Women World Cup: Underdog ‘Reggae Girlz’ create magic

The “Reggae Girlz” of Jamaica are the underdogs of this year’s Women’s World Cup.

The Jamaican women’s national soccer team debuts on Sunday, June 9 at the tournament in France against a highly-rated team from Brazil.

FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, ranks the Jamaicans the lowest among the 24 teams at the tournament. But don’t try to tell that to any of the players.

“Football is a very funny thing,” says Jamaican midfielder Deneisha “Den-Den” Blackwood. “You can never predict what’s going to happen. And I feel like we are going to be the team to shock everybody in this World Cup.”

Just five years ago, Jamaica didn’t even have a women’s national soccer team. Now they’re the first team from the Caribbean to ever qualify for a Women’s World Cup.

Last week, the Reggae Girlz, as the team calls itself, continued to make history, shattering attendance records in Scotland.

They were in Glasgow to play the Scottish women’s national team in a final warmup match before the month-long FIFA tournament, which started on June 7.