WITH the Caribbean round of qualifiers now left in their rear view, Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Girlz are now on the road to the CONCACAF stage to be held in Grenada in March.

But having recollected a few interesting moments of the almost two-week-long trip to Puerto Rico at the recently concluded Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Championship, I decided to give our readers a little recap of what transpired on and off the field.

Both Jamaica and Haiti, by virtue of making it to the final, where Jamaica won 2-1, advanced to join hosts Grenada as the CFU representatives in the CONCACAF round. The top three teams from that round will represent CONCACAF at the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan in September.

First, let me start by saying hearty congratulations to the young Reggae Girlz team and staff on their successful feat of being named CFU champions at this level for the first time.

The team pooled together weeks before the tournament were nowhere close to ready, but as fate would have it, they came, they saw and they conquered all.

In the words of a popular dancehall artist, ‘from nothing to something’ was what it was for the young Reggae Girlz team which fielded eight overseas-based players — five of whom were making — debuts and a number of local-based players who were lacking in the fitness department.

But credit must be given to Coach Lorne Donaldson and assistant Xavier Gilbert, who, with just a few training sessions with the team as a collective unit, assessed the strong points of a few players and capitalised on them.

The strategy of using the speed of Erin Mikalsen, Rena Gordon, Shayla Smart and Jody Brown down the right and left channels stretched their opponents and opened up space, a ploy that caused problems for opposing teams.

That being said, it raised this question: Was it sheer luck or athleticism? My response as a man of faith, and with the biblical analogy of David and Goliath being a good case in point, I strive by the phrase ‘through Christ all things are possible’.

So, Jamaica was pitted in Group A alongside the hosts Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Cuba, while Group B was contested by Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Barbados.

On arrival at the Hyatt Place in Bayamon, San Juan, I realised that all eight teams were sharing the same hotel. I am not sure if that had ever happened before at a tournament, but then I thought maybe it was due to the age group.

One thing was for sure, it was a very awkward first week. Every team had their frowns on, except the Jamaicans who were always smiling and finding ways to entertain each other.

Another interesting item on the agenda was for Jamaica to oppose the host nation in their opening fixture, which again I am not sure had ever happened before. Under normal circumstances, the hosts would be Jamaica’s last group fixture, but they obviously deemed the young Reggae Girlz a worthy opponent and wanted to get them out the way early, I suppose.

The game ended in a 2-2 draw, which allowed Cuba to take the early initiative after defeating Bermuda. The young Reggae Girlz bounced back with a 5-1 victory over Bermuda and Cuba defeated Puerto Rico 2-0.

This made for an intriguing final round of group games with Jamaica on four points at the time meeting leaders Cuba, while Puerto Rico on a point were up against Bermuda. So as was expected, Cuba gained the support of the home crowd as a victory over Jamaica would have given their team a chance of advancing to the semi-finals.

The cheers of the crowd were deafening when Cuba went in front from the penalty spot, but they soon reverted to revolting boos after the fleet-footed Rena Gordon scored twice to give Jamaica a 2-1 win, thereby nullifying the chances of the home team.

Meanwhile, in Group B, Haiti were running rampant with 13-0, 3-0 and 4-1 results over Barbados, Dominican Republic and Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), respectively.

After the smoke cleared, it was Jamaica versus perennial rivals T&T and Haiti against Cuba for a spot in the final.

To my surprise, T&T came with a defensive approach and offered very little as the Girlz came away with a 1-0 scoreline, while Haiti defeated Cuba 3-2 in extra time.

One member of the T&T contingent offered best wishes to Jamaica at the CONCACAF stage, but warned of the potential dangers ahead.

“Congrats Jamaica, but don’t meet the US (United States) ’cause you are going to get a beating,” he said.

I thought to myself that smells like a good whole pot of ‘bad-mind soup’ as we say in Jamaica. And if that was not enough, they came out for the final after defeating Cuba 3-0 in the third-place play-offs and cheered against the young Reggae Girlz, confirming my suspicions.

But little did they know that the Girlz thrived off their negative energy and held on for a resounding victory which will be one for the ages.

At the prize-giving ceremony, the Haitian Captain Nerilia Mondesir was named Leading Goalscorer and Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament, while Kerly Theus was named best goalkeeper.

This again signalled a red light as Theus conceded five goals — as many as Jamaica’s Oneilia Yearde did. Additionally, the tournament’s MVP in most cases always comes from the winning team, so I asked myself rhetorically: Why did the young Reggae Girlz not take home an individual award?

Anyways, our young Reggae Girlz rose to the occasion, fought the good fight, and took home the most prized possession, which is the title of Caribbean Football Union (CFU) champions.