How a Soccer Mom Helped Jamaica Pull Off a World Cup Upset for the Ages
When Jamaica’s World Cup hopes were in doubt, a soccer mom saved the day
You can imagine the headline: Jamaica beats Brazil, 0-0.
At the Women’s World Cup on Wednesday morning, Jamaica did just that. By drawing against the 8th ranked Brazilians, Jamaica advanced to the knockout round in a group that, along with perennial powerhouse Brazil, also featured France and Panama. Based on rankings alone, it’s the underdog story of the tournament.
Based on everything “The Reggae Girlz” had to do to even get to the World Cup, it might be one of the great underdog stories of World Cup history.
In 2008, the Jamaican Football Federation disbanded its women’s team, citing budget issues. For six years, the country didn’t have a female national side, until Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella, produced a song and used its proceeds to restart the team. Two years after that, in 2016, the national federation disbanded the squad yet again—only to see Marley work to bring the team back one more time. Despite all of this, the Reggae Girlz qualified for their first World Cup in 2019. In their first game that year, they lost 3-0 to Brazil. They didn’t score a goal the entire tournament.
But this year, the Reggae Girlz qualified again—although the country’s football federation didn’t seem to share much excitement. They refused to dedicate nearly any resources to help their team; they couldn’t travel to tune-up tournaments or host many preseason training camps.
But luckily, Jamaica had a soccer mom on their side.
Sandra Phillips-Brower watches every game that features her daughter, Havana Solaun, a midfielder for the Jamaican National Team. As she heard Havana and others worry that they might not even be given enough money from the federation to make the trip to the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, she took matters into her own hands. “I want to help,” she told her daughter, and soon afterwards, she launched a GoFundMe and rallied support from around the world.
“I sit on the sidelines, a proud Jamaican, an even prouder mother of one of these strong independent professional women who represent their country for pride and love of soccer,” Phillips-Brower wrote on GoFundMe. “They shouldn’t be worried about the politics or getting a flight or getting accommodation. They should be able to go there and do what we they qualified to do, just play soccer.”
Phillips-Brower’s fund has raised nearly $65,000 for the team, helping to ensure that the team and its extended staff has accommodations throughout the tournament.
Many assumed that it was going to be a short trip for the Reggae Girlz. In one of their final matches before the World Cup, Jamaica was blown out 7-3 against Mexico, a weak side that is ranked only 35th in the world. Even worse, they fell 5-2 against El Salvador—a team ranked number 115 the world.
But in the opening match of their World Cup campaign, Jamaica fought the heavy favorites France to a scoreless draw. Against Panama, the Reggae Girlz won, scoring their first ever goal at a World Cup. So far in the tournament, Jamaica hasn’t conceded a single goal. And against Brazil, whose squad features Marta, the legendary striker who has scored more goals than any male or female in World Cup history, the Reggae Girlz needed a draw to advance.
They got it.
When the final whistle sounded, players cried. Midfielder Drew Spence yelled at the crowd, “We told you!” over and over. The Jamaican prime minister, Andrew Holness, wrote on Facebook, “HISTORIC!” The country’s sports minister declared that the game was, “undoubtedly the proudest moment so far in Jamaica’s football history.”
“It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” said Jamaican coach Lorne Donaldson. “To be able to do this is unbelievable—to just watch it, while I’m alive. I thank the girls for doing this for the country. The country should be proud.”
The Reggae Girlz are headed to the knockout round, where they’ll face Columbia on Tuesday. All the while, donations pour in from all around the globe, from people who have followed the squad through qualifying and others who just learned of their story today. In Jamaica, the national motto is, “Out of many, one people.” The saying is a celebration of diversity and the ways that disparate experiences can actually strengthen patriotism, rather than diminish it. It also happens to be a perfect way to describe a soccer team. A national team is made up of players who hail from all over a country, who were raised both rich and poor, who play both professionally and in amateur leagues. Teams are made up of keepers and strikers; coaches and scouts; trainers and fans.
And soccer moms. Every team needs a soccer mom.
🇺🇸 Ahead of the USWNT’s do-or-die game against Sweden on Sunday, watch our episode of Greatness Codewith Alex Morgan, who describes her first time playing for the national team. It’s streaming now on Apple TV+.
🏀 Next week, our latest project comes out on Prime Video. It’s called Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey, and it follows a year in the life of several players in the G League who are striving to make it to the NBA. Watch a clip here.
⚾ This story about Magnolia West, a high school from the Houston area that just won the Texas baseball state championship with only 13 players and an athletic department dedicated to rewarding its athletes playing multiple sports, is just the best.
✈️ If you’re getting ready for a new fantasy football season, may I suggest this incredible punishment for a league loser? After finishing in last place, Kevin Pulsifer had to take 7 consecutive flights. His 2-day itinerary looked like this: Hartford ➡️ Baltimore ➡️ Orlando ➡️ Dallas ➡️ Los Angeles ➡️ Las Vegas ➡️ Denver ➡️Hartford.
