… play Brazil in opening  game today

PARIS, France (CMC) – Jamaica are not at the Women’s World Cup merely to spectate but to show they are one of the best in the world, head coach Hue Menzies has insisted.

The Reggae Girlz are the first nation from the Caribbean to qualify for the World Cup and will play Brazil in their opening game today.

Despite being the 53rd ranked team in the world, the Jamaicans are not daunted about being in Group C with sixth-ranked Australia, Brazil (10th) and Italy (15th).

Menzies said despite their ranking, he believes the Reggae Girlz are the best counter-attacking team at the World Cup.

“The entire World Cup is a group of death so it doesn’t matter where you fall. We are here to compete and we feel like we are ­probably one of the best teams in terms of counter-attacking, so we are going to depend a ­little bit on that,” Menzies said.

“Everybody knows it, it’s nothing to hide, but teams will have to deal with our pace and also our attitude to get results. We just have that.”

The Jamaicans arrived in France late last week and Menzies reported that the team had settled in well, ahead of the Brazil contest.

Meanwhile, Mireya Grey joined the team Friday night, replacing injured Kayla McCoy, who had to withdraw from the tournament with a knee problem.

The Reggae Girlz also received a boost ahead of their opener against Brazil, after it was announced that reigning FIFA World Best, Marta, would not feature for the South Americans.

Marta has been struggling with an injury to her left thigh since late last month but there were hopes among the Brazilians that one of women’s football’s biggest names would recover in time to face debutants Jamaica.

She has scored 133 goals for Brazil in 110 games and helped the country to two Olympic silver medals and a Women’s World Cup final. She is also a six-time recipient of the World Player-of-the–Year award.