Jamaica’s first-ever point in the Women’s World Cup has come against one of the tournament favorites, France. When the final whistle blew at the Sydney Football Stadium, the Jamaican women's national team rejoiced.
Being ranked 43rd in the world, Jamaica had pulled off a history-making heist, pouring all their energy and strength into a tussle with World No. 4 France and coming away with a point. Jamaica is a World Cup outsider in a group featuring France and Brazil, but after their game against France, they have hope of making it past the group stage.
Previously, Jamaica had only appeared at one World Cup, in France four years ago, but they had unfortunately lost all three games in a disappointing campaign. However, it took one game against France for the team to outperform its 2019 efforts. Jamaica was pitched as heavy underdogs but came away with an impressive goalless draw. For France, it was the second time – and the first since 2003 – that they failed to win their opening game of the competition.
Drew Spence, Tottenham, and Jamaica midfielder, said: “We said to go and shock the world. Shock the world – nobody believes in us. We must do it ourselves; we have been hearing it all, but we are just keeping our heads down. My family said, ‘just go and enjoy it’ – and that is what we did.”
“Everyone always writes us off – we were not even meant to get here. A lot of people said we would not get out of the qualifying group. But we are here, and that is a great result. We just need to make sure we go into the next game with the same confidence. It is all or nothing.”
Having not had the best journey to Australia and New Zealand, the players battled with their own federation, leading to “utmost disappointment” within the camp. They said they have missed official matches because of “extreme disorganization” and have not “contractually agreed upon compensation.”
Also, the players have claimed to have sat down with the JFF “on multiple occasions” to express their concerns, but “questions go unanswered, and concerns unresolved.” Therefore, at the end of their game against France, in front of 39,000 fans, Jamaica’s players celebrated how they would in their own style.