By RYAN TOLMICH
Jamaica’s backs will be against the wall heading into the second leg of their World Cup qualifying clash with Nicaragua.
After surrendering two goals in the first eight minutes, Jamaica was handed a shock, 3-2, defeat Saturday at National Stadium in Kingston.
Following a penalty kick from Manuel Rosas in just the fifth minute, Nicaragua’s Carlos Chavarri doubled the advantage in the eighth, giving the visitors a stranglehold early. Luis Galaeno made it three away goals three minutes into the second half, but finishes from Giles Barnes and Darren Mattocks gave Jamaica a lifeline heading into the second leg.
Jamaica will now have to undo the damage in Nicaragua on September 8.
Take a closer look at all of CONCACAF’s Friday results below:
LATE HERRERA STRIKE EARNS MEXICO DRAW WITH T&T
Mexico needed some late heroics to salvage Ricardo ‘Tuca’ Ferretti’s first game in charge.
Down 3-2 late, Hector Herrera provided a spectacular game-tying goal in the 84th minute, earning Mexico a 3-3 draw in a friendly against Trinidad & Tobago in Sandy, Utah.
Mexico went down early with Jonathan Glenn and Keron Cummings providing finishes for T&T in the seventh and 39th minutes, respectively. A 40th minute finish from Carlos Esquivel paired with a second half own goal from Daniel Cyrus leveled the scoreline, only for T&T’s Joevin Jones to provide the go-ahead goal in the 69th.
Jones’ finish opened the door for Herrera’s spectacular leveler as the midfielder smashed a 30-year shot into the upper left-hand corner to seal a draw for El Tri.
Mexico will now continue preparations for October’s Confederations Cup playoff on Tuesday with a clash against Argentina at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
CANADA CRUISES IN FIRST LEG AGAINST BELIZE
With Friday’s effort, Canada is all but bound for CONCACAF’s World Cup qualifying group stages.
Playing the team’s home game at Toronto FC’s BMO Field, Canada cruised past visiting Belize, 3-0, in the opening leg of their World Cup qualifying matchup.
Tosaint Ricketts provided a pair of finishes for the Canadians, scoring in the 25th and 60th minutes to lead the way. A stoppage time goal from Atiba Hutchinson just added to Canada’s advantage, one that will likely see them advance in WCQ.
Canada will look to maintain their advantage September 8 in the return leg in Belize.
OTHER SCORES
World Cup Qualifying:
St. Vincent and Grenadines 2 -0 Aruba
Grenada 1 – 3 Haiti
Curacao 0 -1 El Salvador
Antigua & Barbuda 1 – 0 Guatemala
International friendlies
Venezuela 0 – 3 Honduras
Panama 0 – 1 Uruguay
I love the way things are edited here:
1. Publish something without proof-reading.
2. Wait for readers to point out unbelievably egregious mistakes.
3. Make changes.
4. Erase all comments that note the mistakes.
What happened to Bolivia?
I heard Nicaragua played in baseball uniforms.
Saw the Jamaica-Nicaragua game on BeIN Sport, a cracking game it was.
Two early goals for the visitors absolutely blindsided the Jamaicans; they missed their share of chances, but going into Managua with a goal deficit, I wouldn’t bet against Nicaragua at this point.
Well, I’d hate to see Jamaica miss the next round since they are the better quality side, but it’s nice for them to get a taste of reality. Sometimes the better team goes down 2 goals early and can’t recover even if they dominate the match 😉
Haha Nicaragua! The ultimate sling-shot carrying David! Would be awesome to see them in the 4th round.
T&T are becoming a team to take seriously. I remember just 6 years ago they were one of the weakest in our conference, in fact, Jozy had a hat trick against them back then. How times have changed.
The bulk of CONCACAF Teams have always yo-yo’ed. Not long ago Panama and T&T were one of the worst teams now their in the top 6. In that same time frame Guatemala & El Salvador went from top 6 to a joke. In the last 20 years only 3 teams have consistently been decent….Mexico, USA, & Costa Rica. Everyone else in the region move up and down every cycle or two.
That hat trick was in the hexagonal. If they were in the hex, they were hardly one of the worst teams, but one of the best in CONCACAF.
Mexico’s third goal was the best goal I’ve seen in a long time.
What a shock- rob trolling us all, praising his team despite another poor result.