Shaw and her Jamaican team-mates fell to a 2-1 defeat at BMO Field in Toronto to end their hopes of a spot in next summer’s tournament in Paris.
In the first of a two-match qualification series, the Reggae Girlz lost 2-0 at National Stadium in Kingston last Friday. Shaw, Jamaica’s all-time leading scorer, was a constant thorn in Canada’s side despite the scoreline.
This time around, the Canadians enjoyed a flying start, with Jamaican keeper Rebecca Spencer called into action several times in the opening minutes.
While Shaw didn’t feature for her country on this occasion, her teammates found some rhythm around the 15-minute mark and, after becoming more aggressive and confident with the ball, broke the deadlock through an exquisite Drew Spence free-kick.
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But Canada levelled the scores six minutes later when Arsenal’s Cloe Lacasse headed home from a corner, and the hosts never looked back in front of almost 30,000 supporters and, at the 50-minute mark, Chelsea’s Ashley Lawrence hit a picture-perfect cross which Jordyn Huitema tidily put away to secure the victory.
Shaw was, of course, disappointed to fall at the final hurdle, but after helping her nation reach the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time this summer, she believes the Reggae Girlz’ work is far from over.
“We played well, but it’s fine margins in football and I just think we didn’t get it right tonight,” Shaw told mancity.com after the match.
“But that’s football, we just have to see where we can get better and move forward.
“We’re building something here [with Jamaica]. It won’t happen overnight, but we’re building.”
Looking ahead, Shaw will return to Manchester to continue preparing for City’s WSL opener on Sunday.
Gareth Taylor’s squad will face West Ham United at Chigwell Construction Stadium with kick-off scheduled for 15:00 (UK).
Despite being involved in the title race until the final weeks of the season, City ultimately fell short to finish fourth in 2022/23.
And Shaw, a Ballon d’Or nominee and part of last season’s PFA Team of the Year, has stressed the importance of a fast start if we’re to achieve our ambitions of silverware this season.
“We just want to start positively,” she explained.
“We didn’t finish last season how we wanted, and we’ll look back and try to correct what we didn’t do well and improve on our strengths.
“The most important thing is to just start the season well.”
