By RYAN TOLMICH
Jamaica earned a spot in the highly-anticipated 2016 Copa America Tuesday due to the steady hands of young goalkeeper Andre Blake.
In Tuesday’s Caribbean Cup final, the Union rookie stopped Khaleem Hyland in Trinidad and Tobago’s fifth and final attempt in the penalty shootout of as Jamaica advanced, 4-3 on penalties, after both sides remained scoreless in regular time.
The victory ensured the Reggae Boyz a spot in the U.S.-based 2016 Copa America, while both teams will also feature in next year’s Gold Cup.
In a game that saw Jamaica earn a majority of the first-half opportunities, Trinidad and Tobago nearly opened the scoring with a pair of second half chances from Daneil Cyrus and Attaullah Guerra.
The Reggae Boyz responded by nearly snatching a late victory through Jobi McAnuff, who scuffed a shot over the bar in the 93rd to pave the way for the penalty shootout.
Jamaica held serve by netting all four of the team’s penalties, while Trinidad and Tobago were doomed by a second round miss from Kenwyne Jones before Blake’s diving effort stopped Hyland’s fifth round effort.
—
What do you think of Jamaica’s victory? How will they fare in the Gold Cup and Copa America?
Share your thoughts below.
Their* sorry grammar police
They’re fields are terrible, but I do have a soft spot for the Caribbean nations.
We’ll do what we always do. Have a huge mixed bag of players and once the opposition figures out our weak link just go dominate us there.
Im glad we made the gold cup and copa america cause I’ll be able to take my dad and watch some games. But our local development is crap so its basically which english player of jamaican origin hasnt been given a call up yet and whatever weird Norwegian league/MLS/English Championship/First Division/Waterhouse/Portmore FC guys we take with us.
it takes 6 months to gel a squad like that and they only meet each other 3 weeks before kickoff if we are lucky.
Dude! Lighten up! At least celebrate the success for a day or two before going all negative!
I wish I could. All they do is give me the sads.