This is no disrespect to the GFF – but look at where the two programmes are today.
The lineup that drew 2-2 vs Trinidad which was missing a few starters due to injury and others reasons read:
(4-1-2-3): Chanté Sandiford; Brianne Desa, Sydney Cummings, Briana De Souza, Ghilene Joseph, Kayla De Souza; Justine Rodrigues, Stefani Kouzas; Calaigh Copland, Annalisa Vincent, Otesha Charles
A hypothetical potential full strength XI in graphic below that mixes the established veteran players with the talented emerging players could be (4-1-4-1): GK – Chante Sandiford, RB – Rylee Traicoff, CB – Brianna De Souza, CB – Sydney Cummings, LB – Ghilhene Joseph, CDM – Kayla De Souza, CM – Mariam El Masri, CM – Justine Rodrigues, RW – Brianna Desa, LW – Otesha Charles, FW – Cameo Hazlewood
Such a squad means that presuming all missing players from September’s games return for October 25 and 29 double header versus Suriname – coach Omar Khan and GFF has the tools to not just win group, but realistically push for Lady Jags to be positioned as the second best CFU team behind the Reggae Girlz and qualify for the inaugural Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup.
