CATHERINE HALL, St James — Jamaica’s Young Reggae Girlz will carry the hopes of a nation and their own ambitions into today’s semi-finals of the CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship when they take on former champions Canada in the second game of a double-header at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, set to start at 6:00 pm.

The Jamaicans, who qualified for the semi-finals for the first time in three tries, have created a number of firsts on their way to be within touching distance of being the first Jamaican female football team to qualify for a FIFA World Cup tournament. They will be hoping to emulate two men’s Under-17 teams that have qualified for global tournaments in qualifying championships played in Montego Bay.

On two previous occasions — in 1999 and 2011 — Jamaican Under-17 men’s teams qualified for World Cups and the Girlz, who have won the hearts of thousands of Jamaicans, are hoping to create their own history.

In the first game set to start at 3:00 pm, Mexico, who were runners-up to Jamaica from Group A, will take on two-time champions and tournament favourites USA in the first game.

The Mexicans, who were held 1-1 by Jamaica in their deciding game on Sunday evening, will be inspired by their male counterparts who have qualified for the final of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup ongoing in the United Arab Emirates.

Jamaica topped Group A with seven points after beating El Salvador (2-0) and Haiti (3-0) before their historic draw with Mexico (1-1), where they scored against the Central Americans for the first time in three games.

Mexico were second with five points drawing against Haiti in their opening game, then beating El Salvador before being held by Jamaica.

The USA were prefect in their Group, winning all three games against Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and Canada by a combined 17 goals to finish with nine points, while Canada were second on six points and had scored 19 goals before being beaten 2-0 by the USA.

The tournament started just over a week ago with eight teams, but the North American countries — the USA and Canada — have lived up to their reputation and are arguably still favourites to grab both spots to Costa Rica, next year.

The Jamaicans and Mexicans are not buying that argument, however, and are talking up their chances of creating upsets this afternoon.

The Jamaica coaching staff believes they are primed to make a massive breakthrough, while the Mexican Coach Leonardo Cuellar Rivera warned on Sunday that the USA and Canada would be making a mistake to look past either team.

On Monday after the semi-finalists were decided, Vin Blaine the technical co-ordinator for the Jamaican team told the Jamaica Observer he thought his team was good enough to shock the Canadians who looked impressive in their early games, beating Guatemala 8-0 then Caribbean champions Trinidad and Tobago 11-0.

If defender Mika Richards, who was stretchered off late in the game against the USA on Monday, is not able to return for today’s game, it could impact on Canada’s ability to defend against the speed of the Jamaicans who will be led by the impressive Asia Lee-Fatt, Robyn-Ann Whittaker and Felicia Davidson.

Blaine said on Monday that while they were comfortable with the offensive unit, the transition back in defence would be crucial to the Jamaicans’ chances of winning the game.

Jamaica have given up just one goal, but they have not faced the quality that the Canadians possess with four of the top five scorers in the tournament and three of them are expected to start today.

Marie-Mychele Meitivier is tied with the USA’s Zoe Redei with five goals, while Emily Borgmann, Marie Levesaur and Nadya Gill have scored four goals each.

Blaine stressed that the Jamaican defence that will be marshalled by central defenders Cachet Lue and Konya Plummer must concentrate for 90 minutes in front of goalkeeper Shanay Ricketts, who appeared rattled after allowing an early goal against Mexico on Sunday.

Midfielder and team captain Khadija Shaw could be the lynchpin for Jamaica as her leadership and experience will be crucial, especially if the Jamaicans start as slowly as they did against Mexico and were forced to come from behind.

After dominating Canada on Monday, it will be hard to bet against the USA, but the Mexicans should not be counted out, but will have to lift their game several notches just to be on par.

Redei, who missed the first game before announcing herself with four goals against Guatemala on Saturday, including a 15-minute span first-half hat-trick. Pugh, another goal-scoring threat, has three goals.

The skilful and impressive Janae Gonzalez will lead the Mexican attack along with Jacqueline Garcia, but they will have to work overtime if they are to get past the impressive American defence that is yet to concede a goal.