Lorne Donaldson, head coach of Jamaica’s senior football team, is once again calling on fans both locally and worldwide to rally behind the history-making Reggae Girlz, who face Brazil in a crucial encounter at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Wednesday.

The Group F match is scheduled to begin at 5:00 am Jamaica time at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Australia.

The Reggae Girlz managed to hold European heavyweights and world fifth-ranked France to a 0-0 stalemate on July 23 in Sydney, one of the tournament’s big upsets. That result was significant for the Girlz since it was their first-ever World Cup point.

As if things couldn’t get any better for the 43rd-ranked Jamaicans, they made more history by defeating 52nd-ranked Panama 1-0 in Perth to claim their maiden World Cup victory. In only their second trip to the global showpiece, it is for now the country’s biggest accomplishment in women’s football.

Now many pundits are suggesting the Caribbean side can do what once looked to be the impossible by advancing to the next round of the competition.

“There are a lot of Jamaican fans in Perth that we didn’t know lived there, but they showed up and, you know, they are some of the noisiest fans in the world, but they love their colours and so it was great to see them and I think the players embraced it,” Donaldson said.

“I think some of the players, as well as the coaches and staff, were surprised to see so many Jamaican fans, and it’s great to have those fans. I’m not sure if they’ll come to the Brazil game, but hopefully some of those fans will find their way to Melbourne and keep the fire burning,” the strategist said.

Jamaica have four points from two games, the same as France, while Brazil are third on three points. Panama are at the foot of the table without a point.

The Reggae Girlz need only a point from their game against Brazil to keep the fairy tale going, but it is expected to be an uphill task against the eighth-ranked South Americans.

While the Jamaicans welcome back skipper Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, who was suspended after she received two yellow cards and was ejected against France, Donaldson stated that the Reggae Girlz will still have to fight to the end because sitting back to defend a point against Brazil is not the way to go.

“Bunny Shaw is back, but she is only one player, so we must be prepared to go after Brazi as they will go after us because they must win the game. They [Brazil] are going to throw everything at us, and we have to make sure as a collective unit that we are good defensively, but we also have to try to get something.

“We can’t just sit back and say ‘okay’. We have to just try and get something; a goal or we have to go after their goal in that sense. We just can’t say ‘let [us] defend all the way’. We have to be playing both ways,” Donaldson said.

According to Assistant Coach Xavier Gilbert, the environment in the camp is positive, and the Reggae Girlz are aware of what is at stake and ready to go on the field.

“Well, things are going well with the preparations. The reality is that it’s more about recuperation. I mean, mental and tactical preparation than anything else since we had to fly four-and-a-half hours from Perth to Melbourne, so it’s simply rehabilitation for the girls,” Gilbert told the Jamaica Observer.

“We’re doing everything we can and need to do to ensure we get a result. The plan coming into the game is to make sure we get something out of it. We are completely aware of the situation and everything, and all we need is a point.

“Yes, we’re going for the win, but if that doesn’t happen, we’ll take the point. We’re not going to go out there and tell ourselves that we have to win the game because we don’t.

“So we must be cautious in our approach, which we are aware of. They [Brazil] have to win, so we assume they’d come at us, and we have to prepare for that, and how we’re going to counter that is what we’re focusing on,” Gilbert added.