7 hours ago
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Jamaica will go into their Concacaf Women’s Under-17 World Cup Group E qualifying game against hosts Nicaragua today at 7 p.m. at the National Stadium in Managua, needing just a point to advance to the final round.
Led by a hat trick from Tiana Wilson, the young Reggae Girlz drubbed St Kitts and Nevis 6-0 on Thursday. Brianna Turner, Ella Provost-Heron and Shauntai Pryce also got on the scoresheet.
Nicaragua defeated St Kitts 4-0 in their match and Jamaica have a plus two goal difference at the top of the three-team table. Coach Marlon Hylton said having the advantage in goals is added motivation for the Girlz as the group winners are automatic qualifiers for the final round.
“That is the biggest confidence booster you can get. They would have seen us play and we saw them play. So it is for us as a team to sit down and look at the areas we can improve from the last game, while looking at their game to see what can we do to outplay them in certain areas of the field,” he said.
However, they will not be reckless in trying to get the three points, he insisted.
“Whatever comes, comes. Situations change as the minutes go by in a game. We are going for the win but who knows how the game will play out? So we will have to take it step by step and see how best we manage.”
Hat trick hero Wilson, Turner and Provost-Heron were all in excellent form on Thursday and Hylton is hoping they can turn in another good display.
“Wilson did well and Ella (Provost-Heron) did well. The defence was organised and all four persons around there did a good job. It’s really a team effort and I hope they continue like this,” he added.
In the opening game on Thursday, Hylton said they knew they needed to at least match Nicaragua’s four-goal win to have a good chance in the final game, and he was pleased with how they applied themselves.
“We knew that we needed goals to help us. We needed to know whether we had to win the next game or to draw. So getting the first goal early was crucial. The girls did that in the first three minutes,” he pointed out.
However, after that early goal, he believed they got a bit impatient and the coaches had to calm down the players at half-time.
According to Hylton, they came out in the second half and made the adjustments.
“We needed to show a bit more patience with the ball and pass it a lot more and they came out in the second half and got the job done. Based on the instructions that we gave them at half-time, we saw that their confidence levels went up.
“The win was a confidence booster for the Girlz. We now have two options but the best option is to go out and win the game,” he said.
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