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Cautious Optimism Abounds After Reggae Boyz Victory
Jamaica were able to pull out a win against El Salvador in what was ironically their poorest performance of tournament.
Jul 11, 2009 7:12:04 PM
MIAMI - The Jamaican press were happy about the national team win on Friday in Miami, yet they will still have to be watching the games on Saturday in order to give closure to their fate in the Gold Cup.
“Win Gives Ja Chance Of Gold Cup Advance”
That was the headline in the sports sections of the Jamaica Observer. The 70th minute poach by Omar Cummings turned the tables around for the Reggae Boyz who played with more will than skill on Friday night at Florida International University Stadium.
“We were very happy for the win, but we should have done more with the opportunities given,” said Cummings after the match.
Now Jamaica will have to wait and see what happens with Haiti and Grenada in Group B play.
For Jamaica, the win against El Salvador can be considered a Pyrrhic victory as they will lose three key players for the quarterfinals after they earned their second booking of the group stage. Tyrone Marshall (who made a return to the campus where he played at the collegiate level back in the mid 90’s.), O’Neil Thompson, and Jermain Johnson will be unavailable for “Tapa” Whitmore. Meanwhile Claude Davis had to be replaced by Thompson right before kickoff and his status will be questionable if they were to advance to the next round.
“Jamaica exhibited their worst game in the three preliminary encounters so far. Yet, as fate would have it, they still managed to score a victory.”
After playing well enough to have won their previous two matches and coming out empty-handed, the Reggae Boyz. What Jamaica had in tenacity, they lacked in skill, cohesion, and constructive play.
The first half was languid, lacking any type of collective play on either end. The majority of the game was played close to the lines and neither team was able to connect to generate a significant streak of passes. The advantage the Jamaicans had was that El Salvador played the type of game that favored the islanders.
The second half would see clearer chances on goal, but the level of play was still convoluted. The forwards would have to do with what they received from the midfield, and in the end that was going to be enough. In the 70th minute Luton Shelton would make a cross into the box and Omar Cummings would stab at the ball putting enough on the ball to get it past goalkeeper Miguel Montes, who was quickly becoming the man of the match for the Cuscatlecos.
With the 1-0, Jamaica leapfrogged over El Salvador and now were looking at teams like Haiti, Grenada, Panama, and even Nicaragua as goal differential would be the tie break between these team in order to decide the two best third-place teams. After the Cummings goal, Jamaica had the chance to ice the game when Nicholas Addlery had a wide-open goal to put the ball into the net, but would be thwarted by a Salvadorian defense.
El Salvador continued to plus away and would generate two opportunities in the tail-end of the match when Rodolfo Zelaya would place a header on goal and Donovan Ricketts would make a tremendous save in the 85th minute. Then in the dying seconds of injury time, Selecta keeper Miguel Montes would try to imitate Costa Rican midfielder Walter Centeno but would be denied by the left post.
Juan Arango, Goal.com
“Win Gives Ja Chance Of Gold Cup Advance”
That was the headline in the sports sections of the Jamaica Observer. The 70th minute poach by Omar Cummings turned the tables around for the Reggae Boyz who played with more will than skill on Friday night at Florida International University Stadium.
“We were very happy for the win, but we should have done more with the opportunities given,” said Cummings after the match.
Now Jamaica will have to wait and see what happens with Haiti and Grenada in Group B play.
For Jamaica, the win against El Salvador can be considered a Pyrrhic victory as they will lose three key players for the quarterfinals after they earned their second booking of the group stage. Tyrone Marshall (who made a return to the campus where he played at the collegiate level back in the mid 90’s.), O’Neil Thompson, and Jermain Johnson will be unavailable for “Tapa” Whitmore. Meanwhile Claude Davis had to be replaced by Thompson right before kickoff and his status will be questionable if they were to advance to the next round.
“Jamaica exhibited their worst game in the three preliminary encounters so far. Yet, as fate would have it, they still managed to score a victory.”
After playing well enough to have won their previous two matches and coming out empty-handed, the Reggae Boyz. What Jamaica had in tenacity, they lacked in skill, cohesion, and constructive play.
The first half was languid, lacking any type of collective play on either end. The majority of the game was played close to the lines and neither team was able to connect to generate a significant streak of passes. The advantage the Jamaicans had was that El Salvador played the type of game that favored the islanders.
The second half would see clearer chances on goal, but the level of play was still convoluted. The forwards would have to do with what they received from the midfield, and in the end that was going to be enough. In the 70th minute Luton Shelton would make a cross into the box and Omar Cummings would stab at the ball putting enough on the ball to get it past goalkeeper Miguel Montes, who was quickly becoming the man of the match for the Cuscatlecos.
With the 1-0, Jamaica leapfrogged over El Salvador and now were looking at teams like Haiti, Grenada, Panama, and even Nicaragua as goal differential would be the tie break between these team in order to decide the two best third-place teams. After the Cummings goal, Jamaica had the chance to ice the game when Nicholas Addlery had a wide-open goal to put the ball into the net, but would be thwarted by a Salvadorian defense.
El Salvador continued to plus away and would generate two opportunities in the tail-end of the match when Rodolfo Zelaya would place a header on goal and Donovan Ricketts would make a tremendous save in the 85th minute. Then in the dying seconds of injury time, Selecta keeper Miguel Montes would try to imitate Costa Rican midfielder Walter Centeno but would be denied by the left post.
Juan Arango, Goal.com
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