We are pleased that Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz seem not to have been carried away by their 18-0 demolition of Dominica in the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers recently.

A clearly level-headed Ms Khadija Shaw, Jamaica’s star striker and captain, tells us that while her team turned in a “professional performance”, they could have scored more goals had they been more “clinical”.

She is urging an improvement as the national team, hunting a third-straight qualification for a FIFA World Cup finals tournament, face Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, and Guyana in follow-up qualifying contests next year.

Beyond the local perspective, that 18-0 margin of victory does seem to reflect a worryingly huge gap in regional women’s football.

For those at the receiving end, such results could have damaging, demotivating consequences for sponsors, organisers, coaches, and players.

We, in this space, have often pointed to an urgent need to lift the standard of women and girls domestic leagues locally. It would appear that the need is even greater at the regional level. It’s a matter that regional football authorities, with the support of FIFA, should have high on their agenda.

It’s a far more even state of play in men’s regional football, as Mount Pleasant Football Club can testify after shading O&M FC of the Dominican Republic 3-2 on aggregate, home and away, to take the Concacaf Caribbean Cup.

It’s another plus for Jamaica’s football in the wake of Cavalier FC’s triumph in the same competition a year ago.

We are told that Mount Pleasant are now in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

Readers should recall that Cavalier were eliminated from the Champions Cup in a high-profile tie with Mr Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in March. Mount Pleasant’s Coach Mr Theodore Whitmore and crew are, no doubt, dreaming of greater glory up ahead.

And surely there’s no greater evidence of the levelling of men’s football than a quick look at the nations that have qualified automatically for the 48-team 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Regarding Concacaf, it could also be argued that the elimination of Costa Rica and Honduras — unfortunate to have been drawn in the same qualifying group — underlines that levelling off.

As has been said repeatedly, Curacao is now the smallest nation ever to have qualified for a senior men’s FIFA World Cup. That’s ahead of Jamaica, who must now go the route of inter-confederation play-off against Oceania’s New Caledonia.

The winner will face seeded Democratic Republic of the Congo in the final. And, ringing applause won’t end soon for chaotic, crisis-ridden Haiti, automatic qualifiers against all odds.

Friday’s group draw for next year’s World Cup confirmed that should the Reggae Boyz get past the play-offs, they will be up against mighty Portugal, Colombia, and first-timers Uzbekistan at the Big Dance.

Curacao are drawn with four-time World Cup winners Germany, Ivory Coast, and Ecuador in Group E.

Haiti are in Group C with five-time champions Brazil, Morocco, and Scotland.

Jamaicans will be laser-focused on the Reggae Boyz’s second chance for a World Cup spot in FIFA’s play-offs next March. But regardless of success or failure, we will also have a special place in our thoughts for our Caribbean neighbours at the 2026 World Cup.