CORDOBA, Mexico: A hat-trick from Venicia Reid powered Jamaica's Under-20 women's footballers into semi-finals of the CONCACAF World Cup final qualifying round on Monday.

Reid's three goals helped Jamaica to hammer Suriname 9-0 at the Estadio Rafael Murillo Vidal in Mexico. The win meant that the young Reggae Girls copped the second automatic spot from group B behind the U.S. with six points.

"This game was important for us to qualify for the semi-finals and the team performed as we asked them to perform," the Jamaican coach Vin Blaine was quoted as saying in the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

"We wanted to put this game away early and we did just that by scoring five goals in the first half. Their play today (Monday) improved significantly, as far as their ball movement and where team play was concerned, so we are quite pleased with that."

The other goal scorers for Jamaica were Kimmia Parker and Kenesha Reid who both netted twice, while Sharika Duncan got the opening goal for Jamaicans, who led 5-0 at half-time. An own goal added to the tally.

Jamaica, who welcomed back the services of striker Shanique Mitchell, will now play Canada in one semi-final match, with the winner gaining an automatic berth to the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Championship in Russia from August 15 to September 2.

CONCACAF powerhouses USA and Mexico meet in the second semis match in Veracruz. Jamaica created history by becoming the first Caribbean team to advance to the semi-final stage of the competition.

by Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
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