PENNSYLVANIA–Jamaica's dream of becoming the first-ever Caribbean side to win the prestigious Concacaf Gold Cup ended in disappointment, when they suffered a 3�1 defeat to giants Mexico in the final on Sunday night.Entering the contest at the Lincoln Financial Field as massive underdogs against six-time champions Mexico, the Reggae Boyz' task was made even harder when they fell behind to an Andres Guardado strike to be down, 1�0, at half-time.
They conceded two more goals early in the second half through Jes�s Manuel Corona and Oribe Peralta to trail 3�0 after 61 minutes and though Darren Mattocks pulled one back in the 80th minute, the chance of history had already slipped though their fingers.With the victory, Mexico added to their titles in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2009 and 2011, while for Jamaica, their berth in the final represented the first time a Caribbean nation had advanced that far in a Gold Cup.
Despite the defeat, Reggae Boyz head coach Winfried Schafer said he was proud of his unit."Mexico was a good team. They played great football in the first minutes and had chances. However, the mistakes we made were reflected in goals from Mexico," the German said."[Mexico] were better, stronger but congratulations to my team, everybody should be proud of them."
Jamaica began competitively but came under sustained pressure from Mexico mid-way during the opening half.Goalkeeper Ryan Thompson palmed away a goal-bound effort from Corona in the 25th minute and moments later Jesus Duenas sent another shot wide.
Guardado made no mistake in the 31st minute, however. Paul Aguilar picked him out at the far post after collecting Jonathan Dos Santos' corner, and the PSV Eindhoven beat Thompson from about ten yards out with a left-footed volley.Trailing by the one goal at half-time, Jamaica saw their chances of making a comeback dashed, when they conceded two minutes after the restart.
Michael Hector dawdled on possession and was robbed by Corona who then beat Thompson with his shot from just outside the area.Fourteen minutes later, another defensive error cost Jamaica. Hector again was at fault, failing to properly deal with a cross from Aguilar and Peralta latched onto the loose ball to clip his finish past Thompson from close range.
With the game all but over barring a miraculous comeback, Jamaica managed to salvage some pride when Mattocks got on the scoresheet with ten minutes left in the encounter.A 60th minute substitute for Garath McCleary, the Vancouver Whitecaps striker cut inside the box after being played in by Jobi McAnuff, to curl a right-footer past goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.There would be no fairy-tale end, however, as the scoreline remained intact.
CMC