Captain Rodolph Austin rounded off a fine team performance by snatching an injury-time winner at the BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas as Jamaica claimed a famous win over Canada in the Gold Cup on Saturday night.
The game was drifting towards a goalless draw when Garath McCleary whipped in a text book cross with pin point accuracy, which found an unmarked Austin who headed home from 6 yards in the first minute of time added on.
Kyriakos Stamatopoulos the Canadian custodian, had an unparalleled performance in the second half which almost gave Canada a well deserved point, but he cracked at the end through constant pressure from the ‘Reggae Boyz’.
Following a good game in their tournament opener with a come from behind draw against group favourite Costa Rica, Jamaica didn’t start the way they were expecting. With an unchanged line up and formation, the Jamaicans were surprised by the way the Canadians defended as a unit and pressed forward cohesively. The only change the Canadians made was to include Julian De Guzman to add a little more grit in the middle of the park. It worked well for the first period, but in the second period De Guzman was a shadow of himself.
Not one of the best conditions for football with humidity at 65% and temperature soaring to a high of 88 degrees celsius, the players required a well needed hydration break late in the first half. However, Jamaica made the best of it and came away with maximum points.
The win propelled Jamaica to the top on four points in Group B, ahead of Costa Rica who played out another stalemate in the second match of the night against El Salvador.
The first real chance of the game fell to Ricketts who collected a defence splitting pass to find himself one on one with Dwayne Miller who came up big by spreading himself to deflect Ricketts’s delicate chip shot into touch.
Jamaica had shown some impressive attacking intent in their opening match against Costa Rica and the positivety of Schafer’s men was again on display early in Houston, with Simon Dawkins surging past a defender and forcing Stamatopoulos into a low save in the ninth minute.
In the last four games wearing the national colors Kemar Lawrence has been very consistent at left fullback. His solid performance almost got him on the score sheet in the first half after he billowed past Nik Ledgerwood down the left flank and shoot from a tight angle, but Stamatopoulos’ glove took the sting off the shot for David Edgar to boot off the line.
Jobi McAnuff’s lightening pace and trickery proved to be a ‘handful’ for Edgar on the left side of midfield. Edgar’s late challenge on McAnuff gave Jamaica a good dead-ball opportunity at the top of the box and striker Giles Barnes struck it ferociously against the crossbar and into touch for a goal kick.
The ‘Reggae Boyz’ continued to have the better of the chances after the break with Dawkins flashing a header wide of the back post. In minute 62′ Dawkins was pulled from the attack and Darren Mattocks was sent on. His pace almost paid dividend immediately as he darted towards goal, but his shot on goal was blocked by Edgar.
Floro had substituted Larin for Marcus Haber at halftime but it hardly made a difference for Canada, as Jamaica kept their opponents pinned back. Cyle Larin’s inexplicable miss summed up Canada’s opener as poor shooting and bad decisions continued to plague Benito Floro’s side.
A stumble from Stamatopoulos almost saw Darren Mattocks’ scuffed shot loop into the net in the 66th minute but Canada’s gloveman recovered to make the save, while the 35-year-old parried Barnes’ 20-yard drive away soon after.
As the match wore on, Jamaica continued to push but after Mattocks poked the ball wide in the 87th minute, only one result seemed likely until Austin decided the contest with almost the final play of the game.
The ‘Reggae Boys’ need to be a bit sharper on set pieces and the flank men need to utilize the crosses if there are going to continue playing the 4-4-2 formation.
Jamaica now sits at the top of group B on 4 points ahead of El Salvador and Costa Rica on 2 points apiece and Canada rooted at the cellar on a point. Canada will play Costa Rica and El Salvador will play Jamaica in their final group B game on Monday 13.
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