It was a game of two deflections. Fortunate for Jermaine Jones and the United States; not so much for Jermaine Taylor and Jamaica.
Jones scored with a helping hand from Taylor’s shin early in the second half, then produced a bit of control which reduced the Jamaicans to ten men when Taylor lunged from behind, leading the United States to victory over the Caribbean side 2-0. The win advances the Americans to the semifinals of the Gold Cup, the regional championship of CONCACAF.
“It’s always special,” said Jones, who marked his first goal for the national team with a salute, a tribute to his father, who served in the U.S. military. “Hopefully, a few more will come.”
“Jermaine has a good engine,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley.
Don’t let that fool you, though: the Americans were rampant, and could easily have won the match by a handful of goals. A combination of good goalkeeping, poor finishing and bum luck kept them from cashing in on several half-chances throughout the game.
It was, surprisingly, an injury to the United States’ top striker — Jozy Altidore, who was taken off on a stretcher after pulled up with what appeared to be a lame hamstring while running for a long ball in the seventh minute — which prompted the offensive potency. Coach Bob Bradley inserted young Juan Agudelo, who, despite lacking the muscle of Altidore, immediately provided an impact.
During one particularly fruitful offensive sequence, the U.S. had a Clint Dempsey free kick denied by Jamaican keeper Donovan Ricketts, a nice run by Jones into the box tackled away at the last moment, a fantastic volley attempt by Dempsey go over the bar, a shot from the center channel by Sasha Kjlisten parried; a glacing header by Alejandro Bedoya go just wide; a Juan Agudelo shot knocked away, a rebound in front of a gaping net which Jones proceeded to trip over, and a shot by Eric Lichaj after with a gorgeous through ball behind three Jamaican defenders by Michael Bradley, which the left back just couldn’t elevate to get past Ricketts.
And that was just the last fifteen minutes of the first half.
The Jamaicans, meanwhile, were limited to counter-attacking, and when Taylor was sent off with thirty minutes left to play, the Jamaicans were left with very few options going forward. A second American goal felt almost a certainty — Clint Dempsey provided the fatal blow, deftly dribbling around Ricketts after a nice sequence involving Agudelo and Landon Donovan, who only played thirty minutes after arriving to Washington early Sunday morning. (Both Dempsey and Donovan had left the team to attend family weddings yesterday.)
“It was a tough game,” said Jamaican head coach Theodore Whitmore, who called the performance of the Americans “one of their better” in the tournament. “We didn’t get in our rhythm.”
“It took a while to get the goal,” admitted Bradley, who said that he expected a good performance after the team had a good training session on Friday. “But I thought we did an excellent job. You can see the team getting sharper. Clearly, the idea is that we keep improving — it’s part of our growth.”
The Americans now travel to Houston take on Panama, who defeated El Salvador via a penalty shootout in the second match of the doubleheader, which was conducted in front of a rabidly pro-Salvadoran crowd of 45,423.
