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Jamaica stuns, eliminates USMNT with two first-half goals in Gold Cup semifinals

photo by Jason Getz/USA Today Sports

By FRANCO PANIZO

The U.S. Men’s National Team had repeatedly gotten away with slow starts in this CONCACAF Gold Cup, overcoming its number of mistakes and finding timely goals to grab results.

Not this time.

The U.S. was eliminated from the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Wednesday night, as two first-half goals from Jamaica paved the way for a stunning 2-1 defeat of the Americans. Jurgen Klinsmann’s side nearly pulled off a ferocious rally in the second half in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, but the Reggae Boyz held on to move to Sunday’s tournament final.

Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes scored five minutes apart in the first half off of set pieces to give Jamaica a 2-0 lead going into halftime before U.S. captain Michael Bradley pulled one back three minutes into the second stanza. The Americans pushed on and continued to create chances, but ultimately failed to find the equalizer that would have kept their Gold Cup title defense alive.

The result not only gave the Jamaicans their second win over the U.S. all-time, but moved them to the Gold Cup final for the first time in the history of the tournament. Jamaica will face the winner of Wednesday’s other semifinals match between Mexico and Panama in Sunday’s championship game.

The Americans, meanwhile, will play in the third-placed game on Saturday against the loser of that other semifinals bout.

Another poor start proved costly for the U.S. on Wednesday, as Darren Mattocks punished the defense with his opener in the 31st minute.

After Kemar Lawrence launched a long throw-in from the left into the penalty area, Mattocks put himself in position to beat John Brooks to the spot and perfectly flicked the ball to the far-top corner over the outstretched Brad Guzan.

Disbelief turned into pure shock in the 36th minute, as Barnes hit a driven free kick into the back of the net. Guzan was whistled for having extended his throwing arm past the 18-yard box while trying to distribute the ball, gifting Jamaica a free kick just outside the penalty area that Barnes rifled past a wall of U.S. defenders that stayed rooted to the ground.

Clint Dempsey nearly pulled one back for the U.S. in a minute before halftime when he dribbled inside of a pair of defenders on the left side of the penalty area, but his ensuing low shot was stopped by Jamaica goalkeeper Ryan Thompson’s legs.

Energized after the break, the U.S. came out flying in the second half and it took them just three minutes to find a goal.

Aron Johannsson smacked a low, stinging effort from outside the penalty area that Thompson spilled in front of his net. Dempsey tried bundling the rebound home, but it was Bradley who pounced on the loose ball for an easy 48th-minute finish in front of n open goal.

The Americans had multiple chances to pull level from there. They just were not sharp or lucky enough to find the back of the net again vs. the athletic back line of the Reggae Boyz.

Thompson almost gave up an equalizer midway through the second half, as a shot from Bradley caromed off the Jamaican goalkeeper before ricocheting off the post.

Another U.S. chance to tie the game came in the 51st minute when left back Fabian Johnson hit a free kick that Thompson failed to hold onto. Johannsson raced to the rebound before hitting a header wide of the mark.

Dempsey forced Thompson into another save in the 81st minute, as the U.S. veteran acrobatically flicked a shot on goal that deflected off a defender before Thompson pushed it wide for a corner.

Thompson also came up with a big save earlier in the match when it was scoreless, denying Johnson’s 28th-minute effort from 19 yards out to open the door for Mattocks’ opener and Barnes’ winner.

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What do you think about the USMNT’s 2-1 loss to Jamaica? What went wrong for the Americans? How big of a failure is this for Klinsmann and Co.?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Wow, these posts are a hoot. And surprisingly kind to our boy, Jurgen. I know the Jurgen worshippers might not agree, but seriously his tactics against Jamaica were a joke. Behind by one goal with almost a half to play, he quickly went to route one tactics. Now despite the soccer snobs sneering at American tactics, almost no American team plays route one — not in MLS, not in international soccer. Americans, I suspect, are not particularly good at it, and in this case despite the presence of Alan Gordon, bless his ugly mug, they were awful. And the Jamaicans had Wes Morgan defending , a monster in the box. So this is why we are paying a fortune for a foreign genius to lead us out of the tactical wilderness that was the time of Bob and Bruce. Please give me a break!

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  2. the mental gymnastics to explain away this defeat would be entertaining if the fact of the result wasn’t so revealing

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  3. Two points to be made.

    First, I was very disappointed in the style of defending that the US employed in the 2nd half. When Jamaica had the ball the US players just dropped back and held their shape rather than attacking the player with the ball and attempting to cause a turnover. This allowed Jamaica to just pass the ball around and waste tons of time.

    Second. Given that Jurgen said he was deploying his best team to win the tournament and given that his “best” RB was Brad Evans and his reserve LB was the retired DMB, maybe it’s time to give Eric Lichaj a look

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  4. For years now, we have been lectured about how Jurgen was going to being “better” soccer to our shores. We were going to leave behind the elementary school tactics and methods of Poor Old Bob and move into the big time. Now exactly what “better” soccer meant was never clear. Some (obviously just fans) meant attacking soccer, heading down field at break neck speed at every opportunity. For others, “better” seems to have meant technically more proficient, better touches, better passes, perhaps even better positioning. Our friendly lecturers were particularly harsh about those who pointed out that winning was the aim of the game and the way you got there was secondary — the only good soccer was winning soccer.
    Well what do we have now? Over the past five games, games that actually mattered not friendlies, we have seen lots of attacking soccer, but not much technical proficiency and now not even winning — against a team that the bad old methods disposed of regularly. We have been assured that this is just a bump in the road, that our express train to the WC quarterfinals and beyond is still on track and not to worry.
    But what if the current crop of American players are as technically proficient as they are ever going to be? What if the national team coach can’t raise the level of technical ability by himself? What if focusing on better technique on the national team leads to picking the wrong players and wasting time on aspects of the game that don’t get you closer to winning? What if attacking all the time is just dumb tactics given the players available? And anyway, what’s the point of changing overall approach, systems, lineups and all the rest if you don’t look any better afterwards (as we have not in the past five games) and you don’t win?

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    • Interesting. It is a good idea to take stock, take a step back, shed emotion. Just a game, anyone can lose a game. But there are many miles to go on this road toward being awesome. Do we automatically deserve to be?

      It seems that, objectively-speaking, our expectations are a little too high. Evolution in this sport is absolutely not linear, and you’re right to say there are no guarantees that any of the things prophesied about our team will actually happen. And even if they did, then what? I won’t go on about how the beautiful game is not only about winning… wrong forum.

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      • I agree that we need to step back and evaluate the progress objectively. Let’s review Klismann’s tenure. Discount all friendlies, both won against good teams and lost to inferior teams. Positives: last year Gold Cup. Neutral – OK World Cup. Disaster: the worst official result of the US National team since 2006 WC. Forget about the style, youth teams, etc. That’s totally irrelevant. Based on that and the amount of money is paid, is it a good return on investment? No. and if it no and there is no basis for expectation about a better return in the future – you sell the stock, in this case fire Klinsmann.

    • Part of the problem is that for whatever reason, we have a massive talent gap in the 24-28 age range which is when most players are in their primes. All of our best players are either too old or not experienced enough. I believe with the U-23 group and below that are now coming up, we’re going to start seeing some of the fruit of JK’s focus on technical ability system wide. By Russia I think that gap will have started to disappear and by 2022 hopefully WC quarterfinals or better will start being an expectation.

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  5. What I see out of the USA right now:

    1) We need better strikers, or more experienced ones. Dempsey is the only proven goal-scorer here. Johanssen is probably our #2 at the moment and I think he’ll improve but you wish he was a little faster and more athletic…like his technical ability, like his movement, like his positioning and IQ. Zardes has a ton of potential but he’s up-and-down right now. Work ethic is there.

    Strikers after that are an issue. No getting around it; Jozy is wildly inconsistent. At age 21 or even 23 you could live with it. At 25, with as many caps as he’s had…might be time for him to sit awhile. Like the potential of Wood, Morris, and Rubio Rubin but they got some growing up to do. Wondo gave us nothing this go-around; he’s done.

    2) Midfielder remains a work in progress. I like Bradley and Bedoya but there’s nothing but question marks after them. Yedlin is a situational winger for JK; I’d think about returning him to right back because we have an issue there. Mix has shown some stuff; I like him and I think he’s in the 23 but is he a true starter? Dunno. Really need to get a look at Sebastian Lleget and hopefully Nagbe will get his citizenship soon; we could really use their athleticism and skill. Jury still very much out on Alfredo Morales and Danny Williams. Beckerman looks done and Jermaine Jones is 33 and hitting that age where staying on the field healthy is tough. Gyau and Gatt look like injury casualties. Julian Green still looks a couple years off; ditto for Emerson Hyman, ditto for Zelalem. Zusi and Corona have not impressed much and are probably gone.

    3) We have a bunch of centerbacks and despite the youth of Alvarado and Brooks I’m not overly worried. I can live with Gonzalez and Ream as our #3 and #4. Problem is, Fabian Johnson is our one good outside back and he can’t play both sides at once. Brek Shea, oddly, looks like our best bet at LB, but his injury history is a concern. Garza looks decent but athletically limited. Hate to beat the Robbie Rogers drum again but we could use cover at LB. At RB, Timmy Chandler just isn’t working out. We might could stand to get creative there, maybe bring in fresh blood like Andrew Farrell if you want the best athlete, or shift a midfielder over there like Bedoya if we’re serious about finding ways to get our best 11 on the field. But outside back looks like a big issue right now; the drop-off from Fabian to Everybody Else is glaring.

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    • Ragging on Chandler is the hipster thing to do for this fanbase like Jermaine Jones before the WC, but he’s our second best (maybe third if Shea is healthy) fullback. Wasn’t at fault for a goal this summer and his crossing was sorely missed last game.

      Also if Yedlin can’t crack the XI for the USMNT, he’s nowhere close to cracking any PL team’s starting lineup. Hopefully he goes on loan to the Championship and rapidly improves.

      Also I have some hope in Gyau if he can find the field soon.

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      • I think you and I may be the only ones on this site who feel this way about Chandler. I haven’t been able to understand the hate at all. I think he may have been partially at fault in one goal, overall I thought he was one of the better players on the team.

      • yeah, hating Chandler is just the popular thing to do. yes, he has had his issues…mostly being consistent. he’ll have a shocking 25-30 minutes but then close out the game well. plus, his shot from distance and crossing ability is great. he has work to do, but people make Chandler out to be the reason we lose games.

    • Goal-scorers are easy to rank based on recent past performance (goals scored). Sure you can guess which new guys will do well, but if you have a good track record professional teams will beat a path to your door to learn from your genius. In MLS, it is pretty clear which players are the best goal scorers per 90 minutes and those were the guys JK chose in addition to AJ, the only non-MLS based forward who was available and arguably with a comparable or better scoring record. So yes, we need better goal-scorers, but there just aren’t any right now.

      In midfield, Bradley and Bedoya seem to me to be the two who can connect passes and move to support teammates, but neither is particularly fast or good at close control and dribbling in tight spots. All of the others used have more glaring weaknesses, despite some upside and the list of potentials has lots of bright prospects, but it seems none except for the possible exception of Zardes are really more than hopefuls at this point.

      Surprisingly in defense, we have a pretty good number of options except at left back. Klinsmann seems to want fullbacks who can get forward often and do more than simply defend. That means a tension between choosing a player like Yedlin who can attack versus someone like Garza (or Ream) who may be a bit slower, but who takes the defending more seriously. In this tournament, it was not so much the US defense that was the problem as it was the midfield’s ability to maintain possession. Still good defense is really a coordinated effort and Klinsmann’s constant changing of the defensive personel did the US no favors.

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  6. This loss really knocked the wind out of my sails, I’m still gutted to think about it. Some of my thoughts on why we lost:
    1) Jamaica punished our mistakes. We didn’t do enough to punish their errors. Their GK wasn’t convincing despite some decent saves, but his blunders only cost them 1 goal. Jamaica’s marking on set pieces was suspect as well, but we never took advantage.
    2) Poor finishing on our part. Jamaica had 3 shots on goal, we had 10. Not much more to say, speaks for itself.
    3) Too many sub-par performances by our stars. Dempsey didn’t finish his chances, MB had a lot of poor touches and giveaways. I feel that MB90 playing every game with the short turnaround times and extreme heat must have had an effect.

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  7. Brooks might have a higher upside than Omar but he’s far from polished. What Omar brings to the back line that is not being talked about is communication. When I watch Omar paired with Alvarado, you always see Alvarado look over to Omar for direction. Likewise, you can see Omar constantly talking and pointing with his center back partner and holding midfielder.

    What I see with Brooks in the lineup is chaos. Alvarado always looks lost; especially when marking on set pieces. He lacks that veteran presence who understands what the other team is doing tactically and will help him be in the right spot. Brooks lacks the foresight that comes with experience. He’s more reactionary than methodical. He also loves to get forward…A LOT! This is why he is always caught out of position. I’d love to see the success rate of the offsides trap when Brooks is in as opposed to Omar; can we get Paul Carr at ESPN on this???

    Playing one young centerback is risky but playing with two young center backs is a mistake. JK needs to make a decision as to which one is going to sit and which one should learn from OG.

    Note: These guys are all going to lose their positions anyways once Cameron Carter-Vickers and Matt Maizga come up.

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    • Older players will get replaced by younger ones. That is inevitable. It is a coach’s job to make the timing in that inevitability work in a way that makes the team as strong as it can be.

      Neither change for change’s sake, nor over-reliance on past players should get in the way of putting the best available team on the field every time.

      Bradley may have been too supportive of veterans, Klinsmann may be too in love with change.

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    • Except it is for the US. All the region’s talent is playing here now and the gap between all the nations is shrinking. Cuba is the only team that hasn’t caught up since their players couldn’t play in MLS and we saw how big the gap is between us. That’s how it used to be in the 90s and early 00s.

      If we want to skate through the Gold Cup our squad needs our some players that play in top leagues and ultimately in the Champions League. Our best player this tournament was Fabian Johnson. No coincidence that he’s our only player in Champions League next season. But if all of our players come back to the comfort of MLS and bigger paychecks get used to this type of result.

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      • I think the goal is for MLS to eventually be as good as top Euro leagues. Certainly a ways off but certainly doable in my opinion. Easy for fans to complain about players making moves based on “bigger paychecks” but playing soccer is their job – Bradley made about $1m at Roma and makes $6m now. Would you turn down 6x your current salary to do the same job somewhere else? No, I didn’t think so.

      • Dempsey was a great model for how it should be done. He succeed on a relegation squad went to a team fighting for Champions League, reached his peak in his late 20s and came home for his payday. Bradley could have made slightly more money at another club (he had interest from other clubs) and came back to MLS two years down the road. Same with Jozy with German clubs, he’s young enough to have tried it for a year and still gotten a huge payday in MLS.

        Our Zardes’, Beslers’, and Gonzales’ are the ones to worry about. They look like they will be MLS lifers, which is fine but it means they will likely stagnate on international level. Zardes is young enough that Jurgen is willing to roll with him and his speed and workrate on the wing. He’s playing the role EJ and Herc Gomez played and is in danger of plateauing if his first touch doesn’t improve.

        All in all we’ll continue to see other team’s in the region outside of Mexico get results on us because everyone else is playing in the same domestic league. We need to find a way and stay a step above.

      • give it up man…this is the most talented US pool we’ve ever had. so many flipping excuses from you folks!! we were not good this whole tournament, save vs. Cuba, whatever that means

      • You make some good points which some people ignore. I think it was during the last qualifying cycle when I noted so many regional players who are in MLS that I wrote that MLS seems to be doing more for our regional opponents than it is for us. So, yes, we should send our better young players to top leagues in Europe. I remember someone else saying that over and over again. Oh, yeah, Jurgen Klinsmann, and he got a lot of heat for it.

      • MLS has been great for our region and don’t get me wrong it serves a valuable purpose for the US to fill out our reserve spots on a 23 man roster. But the Costa Rica’s, Panama’s, Jamaica’s, etc. have players in MLS and some in Europe as well. We shouldn’t be surprised at this result when our big stars came back home even when they had offers from teams in the Big 4 leagues. But if we want to stay on top we need to stay a step ahead of the competition.

      • oh come on Gary, no way I’m buying that BS

        we’ve won with FAR LESS TALENT

        let me repeat…we’ve won with FAR LESS TALENT

        Klinsmann is blessed with the MOST TALENTED US POOL EVER

  8. Klinsmann did not lose us the game, Brad Guzan did. As I have been saying all along, Bill Hamid should be our top goalkeeper going forward. Guzan is junk, and Aston Villa agrees.

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  9. The only games in 2015 that mean anything for the USMNT are the Gold Cup and the two WC qualifiers in November. This year is a failure. We have better players at basically every position than all of these teams other than Mexico. And anything can happen in a one off game but the performances were poor throughout. The players and JK didn’t get it done.

    The players didn’t play well enough and JK made some selection errors, in particularly persisting with Brooks and Alvarado. I get they may be the CB pairing of the future but in a Gold Cup semifinal you play your best XI today. Omar/Ream or even Besler may have been better choices. Also, I was delighted to see Chandler dropped but why can’t Yedlin play right back for the national team?

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    • Klinsi gambled and lost with his D selection. Even with this 23 that klini chose, the U.S. should win this Gold Cup. There were about 5 players that should not even have been on this side. I do not beleive that Mexico has better talent than the US , NO WAY. They are playing even worse right now and can’t even get by a 10 man panama side. They needed man 12 Geiger to win. Klinsi better get it correct in that playoff game in October or he may very well be done. Right now, he will not fired.

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      • Mexico does have significantly better talent than the US though. Guardado, Vela, the dos Santos brothers would all walk onto our team and instantly be better than most of our team. They’re better technically across the board, and they have better creativity in wide positions.

      • The fact that Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras have all struggled should tell you something. If it was just the US, yeah, maybe something’s wrong here. But when all the traditional regional powers struggle, maybe it means the other teams have gotten a lot better.

    • 4-4-2 hd him rated as the 24th best manager in the world.
      He would be miles ahead of JK right now after his last two managing jobs.
      Plus JK make $2.5 million and is also the Technical Director who was hired to also develop our youth system.
      BB would do a masterful job with setting up a top level youth system
      What the hell, he developed our captain

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