Hosting the final round of the Concacaf Caribbean Women’s Qualifiers was always at the top of Hue Menzies’ wish list, and with that becoming a reality the head coach is eager to introduce his senior Reggae Girlz team to Jamaica.

Following their successful navigation of the first round in Haiti, Menzies’ team arrived on the island Saturday and is now in high preparation at a pre-tournament camp sponsored by Alacran Foundation and Bob Marley Foundations.

With their sights firmly set on advancing to the next round, the senior Reggae Girlz will do battle against Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda in the final round of Caribbean Football Union qualifying. The competition is scheduled to run from Saturday, August 25 to Sunday, September 2, with matches to be hosted at the National Stadium.

Jamaica secured a spot and the right to host the final round after topping their group in the first round in Haiti in May, courtesy of 13-0, 3-0 and 2-2 scores lines against Guadeloupe, Martinique and the hosts, respectively.

It will be the first time since 2006 that local fans will have an opportunity to see the Senior Reggae Girlz in action inside the National Stadium, and Menzies is urging Jamaicans to support their team.

“This is a great step for Jamaica women’s football and so we want the people to support us as we bring this group of players closer to Jamaica. They are special; they went to Haiti under a lot of pressure to deliver and they did just that,” Menzies told the Jamaica Observer during a training session at the match venue on Monday.

He continued: “So we are definitely looking forward to it and we can’t wait to get going. the enthusiasm in the camp has been great so far and we have some more girls coming in, so we feel really good about our chances.

“Obviously, we want to showcase ourselves in front of our home crowd and it is very important to get these girls accustomed to the football culture in Jamaica which is what we come here to do and we are hoping that the crowd will come out and show them some love.”

Despite the team missing out on a medal at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Colombia last month, Menzies expressed pleasure in the outcome as that tournament provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen a few areas.

The Jamaicans went down 1-2 to Costa Rica and Venezuela, respectively, before bouncing back to beat the hosts Colombia by a similar scoreline, which saw them just failing to progress.

“Our Colombia experience was to merely get us ready. Obviously, we wanted to win games, but the main goal was to look at the group and evaluate the players in the different positions.

“So I thought it was excellent in assisting in our preparation for us for this event and also for us to identify some players. We had a few young players in the squad; Jody Brown was among that group and we are bringing her back in, so she too can show Jamaica her talent,” Menzies noted.

Menzies, who is assisted by Lorne Donaldson and Andrew Price, is now looking forward to their first contest against Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday to showcase his experienced overseas-based players.

Sashana Campbell, who currently plies her trade in Israel, is one such player.

“Everything is great in the team; we have a set of players who play a leading role, both on and off the field in the team and everything is pretty solid. We want to be confident, but not over-confident. We are playing in front of our country and we are happy for that, but at the end of the day we want to go out there and get results. So we are just going to take it one game at a time and I think we should be able to get through to this event and into the next round,” he reasoned.

The three highest- placed teams from CFU will advance to the Concacaf Women’s Championship to be hosted in the United States October 4-17.

That tournament will see the top three countries qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, while the fourth-placed team will advance to a play-off against the third-placed team from CONMEBOL. It will also determine the teams to represent Concacaf at the 2019 Pan American Games women’s football tournament in Lima, Peru.

Squad: Davia Smith (Waterhouse FC), Kevena Reid (Olympic Gardens FC), Gabrielle Gayle (SC Monarchs), Sashana Campbell (Maccabi Krishronot Hadera), Chris-Ann Chambers (UWI), Jody Brown (Montverd Academy), Sydney Schneider (Match Fit Academy), Lauren Silver (unattached), Konya Plummer (Florida Kraze Krush), Deneisha Blackwood (Florida Kraze Krush), Chantelle Swaby (Rutgers University), Khadija Shaw (University of Tennessee), Ashleigh Shim (unattached), Jadyn Matthews (Cornell University), Marlo Sweatman (unattached), Chinyelu Asher (Washington Spirit), Toriana Patterson (TTI Bluebonnets), Giselle Washington (Concord Fire), Trudi Carter (unattached), Christina Chang (Miami Surge FC), Yazmeen Jamieson (Sanjaxx SC), Allyson Swaby (Hottur), Dominique Bond-Flasza (PSV Eindhoven)