Jamaica clinch Group B's top spot with late win vs. El Salvador
Jamaica wrapped up first place in Group B and a quarterfinal assignment against Haiti when they effectively contained El Salvador Tuesday night at Toronto's BMO Field to collect a 1-0 victory in their final CONCACAF Gold Cup group game.
Garath McCleary's 71st-minute goal was all that was necessary to ensure that Jamaica's seven points would top the group while leaving El Salvador to await its competition fate.
Winfried Schaefer's Jamaican side, which gained some needed experience in a Copa America appearance last month in Chile, did not need to be at its best against the Central American side, which finished group play with only two points and will not know whether it will have a competition future until group play is completed. But they stuck to their task and eventually profited from McCleary when he was left alone to convert a rebound.
Host Canada and Costa Rica were both looking to advance to the knockout stage when they met in the second BMO game Tuesday night (live, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports Go, 8:30 p.m. EST)
The Reggae Boyz lost two starters in the first 22 minutes. Goalkeeper Dwayne Miller was injured when he collided with Pablo Punyed while coming out to snuff a right-side chance. Ryan Thompson took over. Earlier, they had saw Jermaine Taylor go off with an apparent muscle pull which required Michael Hector to take over in defense.
The enforced changes did nothing for the Jamaican cohesion in a stop-start first half that produced little in the way of chances or attacking flow. Punyed was the best of the Salvadoran attackers but twice wasted potential opportunities, once with a poor cross from the right, later with a weak 18-yard shot when he sprung into some space at the top of the box.
After the interval, El Salvador was still unable to find any fluency either, their attempts to pass their way forward thwarted by the strong, well-placed Jamaican midfielders and defenders who closed down space whenever it was required. Jamaica, which might have liked to have gotten more long balls to find Darren Mattocks up front, was also locked into a slow-paced match.
Thompson produced the best save of the night in the 58th minute when his legs saved a point-blank right side attempt from Andres Flores, who ran onto an initial save off Punyed that saw Thompson push the ball into Flores' path before the keeper recovered in time to prevent a goal.
Just past the hour, El Salvador boss Albert Roca threw his attacking cards on the table, inserting Nelson Bonilla and Arturo Alvarez as substitutes. Bonilla had picked up a knock in the opening game against Canada while Alvarez was somewhat surprisingly left on the bench at the start Tuesday, after he had worn the captain's arm band in the first two group games.
Alvarez nearly found the low right corner from the top of the box nine minutes after coming on but could not finish when he came open running left-to-right across the 18-yard line. The lineup changes did not inspire a more creative El Salvador performance.
Alvarez's missed chance turned out to be the last hurrah for the Central Americans because it came just a minute before McCleary had a simple tap-in to an open net after Carrilo could only parry a drive from the top by Joel McAnuff. The Salvadoran defense was caught ball-watching when a counter found Roldoph Austin on the right to lay the ball back for McAnuff's initial shot.
Carrilo made a fine, one-handed save to deny McAnuff but no defender bothered to match McCleary's run and the result was an easy tally. Thompson did have to be alert very late as El Salvador pressed, but once again poor finishing helped the Jamaicans preserve their clean sheet.
Schaefer did see two players ruled out of the quarterfinal through cards to add to the questions marks over the availability of his injured starters. Vaughn Watson collected his second yellow of the group stage while Mattocks was sent off after receiving two yellows on the night so both will be serving suspensions on Saturday.
