By Steve Keating
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada will get the chance to defend their Olympic women’s soccer gold medal after clinching a spot at next year’s Paris Summer Games on Tuesday after a 2-1 win over Jamaica.
Canada came into the second leg in control of their own destiny after a 2-0 away win in Kingston on Friday and after an early scare delivered the result the home crowd had come see, convincingly punching their Paris ticket with a 4-1 win on aggregate.
The Canadians join the United States in the 12-team Olympic tournament with the Americans having earlier clinched one of the two CONCACAF region spots.
The win also provided a small measure of redemption after a bitterly disappointing performance at the Women’s World Cup, where Canada failed to advance out of the group stage.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Canada applied all the early pressure but against the run of play it was the ‘Reggae Girlz’ grabbing a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute on Drew Spence’s brilliantly taken free kick from outside the penalty area that found the top corner past a diving Kailen Sheridan.
The goal sent a jolt through the Canada team as they began to attack with more venom. Ashley Lawrence was robbed of an equaliser when her long range effort was sensationally tipped away by Rebecca Spencer.
But Canadian enterprise would be rewarded in the 39th minute when Cloe Lacasse got her head on Adriana Leon’s corner to send the teams into the break at 1-1.
A Jordyn Huitema header five minutes into the second half put Canada ahead, sparking celebrations that continued until the final whistle.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Peter Rutherford)
