JAMAICA'S REGGAE Girlz' hopes of booking a place in this year's Olympic Games in Beijing got off to a disheartening start when they were mangled 8-1 by Mexico in the opening round of the CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying tournament at the Benito Jurez Olympic Stadium in Mexico on Wednesday night.

Already finding themselves four goals behind, the Jamaicans saw things rapidly get worse, after defender Natalya Manyan was given a red card from a 32nd-minute tackle on striker Tania Morales.

Morales had previously scored Mexico's third goal in the 23rd minute, however it was midfielder Evelyn Lopez, the team's captain, who led the way for Los Tricolores, scoring four times in the one-sided encounter. Lopez opened the scoring in the 18th minute, before adding goals in the 27th and 35th minutes to make the score 5-0 by half-time. Teresa Worbis scored Mexico's second goal in the 21st minute.

In the second half, Lopez picked up where she left off, finding the back of the net in the 53rd minute. Morales followed suit with a 66th-minute strike before Monica Ocampo etched her name on the scoresheet with a goal in the 80th. Omolyn Davis pulled a goal back for the Jamaicans in the 60th minute.

Jamaica have been placed in Group A along with Mexico and the United States. The Reggae Girlz face an even tougher task when they meet the world's top ranked women's team, the U.S., in their second game of the tournament at 8:30 tonight in Jurez.