Over the last seven years, the Reggae Girlz have established themselves as one of the best teams in Concacaf and a respected name worldwide.

Head Coach Hubert Bubsy says that reputation will make their current World Cup Qualification campaign much harder than before, with opponents more determined than ever to beat them.

The national senior women’s team will return to action on March 2 when they travel to Nicaragua for their second group game of the Concacaf W Qualifiers.

The Jamaicans, on three points after their opening 18-0 victory over Dominica in November, need to beat Nicaragua, on six points, to go top of Group B. With only the group winners advancing to the Concacaf W Championship — the final round of qualifying to next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the victory would put the Girlz in pole position with their final two games against Antigua and Barbuda and Guyana.

The Reggae Girlz are looking to qualify for an impressive third World Cup, having created history in 2019 and 2023.

Although Jamaica are now seen as a favourite, Busby isn’t expecting an easy ride going forward, but says the players want to achieve more.

“I think it first of all starts with the expectation and I think that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Obviously, the pressure that comes along with it means that we’ve raised the expectations to a certain level,” he said. “So that’s not a bad thing to be able to play with that sort of pressure. But really, the expectations and the levels that we want to aspire to is really internally so we know, and the players know, and they’re continually driven.”

“They’re the one who’s driving it — those players want to make history. Every single person who’s come through this national team system in the last two or three years, four or five years now, have that in mind so the motivation to go to a World Cup, the motivation to go to the Olympics is extremely, extremely high. It’s the pinnacle of any footballer’s career.”

Busby, though, says the mentality of the entire group must remain strong to prevent any missteps.

“The expectations obviously are the expectations and we have to be able to cope with that. And that just means everybody understanding that it’s not going to be us just showing up. It means now, heavy is the head that wears the crown, from being the hunter to being the hunted kind of changes a little bit, as well, in the games that we go into and we feel that but that’s okay as well,” he said.

“It’s just a matter of us managing those expectations, making sure we remain laser-focused in terms of what the task is at hand and making sure that the group, driven by the great leaders that we have within the group and everyone that comes into the group knows what the expectations are and know what the outcome is. But along that way, making sure that we don’t lose anything along the line in terms of our processes and making sure that we’re the best team that we can possibly be.”

Ahead of next month’s contest, Busby says he’s been impressed with the Nicaraguans but is confident his Girlz will assert themselves and come out successful.

“The good thing is we’ve been able to watch their last two games leading into ours and, there are some quality players on their squad so we’ve got a match plan that we’re going to look to execute in the four days we have leading into the match,” he said.

“But I think it’s making sure that we remain true to our principles of play, remain true to our style, our mindset and our discipline in terms of how we go about executing. We respect our opponent, it’s a very difficult place to go into, but we’re really going to focus on the things that we do well and make sure that the match plan and some of the things that we’ve taken out of their previous games into an earlier round are put into play.”

Jamaica’s senior Reggae Girlz Head Coach Hubert Busby (Photo: Observer file)

The Reggae Girlz starting 11 pose for a team photo ahead of their Concacaf World Cup Qualifier against Dominica at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on November 29, 2025.  (Photo: JFF)