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Jamaica vs. USA: Match Night Commentary

Jamaica     U.S. Soccer Federation

The U.S. men's national team will attempt to take a big step toward the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying when it faces Jamaica in the fourth match of the six-game semifinal round (8 p.m., beIN Sport). To get three points, though, the Americans will have to do something they have never done in their history: Win a World Cup qualifier on Jamaican soil (0-0-4 all-time).

With Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley out injured and Clint Dempsey's effectiveness unknown after his transfer saga, a number of questions face Jurgen's Klinsmann's side, which is looking to add to the momentum of the first U.S. win in Mexico last month.

Standing in the way of that is a confident, fast Jamaican side, headlined by MLS speedsters Dane Richards, Omar Cummings and Darren Mattocks. The Reggae Boyz, who have never beaten the United States (0-10-8 all-time) enter the night tied on points with the U.S. in Group A, and they go into the match knowing that a failure to win tonight makes the daunting task of having to play the U.S. again on Tuesday in Columbus all the more challenging and pressure-packed.

SBI will be providing live commentary for tonight's match, so please feel free to follow along with the live chat. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions on the match in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

Comments

  1. We’re going to qualify. We haven’t failed since 1990. It was an off night, and it was bound to happen eventually. Even when our side had little talent (think the 98 campaign—–David Wagner, really?) we quaified.

    These guys are pros—it’ll get put together.

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  2. Jeez…the weeping and gnashing of teeth! The road is always tough. Just like we were likely to win away in Mexico someday, we were also destined to lose away to Jamaica someday.

    I’ve been watching horrid qualifiers since the 1990 campaign…trust me, we’re not going to get kicked out before the Hex. And even in the Hex we’ll be okay.

    Reality check:

    1990 made World Cup
    1994 Round of 16
    1998 made the World Cup
    2002 freakin Quarterfinals
    2006 made the World Cup
    2010 Round of 16

    Have a shot of tequila, go to bed,sleep 8 hours, and wake up refreshed and optimistic.

    Tschüss!

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  3. Yes, you are scared. It’s human to be scared. You navigate the fear, stand up to it. At least your post didn’t let your fear spill out into premature whining, catastrophizing, or anger, as we see in so many other posts tonight. People just freak out. They don’t know how to handle it, so they lash out. I’m scared too, but I am trusting that in 4 days, in Columbus, we are going to win. And all will be right with the world again.

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  4. wow what a waste of time !! we are played that game with no sense of urgency, and totally out muscled, we need to grow some !! and beckerman should not play in these games no physical play from him at all ! and Jamaica ! Jamaica had more possession !! Come on !! we need a real play maker in the middle

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  5. I am scared. Just scared.

    We have a very legitimate chance of not qualifying for the next World Cup. No, that is not fear-mongering.

    In the sense that if we win at home we’ll be fine we are fine, but there is no reason to think we’ll play better at home than we did in Jamaica.

    I don’t even want to begin to think what would happen if the US didn’t qualify for the World Cup, let alone the Hex. Scary.

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  6. Long way to go, for the Americans jajaja. Next week is a very important match, they better hope thet don’t CHOKE like they did against Panama last year.

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  7. Bottom line…the US is terrible at soccer. There are 40 teams, at LEAST, that are better and thats an understatement. No athletes, no grass roots commitment, no gameplan that matches the little talent that exists. Any other assessment is really just an excuse. The US will always be the Washington Generals of the sport on the global stage

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  8. I agree that things aren’t as bad as some are making them out to be. That first Jamaican goal was a complete fluke (I hate having the wall jump for this reason), and Jamaica basically had zero chances from the run of play. Probably 70-80% of the time, the game played by the US tonight results in them coming out with at least a point. Similarly, the game in Guatemala could have easily resulted in a US win if the ref hadn’t blown the play dead when Altidore was in on goal.

    However, I am tired of rolling out a midfield that can’t keep possession. I’m not sure what the options are without Bradley (I’m not sold on Torres, especially against a physical team like Jamaica), but the US absolutely has to be better with the ball through the midfield. Also, despite legitimate appeals to bad breaks, the US, based on points earned, is in a real dogfight just to make the hex now, which is clearly unacceptable given their talent level.

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  9. agreed. especially since i jammed to Buffalo wild wings to watch the game with my 9 month old son to watch an amateurish performance by a bad Nats team…

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  10. The US isn’t good enough to win under the following conditions. Dempsey is clearly out of shape no Bradley or Cherundolo (there is no way Parkhurst is replacing Cherundolo who is playing very well in the Bundesliga), no healthy Donovan,no playmakers, the US looks like maybe the weather was bothering them and a coach who is brainless. He prefers Beckerman to Kljestan who is a much better offensive midfielder and ignores Lichaj who is faster than any player on the current US team and plays in the Premier League.

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  11. where is the guy that was so hi on Beckerman’s stats?
    Tonight the only way Jamaica could scored was on a dead ball, so what do we do, we give them dead balls by losing possession. I’m ticked off.

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  12. Absolutely woeful performance on all fronts, including Tim Howard..Worst performance by far under the JK regime. If they keep this up, The Raggae Boyz will win both and The USA will be in serious danger of not making Brazil ’14 at all!

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  13. LOL. Love how we overeact to a win and to losses. We win we are on our way to the Elite. We lose we are doomed fire the coach I have said this since we hired him, blah blah blah.

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  14. I’m still a Klinsmann support, but hopefully this game is a wake up call that he can’t try this approach again.

    I was hoping I wouldn’t see anything like it, but Beckerman is becoming Klinsmann’s Agoos/Bornstein.

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  15. Pathetic.

    Edu – His normal sloppy self on the ball.
    Gomez – Bad first touches all night.
    Boyd – Did he touch the ball?
    Altidore – ^^^

    They really missed Michael Bradley tonight. There just wasn’t that guy in the middle of the pitch to give a good flow to the attack. With less than 10 minutes, I was shocked that every time there was a loose ball behind the USA’s forwards, there was no one there to pick it up and hold pressure.

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  16. I don’t see how you could defend that set piece any better. It was a great shot on goal.

    The blame lies solely with Edu for giving them an opportunity at that spot.

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  17. wow….US is really good in soccer. Why do they still even bother…GridIron football is their sport…not “soccer”. Their women’s team would beat these clowns

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  18. A deserved loss, I haven’t seen the US play such an uninspiring game in quite a while. I’m a big Klinsmann supporter, but I’m placing much of the blame at his feet. Midfield too defensive and uncreative, Dempsey shouldn’t have started, let alone go the distance, and the substitutions were ten minutes later than I would have liked. Really disappointing all around.

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  19. A lesson in soccer tactics and squad selection for JK. He left Zusi, Shea, Corona and Torres (not say all should have started, at least one though). Our midfield was flat out overrun and passes circles around the US midfield.

    The upsetting thing to me is the two Jamaican goals came off of fouls, by the defensive midfielders (the failed to even execute their strong suits).

    Here’s to hoping for more positive tactics and more positive style on Tuesday.

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  20. The game couldn’t have gone more perfectly for us, and we still lost. With better set piece play we might have won this game 1-0.

    What I learned from this match is that this midfield is LOST without Michael Bradley. Deuce will find his form again, but he really belongs at the top. He just clogs up attacks. There didn’t seem to be much communication and chemistry.

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  21. The US team played not much different tonight from how it’s played in the Klinsmann era. There have been a few results to fool us but no coherent game. Only once, the US team looked impressive under Klinsmann — the Scotland game. Later, of course, it turned that the Scots came here to party and enjoy the beaches of Florida, not play soccer. The sooner Klinsmann goes, the better. It’s not too late yet.

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  22. I want Klinsmann’s head!!!! This was awful, and don’t tell me it’s because Bradley and Donovan weren’t there. That is no excuse for losing to Jamaica!

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  23. Maybe BeIn was onto something here. They wanted to spare us from watching this horror show. The team just looked uninterested most of the game.

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  24. The US looked like they couldn’t be bothered. Jones, Edu, and Beckerman were all terrible. Beckerman needs to shave off those stupid friggin dreadlocks. He’ll probably be out trying to spliff it up in Kingston tonight.

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  25. We deserve to lose. 3 defensive mids. Team showing no initiative going forward. Also, you can’t pass to your teammate if a Jamaican player is in the way.

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