This week, we focus on CONCACAF, with news from Liga MX Femenil from the 2022-23 Final between the winners of the 2022-23 Opening and Closing Championships and the results of some high profile friendlies this August/September between top teams from Liga MX Femenil and Liga F from Spain. Just last week, there was an exhibition match in Kansas City between the NWSL's Current and Monterrey Rayados.
We also look at the inaugural games of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup Qualifiers with three League Levels (similar to the new UEFA Nations League that we reviewed last week (see: The Week in Women's Football: Examining further Spain chaos; Nations Cup review; the passing of Violeta Mitul - Tribal Football) while updating the reader on undefeated Bermuda—who we featured a few weeks ago.
We also talk to Puerto Rico head coach Nat Gonzalez, whose team fell to Mexico by a close 2-1 scoreline in the altitude of Mexico City's iconic Azteca Stadium. Also in CONCACAF, we focus on Canada and Jamaica in their two leg Olympic Games Finals Qualifier, with Canada advancing into the Olympic Finals and Jamaica proceeding to the W Gold Cup Qualifiers. We also examine the two friendlies between the U.S. and South Africa during the September international window.
UNAL Tigres Win the 2022-23 Overall Championship in Mexico
Tigres UANL of Monterrey won the Champion of Champions play-off in Mexico, defeating Club America 3-0 on aggregate on July 7 and 10 (2-0 away in the first leg at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City in front of 7,557 and 1-0 in the second leg in Monterrey, with 17,858 fans attending at the Estadio Universitiario in suburban Monterrey) between the winners of the 2022-23 Apertura (Opening) and Clausura (Closing) Championships. American international forward Mia Fishel scored twice in the first leg for Tigres before joining Chelsea in England for the 2023-24 season for a reported transfer fee of $250,000; she signed a three year contract with the Blues.
The U.S. youth international (and recently capped at the senior level—see below) scored 38 goals in 48 regular season matches across a year and a half (one Opening and two Closing Championships), scoring 17 in the 2022-23 Apertura to lead the league. In the second leg, Mexican international Jacqueline Ovalle (23) scored 24 minutes into the game to effectively seal the overall title for Tigres, their second after the 2020-21 season, when they won both the Opening and Closing championships. Guadalajara won the overall title last season over CF Monterrey. For more on the two-part 2022-23 Mexican Liga MX Femenil season, see our reviews this season:
2022-23 Apertura (Opening) (The Week in Women's Football: Tigres win Liga MX with record crowds and TV viewing figures - Tribal Football)
2022-23 Clausura (Closing) (The Week in Women's Football: World Cup Groups A & B preview; Calgary Foothills exclusive - Tribal Football)
and our extensive look at almost 70 imports in the league in 2022-23:
There were some high profile international club friendlies in Mexico after the 2023 Women's World Cup Finals, just before the start of the Mexican and Spanish league regular seasons. On August 29, Barcelona defeated Club America 2-0 and Real Madrid defeated Tigres UANL 3-1 in Monterrey a day later. Barcelona then defeated Tigres 1-0 on September 2 on a 19th minute goal from Claudia Pina (22), who was one of the original 15 Spanish internationals who protested former Spain head coach Jorge Vilda's handling of the side after the 2022 EUROs and was ultimately not selected for this past summer's World Cup Finals side. A day later, America upset Real Madrid 3-2 at Estadio Azteca, building up a 2-0 half-time lead and then a 3-0 lead by the hour mark in front of a crowd of about 20,000.
Goals for the winners came from Mexican internationals Kiana Palacios (27), who has over 25 caps, grew up in the States and played collegiately at the University of California-Irvine, Alison Gonzalez (21), in her second season with the Aguilas [Eagles] and Katty Martinez (25), also in her second season at Club America. Naomie Feller, a French international at youth and senior level who won the UEFA 2019 U-19 European Championship and is in her second season at Real after a move from Reims of France, and 2023 WWC Winner Athenea del Castillo scored for Real.
On October 4, the Kansas City Current hosted Rayados of Monterrey in a friendly match as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. Monterrey is fifth in the 2023-24 Liga MX Femenil Apertura (Opening) Championship campaign with 23 points from a 6-6-1 (W-D-L) record after 13 games, while the Current were in eleventh place in the regular season standings with two games left to play. The Current defeated Monterrey 1-0 as midfielder Chardonnay Curran (24) scored her first career goal for the Current. Curran grew up in Hawaii and played collegiately at the University of Oregon in Eugene; she is in her second season with Kansas City.
After the game, the Current's Finnish-native interim head coach Caroline Sjöblom said: "I'm very satisfied with the win today. We had a lot of players who showed their skills against Monterrey. We also saw a different style of play that Monterrey came with. It was useful for us to try to play against a team that wants to have a lot of possession and handle that. Also, the subs we made in the second half were really fun to see on the pitch."
2023-24 CONCACAF W Gold Cup Qualifiers
In total, 34 of the 41 CONCACAF Member Associations signed up to participate in the 2023 Road to the W Gold Cup, excluding the two who will compete in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games Women's Football Tournament (USA and Canada/Jamaica—see below). These 34 teams were split into three Leagues (A, B, and C) according to their CONCACAF Women's Ranking as of March 2023 and sub-divided into groups at the official draw in mid-May, as follows:
League A (nine top-ranked teams divided into three groups of three)
Group A: Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Puerto Rico.
Group B: Canada or Jamaica, Panama, and Guatemala.
Group C: Costa Rica, Haiti, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
League B (next 12 best-ranked teams divided into three groups of four teams)
Group A: Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname, and Dominica.
Group B: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Martinique.
Group C: Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados.
League C (13 remaining teams divided into one group of four teams and three groups of three teams)
Group A: Belize, Aruba, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Bonaire.
Group B: Cuba, Saint Lucia, and Guadeloupe.
Group C: U.S. Virgin Islands, Grenada, and Bahamas.
Group D: Curacao, Cayman Islands, and Anguilla.
After 88 group stage matches, including home and away play within each League and group, the top finishers in each League A group (three teams) will qualify for the 2024 W Gold Cup Group Stage. Furthermore, the second-place finishers in each League A group (three teams) and the first-place finishers in each League B group (three teams) will advance to the 2024 W Gold Cup Preliminaries. The W Gold Cup Finals will involve 12 teams, with four coming from CONMEBOL.
League A Results
On September 20, Panama defeated Guatemala 3-0 with goals by Riley Tanner (Washington Spirit), Marta Cox (Pachuca of Mexico) and Carmen Montenegro (Sporting San Miguelito of Panama).
On September 21 Haiti defeated Costa Rica 1-0 with a 70th minute goal by Nerilia Mondesir (24) of Montpellier in France.
On September 22, Mexico had to come back from a 11th minute deficit after Mexico's Kimberly Rodriguez (who is in her second season with Club America, grew up in the States and played collegiately at Oklahoma State University) scored an own goal for Puerto Rico. Mexico used a Maria Sanchez (Houston Dash) goal at the end of the first half and then a late goal from Scarlett Camberos (Angel City FC, after playing with Club America earlier this season) in the 79th minute to take the lead and then hold off a surprisingly robust Puerto Rico at altitude in Mexico City.
The head coach of Puerto Rico's WNT is Nat Gonzalez, who was appointed in September of 2021 and also coaches the women's team at the University of California-Riverside. UC-Riverside has a history of their coaches managing international teams at the same time, including softball head coach Nikki Palmer (Israel National Team, 2021) and former men's basketball head coach David Patrick (Australian National Team, 2019). Gonzalez's parents are from Puerto Rico. Gonzalez has been the coach at Riverside for 12 seasons and played at UCLA and in the long defunct indoor league in North America, the Continental Indoor Soccer League. TribalFootball.com talked to Gonzalez last week about the Mexico match, his roster mix of domestic players in the Puerto Rican league, U.S. college players (many are diaspora) and some playing professionally, as well as his hopes for the future for the side.
Gonzalez talked about Puerto Rico's recent narrow 2-1 loss to Mexico: "It was a tall order; we are just behind, athletically behind, tactically behind, not having enough time to prepare, which I don't think an extra three days of preparation would have made a difference. They are an all-star team with all pros and talent… The altitude [2,250 meters] became a factor, after 60-70 minutes it looked like we were running under water…
"The majority of our group are playing but not playing pro and they are not in mid-season form like Mexico's. We sat in, we countered and our first opportunity was a goal and I know it was an own goal but Juelle Love was on the end of it; she made the run and got to the near post and it went off the defender's foot and in…it was not luck, we countered, got on the flank and it was played across on the floor and now it is 1-0. They then were frustrated and they became more direct, which is not what Mexico does, so I said, 'we have a chance', we frustrated them. We gave up a silly foul at the top of the box right before the half and made it 1-1 and they had time to regroup, which is different from being down 1-0… I was super proud of them."
Gonzalez was pleased that their goal difference in the group is a -1, explaining that: "Mexico then beat Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 and the group could go down to goal difference for us, so that [result for Puerto Rico] was important."
Their vibrant play to open the group can also have a knock-on effect in Puerto Rico, with more media coverage and enthusiasm among youth to adopt the game: "It's a new event, new format for the women; my goal is to get through and play in February in the next stage. The Federation is doing a good job with the resources that they have. Getting these results helps, in getting revenue on the island through television, and in the past, there wasn't enough to get excited about, so every time you get a result like this, it is a big deal." He also wants to get inside 100 in FIFA ranking [currently Puerto Rico is ranked at 103 globally and 12th within CONCACAF] and we can compete with anyone now that our selection is getting better, with more experience."
Puerto Rico has played well this year; at Central American Games in El Salvador in July (for players 22 or younger), they were up 2-1 in the 90th minute but gave up a late goal, which took the hosts through to the knockout stage and eliminated the islanders. P.R. had tied Jamaica [really a B team with the WWC on in Australia/New Zealand] and lost to Mexico 4-0. Their play was well received and they almost made the semifinals, which would have qualified them for the Pan American Games.
Gonzalez talked about building the professional experience among his pool of players: "We have a couple of [future] prospects in the NWSL that I can't say who they are yet. A couple more have popped up; one of them is capped by the U.S. [in the past] and we are trying to work on that [petitioning through FIFA for permission for her to be eligible to play for Puerto Rico] … I would say 60% [of our players] are still in college—before it was 90%. We have done a good job of finding pros. We have, of the team that played in Mexico [the 2-1 loss], a trio play in Liga MX Femenil—Cristina Torres (ex-Puerto Rico Sol, and who played one summer for Detroit City in the summer UWS league) plays for Mazatlán, Amber DiOrio (ex-VCU) plays for Pumas and Juelle Love (ex-Creighton University) plays for Santos Laguna. It's been good."
[Starting goalkeeper Sydney Martinez plays in Norway with Grand Bodo—she captained Tormenta FC to the W League Championship in 2022 and played collegiately at the University of South Florida.]
One current NWSL pro that Gonzalez brought in for the Mexico game was midfielder Jill Aguilera, who plays for the Chicago Red Stars. She scored her first goal for El Huracan Azul in the 66th minute of her international debut on April 8, 2022 in a 2-0 defeat of Suriname. Aguilera has two goals and three starts across five appearances for Puerto Rico, captaining the squad for the first time in a friendly against Mexico in June 2023, a 4-0 defeat, following on from a 6-0 setback to Mexico in April of 2022. She is in her second season with the Red Stars and played at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Enasia Colon is another Puerto Rican national team player from their diaspora, raised in Florida and is in her second season at Arizona State University Tempe/suburban Phoenix. She leads ASU in scoring after 12 games with 7 goals and 3 assists for 17 points and scored both goals in the Sun Devil's 2-0 home win over Oregon State on September 22. She also had braces in early season wins over Wright State at home (4-0) and away at New Mexico State (4-1).
After the OSU game, TribalFootball.com asked if she had dialogued with coach Nat Gonzalez ahead of the Gold Cup qualifier against Mexico and she replied: "Yes, I did. I had a decision to either go to the Gold Cup Qualifiers or stay here. I wanted to stay here because I felt that I didn't want to miss our first, and last, Pac-12 game of the season [ASU, along with the Universities of Arizona, Colorado and Utah, will join the Big 12, which includes Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, etc., after the season in all sports] but the coach said my decision was okay and wished the best for me."
He should be pleased with her brace and her dynamic goalscoring for ASU this season.
Note: On October 5, ASU dominated the University of Washington Huskies at home, holding a 1-0 lead from around the half hour mark in the first half, with stellar defensive work. A goal mouth scramble late in the game saw UW score the tying goal. Within a minute, Colon scored a world class goal from nearly 35 years away from goal. This writer saw her tee up her shot and thought: 'No, No, No—goodness me, she scored on a monster shot.'
ASU head coach Graham Winkworth felt the same way but did say that she has a longer range to shoot from because she can score from distance, while Colon said: "My teammates said after the game in the locker room 'Enasia passsss, oh my God.' It was one of those moments. I did see [a teammate] but I saw an opportunity to take a shot as the goalie was off her line, so I took it and it went in… It was quick, I looked up for two seconds and saw she was more to the right side of her goal and saw the left side that was open so I decided to shoot it. I could have passed it but at that point it was 1-1."
Her decision gave Arizona State an important 2-1 Pac-12 victory.
Puerto Rico international Enasia Colon has led Arizona State University's Sun Devils in scoring this season. Photo courtesy of Arizona State University Athletics.
Coach Gonzalez believes that the new CONCACAF Nations League is a huge benefit to Caribbean nations: "It is creating more opportunities to give these women more visibility at a higher level to make a career out of it." This will particularly help the home-based players, to earn college scholarships in the States or Canada, and reach the professional game.
Player release for international camps and games will always be an issue during fall international friendly windows as U.S. collegiate soccer has traditionally been diffident at best—and sometimes blissfully unaware of FIFA calendars. Indeed, the NWSL pro league tried to dodge releasing internationals for games outside of official FIFA windows earlier this year but, with excessive lobbying from multiple groups, backed down.
It's only been a few years that the NCAA clock has counted upwards to 45 minutes and 90 minutes (with no injury time added on though) and the college game has different substitution rules than FIFA. Some schools and coaches are more amenable to releasing players during the short fall collegiate season. In the case of Enasia Colon of Puerto Rico, there was dialogue and no punishment for the player missing the Mexico game but I have seen federations come down hard on a player who turned down a call-up, particularly if it is the school that won't release them and the player is caught in the middle—if they leave, they could have their scholarship pulled but if they stay with their school team, they could see their national team career impacted or even ended, and it has happened on multiple occasions.
With the CONCACAF W Gold Cup Qualification matches providing more matches for the smaller Caribbean nations, many are reliant on U.S. colleges to release their players, which play a key development role for the players but comes with the issue that the Federations don't have any leverage as they do with FA-affiliated clubs, as the colleges are outside of the purview FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Federation and thus can make their own decisions with impunity.
Nat Gonzales told Jon Arnold, who runs the excellent men's and women's media site Getting CONCACAFed: "It's a little bit problematic until we get some pros and the FIFA window actually means something. I'm missing out on players because they're in their college season. That part is hard because obviously CONCACAF and FIFA aren't going to tailor anything to American soccer in the CONCACAF system."
With more college coaches like Nat Gonzalez involved in coaching CONCACAF women's national teams, we are seeing improvement with this situation and hope it will be a rare occurrence in the future, as they can talk to other college coaches and convince them of the importance of playing for their national team, no matter how lowly ranked by FIFA the country may be.
On September 25, Guatemala traveled to Penonome and surprised host side Panama 3-2, with two Ana Martinez (33) goals in the last 25 minutes reversing a 2-1 halftime deficit. Martinez has one goal this season from one game with Italy's Serie A Pomigliano, where she is in her second season, after scoring six times in 26 regular season matches last season. She has also played with Sampdoria and Napoli in Italy and with Madrid CFF and Huelva in Spain.
On September 26 Costa Rica defeated St. Kitts and Nevis (11- 0). Melissa Herrera (26), who is in her second season with Bordeaux of France, scored a hat trick (with two assists) as did Priscila Chinchilla (23), who played for Glasgow City in Scotland for three seasons and has just joined Pachuca of Mexico; Chinchilla also had one assist.
On September 27, Mexico overwhelmed Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 with a brace from Alicia Cervantes (29) of Guadalajara and one goal from Alexia Delgado (23), who played five seasons at Arizona State University and recently left Cruz Azul of Mexico City for UANL Tigres in Monterrey.
League A (nine top-ranked teams divided into three groups of three)
Group A: Mexico 6 points; Puerto Rico 0; Trinidad and Tobago 0.
Group B: Panama 3 points; Guatemala 3; Jamaica 0.
Group C: Costa Rica 3 points; Haiti 3; Saint Kitts and Nevis 0.
League B Results
We featured Bermuda a few weeks ago, ahead of these regional matches and after their Islands Games title victory this summer (see: The Week in Women's Football: Victors Bermuda exclusive; Guernsey target England invite; Greenland turn to CONCACAF - Tribal Football). A highlight of the first set of W Gold Cup League B matches was Bermuda's 2-0 win at home against the Dominican Republic on September 22, with two goals by Jaden Masters (20). Unfortunately, Masters was not available for the Lady Warriors for their second game with St. Vincent and the Grenadines as she returned to the University of Houston, where she had classes and a Big 12 game against Iowa State, when she came on as a substitute in a 2-1 loss.
Bermuda head coach Nakita Robinson also had to juggle her roster around working schedules of her home-based players. Bermuda then defeated St. Vincent and the Grenadines 4-0 away as midfielder Jya Ratteray-Smith (21) scored twice in the first half to guide Bermuda to victory. Ratteray-Smith plays with London Seaward F.C., which is in the fourth tier in England, the Women's National League Division 1, and early in the 2023-24 season sits in a tie for sixth place in the 12 team South-East Region with eight points from five games.
Eleven of Bermuda's players for the September matches play with clubs in Bermuda, six are based in the U.S.—all in colleges—and six are in England:
Bermuda Senior Women's National Team Roster by Position (Club, Location) for the First Two 2023-24 CONCACAF W Gold Cup Qualifiers
GOALKEEPERS (2)
Dominique Brown (Western Stars Sports Club–BDA), Za'Khari Turner (River City FC–UK).
DEFENDERS (6)
Danni Watson (Rider University–USA), Koa Goodchild (Howard University-USA), Samara Darrell (Warwick Academy–BDA), Sierra Fisher Somerset Cricket Club–BDA), Taznae Fubler (Pembroke Hamilton Club–BDA), Victoria Davis (Somerset Cricket Club–BDA)
MIDFIELDERS (9)
Akeyla Furbert (Pembroke Hamilton Club–BDA), Ashley Tutas (University of Florida–USA), Che'-Chulae Dowling (Jackson State University–USA), Eva Frazzoni (A.F.C. Sudbury–UK), Jahde Simmons (Western Stars Sports Club–BDA), Jya Ratteray-Smith (London Seaward FC–UK), Khyla Brangman (Pembroke Hamilton Club–BDA), K'shaela Burch-Waldron (Bromley FC–UK), Trinae Edwards (Leeds United-UK)
FORWARDS (6)
Aaliyah Nolan (Bradford City A.F.C.–UK), Jaden Masters (University of Houston–USA), Jahni Simmons (Western Stars Sports Club–BDA), Jazae' Smith (Somerset Cricket Club–BDA), Nia Christopher (Towson University–USA), Symira Lowe-Darrell (Somerset Cricket Club–BDA)
In their first game, in Bridgetown, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines was also shut out (5-0), with Rianna Cyrus (23)—who plays at home at the University of West Indies Blackbirds FC—scoring a first half hat trick for Barbados.
There was a major upset on September 20 as Antigua and Barbuda defeated Guyana 2-1 at home. Antigua and Barbuda (ranked # 174 in the latest—August 25, 2023 FIFA rankings of women's national teams—and #27 in CONCACAF) took an early lead after 16-year-old Gabrielle De Suza scored in the 13th minute for the Beena Girls and she then added a second goal in the 51st minute to shock Guyana (ranked #85 and #10 in CONCACAF). Brianne Desa, who plays in Canada with the Simcoe County Rovers in Barrie, Ontario in the League 1 Ontario Premier Women's League, cut the deficit in half for Guyana with a conversion from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute, after Jalade Trim—who plays at home with Fruta Conquerors, who lost in the Guyana Football Federation Women's League final to Guyana Defense Force (3-1) in April of this year—was tripped inside the box. Otesha Charles (30), who plays for Gillingham in England's third tier of the Women's National League—Premier Division South, where early in the season they sit in the relegation zone in 11th in the 12 team league with one point after five games, scored from a header late in the game for Guyana but it was waived off by the referee.
It was not a good start for Guyana head coach Omar Khan in losing his first game in charge to the lower rated Antigua and Barbuda side; Kahan became head coach in September of the Lady Jags.
Khan said: "I think we started well, with a lot of energy and possession, creating a lot of opportunities to open the score. But due to our own mistake in the build-up, we came down 1-0 after the break. We tried to repair it and go for the equalizer, but, yeah, before we knew it, we were 2-0 behind… We try to play all or nothing for the 2-2 [result]. I think we did a good job, scoring a fantastic goal in the 86 minute, but the referee was, for an unclear reason, called back by the assistant and we don't know; we couldn't see it back in the highlights [as to] why we're not awarded a goal."
Khan replaced Toronto-based Dr. Ivan Joseph, who was in charge for four years and narrowly missed the CONCACAF 2023 Women's World Cup Final Round last year, surrendering a last second goal by Trinidad and Tobago.
Joseph was surprised that the Guyana Football Federation did not retain him and told the local News Room in Guyana: "I was disappointed in not being able to continue. I thought the team was building momentum. We brought in several new recruits. We just spent two training camps together tuning player roles and developing an identity as a programme. I would have liked to continue in the role, but there were issues and challenges I needed addressed in order for the programme to be successful. I respect the Federation's right to choose the leadership of the programme. I made some requests that I believed the programme needed to have in order to achieve its potential.
"At the end of the day, my job as a coach is to always set higher expectations for the programme. This sometimes means challenging the status quo. Perhaps I moved too quickly for the current leadership of the GFF."
Tribal Football.com talked to Dr. Joseph last year and felt that he was building a regional threat to the traditional top Caribbean sides of Jamaica, T&T and Haiti, utilizing Canadian and American diaspora while expanding the pool of local talent in Guyana (see: The Week in Women's Football: Interview with Guyana coach Joseph; Review of Guide to Club Licensing in Women's Football - Tribal Football). We will be interested to watch to see if Khan and the GFF can build on Joseph's fine work or if the program slides backwards.
Khan (49), was born in Guyana but moved as a young child to the Netherlands, where he has coached for years, joining from RKSV Spartaan, and has signed a two year contract with the GFF. In the Netherlands, Khan has coached some top European players, including Memphis Depay of Barcelona and Manchester United and Denzil Dumfries of PSV Eindhoven, Sparta, and Heerenveen.
Guyana did bounce back in their second match on September 24 in Barbados to dispatch Dominica 5-0, with braces from Trim and Charles, and a penalty kick goal from Desa.
On September 24, El Salvador defeated Martinique 9-1 with Samaria Gomez (21), Brenda Ceren (25) and Dayna Gutierrez (23)—who plays in the U.S.—all scoring braces; El Salvador had a 7-1 lead at halftime.
On September 26, Dominican Republic shutout Barbados 3-0. Vanessa Kara—who was born in the U.S., played at Racing Louisville of the NWSL in 2021 and before that for TiPS in Finland, at Drexel University in Philadelphia and the University of Florida—scored twice. Another diaspora import, Brianne Reed (29), was born in the U.S. and played this summer in the Australian Victoria State League with South Melbourne after four seasons with Nordsjaelland in Denmark; she previously spent time in Sweden and with FC Kansas City in the NWSL after playing at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Other results included:
September 20
Dominica 0 Suriname 4
Martinique 0 Honduras 2
Nicaragua 0 El Salvador 3
September 22
Barbados 5 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 0
September 24
Suriname 1 Antigua and Barbuda 0
September 25
Honduras 1 Nicaragua 1
League B Standings
Group A: Suriname 6 points; Guyana 3; Antigua and Barbuda 3; Dominica 0.
Group B: El Salvador 6 points; Honduras 4; Nicaragua 1; Martinique 0.
Group C: Bermuda 6 points; Barbados 3; Dominican Republic 3; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 0.
League C Results
Grenada did the double over Bahamas as Nia Fleming-Thompson (19) scored five goals across their two victories, with two in a 6-1 away win on September 20 and then three in a 4-1 win at home four days later in St. George's. Fleming-Thompson played last season at York University in Toronto, who lost to the University of British Colombia Thunderbirds (4-1) in the national championship semifinal in Quebec City.
On September 21, Anguilla defeated Cayman Islands 3-1, with Carlia Johnson (19), who plays at Colorado State University-Pueblo scoring all three goals for the hosts, while Stoyanna Stewart scored a consolation goal in the last minute for the Cayman Islands. The two teams played again on September 25 in George Town, Cayman Islands and CI and Anguilla shared the points, with Molly Kehoe (19)—who we featured last month in our review of the first round of the 2023-24 UEFA Women's Champions League Qualifying Round as she moved this summer to Cardiff City in Wales (see: The Week in Women's Football: Champions League qualifying - Arsenal, Juventus bounced out - Tribal Football), scored the tying goal in the 74th minute.
On September 25, Aruba fired five goals away against Turks and Caicos, with two goals by Aisse Gumbs (26), who is in her second season with Excelsior of the Netherlands, along with singles by Bonny Lammers (19), who is also with Excelsior, and Vanessa Susanna (26), who is with ADO Den Haag of the Netherlands and has played with Verona in Italy and London City Lionesses in the English second tier Championship. Aruba lost their first game on the road to Belize 2-0 four days earlier.
On September 26, St. Lucia defeated Guadeloupe 5-1 in the southern city of Saint Anne, Guadeloupe as Arnicka Louis (18) scored four goals; she plays at home for the U-20 National Team in the eight team St. Lucia Senior Women's League, run by the St. Lucia Football Association.
In other results:
September 21
Bonaire 0 Turks and Caicos 0
Sint Maarten Guadeloupe—postponed
September 22
St. Lucia 1 Cuba 2
September 25
Cuba Sint Maarten—postponed
Belize 3 Bonaire 0
League C Standings
Group A: Belize 6 points; Aruba 3; Bonaire 1; Turks and Caicos Islands 1.
Group B: Saint Lucia 3 points; Cuba 3; Guadeloupe 0; St. Maarten 0.
Group C: Grenada 6 points; US Virgin Islands 0; Bahamas 0.
Group D: Anguilla 4 points; Cayman Islands 1; Curacao 0.
Canada defeats Jamaica 4-1 on aggregate for the region's second Olympic Games Finals spot in Paris in 2024
Olympic Women's Qualifying for a second CONCACAF Spot at next summer's Olympic Games Finals in Paris saw reigning Gold Medalists Canada defeat Jamaica 2-0 in the first leg in Kingston on September 22, with goals by Nichelle Prince (Houston Dash) in the 18th minute and Adrianna Leon (Manchester United) in the 92nd minute, to take a healthy advantage into the second leg in Toronto on September 26.
The first leg attracted a crowd of 9,000 in the national stadium in Independence Park, known locally as The Office. Canada then qualified and will defend their Gold Medal from the last Olympics in Tokyo after a 2-1 win (advancing 4-1 on aggregate), with goals by Cloe Lacasse (Arsenal) and Jordyn Huitema (OL Reign) to counter Jamaica scoring first in the 33rd minute through Drew Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), in front of a sold-out crowd of 29,212 at Toronto's BMO Field, a record for a men's or women's national team game in Ontario.
Since 1991, the two nations have faced each other now eleven times in international competition and Canada is still perfect against Jamaica (11-0-0).
Canada's squad of 25 players was drawn from many five different countries, including nine based in England, eight from the NWSL in the States (along with two in college in America), three from Portugal, two in Italy and one from France's top women's league.
CANADA SQUAD
GK- Sabrina D'Angelo | ENG / Arsenal FC
GK- Lysianne Proulx | POR / SCU Torreense
GK- Kailen Sheridan | USA / San Diego Wave FC
CB- Kadeisha Buchanan | ENG / Chelsea FC
CB- Vanessa Gilles | FRA / FCF Olympique Lyonnais
CB- Shelina Zadorsky | ENG / Tottenham Hotspur
CB/FB- Sydney Collins | USA / NC Courage
CB/FB- Jade Rose | USA / Harvard University
FB- Gabrielle Carle | USA / Washington Spirit
FB- Ashley Lawrence | ENG / Chelsea FC
FB- Jayde Riviere | ENG / Manchester United FC
FB- Bianca St-Georges | USA / Chicago Red Stars
M- Marie-Yasmine Alidou D'Anjou | POR / SL Benfica
M- Simi Awujo | USA / University of Southern California
M- Jessie Fleming | ENG / Chelsea FC
M- Julia Grosso | ITA / Juventus FC
M- Quinn | USA / OL Reign
M/F- Olivia Smith | POR / Sporting CP
F- Jordyn Huitema | USA / OL Reign
F- Cloé Lacasse | ENG / Arsenal FC
F- Adriana Leon | ENG / Manchester United FC
F- Nichelle Prince | USA / Houston Dash
F- Deanne Rose | ENG / Leicester City FC
F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
F- Evelyne Viens | ITA / AS Roma
Jamaica's roster of 22 players included five playing in the U.S. (one in the NWSL, three in college and one in high school), five in England, three who have recently signed in Mexico, two each in Scotland, Spain and France and one each in Italy and Czech Republic, as well as one free agent.
JAMAICA SQUAD
1 – Sydney Schneider (24) Sparta Prague/CZE
2 – Rebecca Spencer (32) Tottenham Hotspur/ENG
3 – Liya Brooks (18) Washington State University/USA
4 – Allyson Swaby (26) AC Milan/ITA
5 – Chantelle Swaby (25) Fluery 91/FRA
6 – Konya Plummer (26) Tigres UANL/MEX
7 – Deneisha Blackwood (26) UNAM Pumas/MEX
8 – Tiernny Wiltshire (25) Stade de Reims/FRA
9 – Tiffany Cameron (31) Real Betis/SPA
10 – Vyan Sampson (27) Hearts/SCO
11 – Drew Spence (30) Tottenham Hotspur/ENG
12 – Atlanta Primus (26) Southampton/ENG
13 – Khadija Shaw (26) Manchester City/ENG
14 – Jody Brown (21) Florida State University/USA
15 – Solai Washington (17) Corcorde Fire SC/USA
16 – Kameron Simmonds (19) University of Tennessee/USA
17 – Trudi Carter (28) Atletico San Luis/MEX
18 – Paige Bailey- Cole (21) Crystal Palace/ENG
19 – Cheyna Matthews (29) Chicago Red Stars/USA
20 – Olufolasade Adamolekun (22) Hearts/SCO
21 – Kayla McKenna (27) Villarreal/SPA
22 – Sashana Campbell (32) Free Agent
Tiffany Cameron was raised in Canada and has played in Norway, Sweden, Germany and the NWSL in the States. Free agent Sashana Campbell is from Spanish Town in the Southeast portion of the country, where Man City's Khadija Shaw is from. and has played in Iceland, Israel and Poland.
Ashleigh Plumptre, who just signed for Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia, was not on the squad for the Canada series (see: The Week in Women's Football: Are you ready for this? Mega-bucks Saudi Pro League planned for 2025 - Tribal Football).
In other important news pertaining to Jamaica, on September 30, Lorne Donaldson's contract was not renewed by the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) per a mutual agreement, The JFA said in a statement: "The Jamaica Football Federation and Coach Lorne Donaldson had a meeting to discuss his contract as the Senior Women's Team coach, which comes to an end on September 30, 2023. After an extended discussion, both parties came to an agreement that the contract would not be renewed. The JFF wishes to place on record, our thanks to Lorne for his services to Jamaica's football over the years, and specially making us proud at the recent Women's World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand [going undefeated in their group and making the Round of 16 for the first time, before losing to Colombia 1-0]."
Donaldson may not be out of a job for long as he is believed to be a candidate for the USWNT job—he is the long-time Real Colorado executive director of coaching and president, has lived and worked in the States for many decades and his highly respected as a coach and leader.
Jamaica will now drop into a W Gold Cup Qualifying Group A, which includes Panama and Guatemala. Jamaica will play home and away games against these two teams starting October 25, with an away game in Panama. Their other group matches are:
Jamaica vs. Guatemala – October 29.
Jamaica vs. Panama – November 29.
Guatemala vs. Jamaica – December 3.
U.S. defeats South Africa twice and sees a pair of two-time WWC winners play their last national team games
The U.S. Women's National Team defeated South Africa in two home exhibitions, the first a 3-0 win in Cincinnati on September 21 in front of a near sellout crowd of 22,016, and then a 2-0 win on September 24 in Chicago. In the first match, two time WWC winning midfielder Julie Ertz played in her last match and Megan Rapinoe did the same in the second game.
In the first game in Ohio, Lynn Williams scored twice and Trinity Rodman added one goal as the team said goodbye to Ertz, who won her 123rd national team cap and finished off with 101 wins, 17 ties and only 5 losses, along with two WWC titles. Defender M.A. Vignola (Angel City F.C.) made her debut and is the first player from the University of Tennessee to appear for the USWNT. She's the second player to debut for the U.S. this year after midfielder Savannah DeMelo (Racing Louisville). The U.S. led in shots (19 vs. 6) and shots on goal (6 vs. 1) against South Africa. In the second game on September 24, Rapinoe's 203rd and final international match included goals from forward Trinity Rodman (her sixth career international goal) and midfielder Emily Sonnett (her second career international goal) in front of more than 25,000 fans at Soldier Field. Forward Mia Fishel (Chelsea of the WSL) earned her first full national team cap after coming into the match for Alex Morgan in the 65th minute. Fishel became the 253rd player to appear for the USWNT and is the third player to debut for the USA in 2023 (see above). The U.S. dominated the game in shots (19 vs. 0) and shots on goal (5 vs. 0).
