Kingston, 17 October 2018 –The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange has hailed the “historic achievement” of Jamaica’s team which qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup this evening after defeating Panama on penalty kicks in Texas. 

Minister noted that “the Reggae Girls have become the first Caribbean team to qualify for the Women’s World Cup, an achievement that is well deserved and comes after overcoming several challenges and working very hard.”

Jamaica defeated Panama in a penalty-kick shootout in the third-place match of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship.

The Reggae Girlz won the tie-breaker 4-2.

Minister Grange said: 

“This is a glorious day. Words cannot truly describe this historic achievement by this group of young ladies, who through sheer grit and determination in a game in which both teams went all out for victory, came out victorious. Dallas, USA may be miles away, but at my office, we followed every kick, every tackle, every goal until that final penalty kick landed in the back of the goal. 

“It was a total team effort. But special commendation to the goal scorers Khadija Shaw and 16 year old Jody Brown.

"The Reggae Girls have represented Jamaica well and we look forward to welcoming them home and to their performance in France in 2019.”

Minister Grange also congratulated the JFF as well as the coaching and support staff.

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