Paris Olympics 2024: Canada looks to deliver Jamaica knockout punch and book ticket

With Jamaica on the ropes following a 2-0 defeat in Kingston, Olympic champion Canada returns home for the second leg in control of its own destiny.

FILE PHOTO: Canada’s Ashley Lawrence, left, and Jamaica’s Deneysha Blackwood, fight for control of the ball during a CONCACAF women’s championship series match in Kingston, Jamaica, Friday, September 22, 2023. | Photo Credit: Collin Reid/ AP

Canada’s national women’s team will be looking to deliver the knockout punch when it meets Jamaica in front of a sell-out home crowd on Tuesday and claim its ticket to next year’s Paris Olympics.

With Jamaica on the ropes following a 2-0 defeat in Kingston, Olympic champion Canada returns home for the second leg in control of its own destiny but coach Bev Priestman warned her players not to get complacent and let their foot off the gas.

“I could see a real push and mindset in the last game. I am demanding that we do that again, that we don’t take our foot off the gas and we’re only going one way,” Priestman said on Monday following a Canada team training session.

“The worst thing you can do is drop off and invite pressure.

“We have a few things up our sleeve but ultimately we have to build on our first performance.”

The CONCACAF region will have two spots in the 12 team Olympic tournament and with the United States having already secured one of those places, Canada or Jamaica will grab the other.

Canada has been an Olympic powerhouse with a gold and two bronzes from the last three Summer Games but if it fails to beat Jamaica, it will be watching the Paris tournament from home.

The performance in Kingston relieved some of the pressure that had been building on Canada after an uninspiring effort at the World Cup where the squad failed to make it out of the group stage.

Canada will have the support of a raucous capacity crowd at BMO Field which Priestman said will help them to complete a job that is only half done.

The ‘Reggae Girlz’ have lost 10 straight meetings with Canada but were one of the World Cup’s surprise packages, earning draws with powerhouses France and Brazil and beating Panama for its first ever win in the competition.

That confidence was on display in Kingston as Jamaica made Canada work hard for the win, with Nichelle Prince’s 18th-minute header the only goal until Adriana Leon added an insurance marker in stoppage time.

“Let’s be honest, Jamaica will do anything to get to an Olympic Games and we’ve got to match that and more,” said Priestman.

“We need the fans to be there right to the very end, that’s going to be critical.”