Haiti will seek to continue their fairytale run when they take on the consistent Jamaicans in the second game of the evening as the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals gets under way at the M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland.
Haiti were runners up in group A behind defending champions USA after they carved out a 1-0 win over Honduras in their last game.
Marc Collat’s men are ready to take the challenge to the Reggae Boyz and aim to rewrite the Haitians history books. They have never progressed this far since the renaming of the competition to CONCACAF Gold Cup. However, they actually did win this tournament back in 1973, when it was previously known as the CONCACAF Championship. They were the host nation that year.
Being the underdogs in this year’s tournament they have silenced their critics thus far. To get past Jamaica on Saturday much is expected from Duckens Nazon. He has emerged as one of Haiti’s best players at the Gold Cup, scoring both of their goals in the tournament.
Both strikes were huge, a home equalizer in minute 86 in the 1-1 draw against Panama, then firing home the game-winner in minute 14 in their 1-0 win in the group play finale against Honduras.
Jamaica on the other have been going through a difficult period since the start of the tournament but have managed to get good results. There was a stand off by players refusing to train because of wage issues after a 2-2 draw in the opener against Costa Rica, then recently Portland Timbers defender Alvas Powell walked out of the camp after complaining about a lack of playing time but the Reggae Boyz have persisted despite the unwanted distractions.
Jamaica will be missing quite a few of their starting players with four of the Reggae Boyz unavailable for the Haiti match up. Houston Dynamo defender Jermaine Taylor is out of the tournament due to injury, while FC Dallas midfielder Je- Vaughn Watson (yellow card accumulation) and Vancouver Whitecaps striker Darren Mattocks (red card) are both suspended for Saturday’s encounter and the goalkeeper Dwayne Miller is still uncertain.
The 76 FIFA ranked Jamaica has so far had a shutout streak of 223 minutes. They were invited to this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup after winning the Caribbean Cup and they are showing the world that they belong here.
Historically, the 79th FIFA ranked Haiti hasn’t had much luck against the Jamaicans. Their overall record against Jamaica consists of nine wins, three draws and 17 losses dating as far back as 1925. Haiti hasn’t defeated Jamaica since 1984, when the two faced off in an international friendly.
The last time Haiti defeated Jamaica in tournament play was the 1979 Caribbean Cup. Haiti wants this one badly against a team that has had their number for a long time, but Jamaica may just has too much depth. Regardless of who starts in goal, Jamaica should be able to take care of business and advance to the semifinals, to meet either Cuba or USA.
In order to beat Jamaica, Haiti can’t fall behind early. Jamaica has very good goaltending, so scoring first is crucial. They have an excellent midfield led by Jean Sony Alcénat, but offensive questions still remain. Goalkeeper Johnny Placide has been named team captain.
This should be a low scoring game, however, if Jamaica get off to a good start it could be a blowout merely because of the potency of the Jamaican attack despite not having Darren Mattock. Which ever way one may view this game it will be quite a sumptuous spectacle. Starting time 7:00 pm local time
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