Uruguay concluded their disappointing Copa America Centenario with a 3-0 win over Jamaica at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Tuesday night.
La Celeste benefited from strikes by Abel Hernandez and Mathias Corujo as well as a Je-Vaughn Watson own goal to finish their run at the competition on a high note.
Hernandez, who scored 22 goals for Hull City in the Championship this past season, opened the scoring in the 21st minute as he lifted a shot over Andre Blake from the right side of the penalty area.
Blake turned away Hernandez’s attempt for a second goal 15 minutes later as he made a fingertip save on the 25-year-old striker. Diego Godin came close to scoring for Uruguay a minute later, but he sent his header wide from close range off a corner kick.
Jamaica put together a set of quality chances to start the second half, but the Reggae Boyz were unable to net their first goal of the tournament. Garath McCleary came the closest to scoring for the last-place side in Group C, bit his 61st-minute effort soared past the left post.
Uruguay opened up their advantage to two in the 66th minute, when a cross from the left wing deflected off the arm of Watson. If the ball didn’t end up in the back of the net, the defender could’ve been whistled for a penalty for handling the ball.
Corujo finished off the contest in the 88th minute as he benefited from a defensive mistake to break open on goal to beat Blake.
Uruguay, who entered as one of the favorites to win the tournament, finished third in Group C with three points. Jamaica dropped out of the tournament with zero points and zero goals scored.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Abel Hernandez was a consistent threat in front of the net for Uruguay throughout his 74 minutes on the pitch. The production from the forward, who put all three of his shots on target, was a refreshing change from the inability to score in the first two Copa matches.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Hernandez’s opener allowed Uruguay to breathe a sigh of relief. As disappointing as the tournament may have been for Oscar Tabarez’s side, they were able to create some positive momentum heading into September’s CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying matches against Argentina and Paraguay.
MATCH TO FORGET
Edinson Cavani continued to struggle with his opportunities in front of the net. The PSG forward, who was supposed to replace the production of the injured Luis Suarez, put just one of his seven attempts on target. The agonizing search for a tally stretched into stoppage time as Cavani’s final chance soared past the right post minutes before the final whistle.
Same old story, unfortunately. USA and Mexico are competitive, no one else was. Costa Rica was maybe unfortunate to be in the USA’s group or they might have advanced, but that 4-0 loss at the hands of USA will linger for awhile. That was a bad, bad beat.
Jamaica and Haiti in particular sort of embarrassed themselves. They did really well in Gold Cup last year and were serving notice they were emerging – especially Jamaica, who had also taken part in Copa last year as well – and should have been ready to take the next step. Instead they stepped back, big-time. Haiti looked a lot more like the Gold Cup team from 2013 instead of the one from 2015, when the big boys were still beating them by big margins. Jamaica in particular really should be doing better these days, particularly when you consider how many current and former Gen Adidas guys they have playing in MLS and how many English-born Jamaican-descent dual-nationals like Wes Morgan and Giles Barnes they have on the team. The knock on Jamaica was that they had the athleticism but not the professionalism; now they’ve got professionals across their roster but still have not taken that next step.
Copa will really not improve anybody’s opinion of CONCACAF. There’s a lot of regional powers who play better within CONCACAF but who really have not yet shown they’re ready for the bright lights and big time of competing outside the region.
The more tournaments like this they see, the better off they’ll be, but will these chances ever come again anytime soon for most of these CONCACAF countries?
What is the grade for CONCACAF? Two group winners in U.S. And Mexico,…Costa Rica lost to US but was 1-0-1 against South American opponents,…Jamaica and Haiti had nothing and a short-handed Panama needs a win against Chile to advance to the quarterfinals.
If Panama wins and advances,…CONCACAF will have done well. If Panama suffers a heavy defeat,…the region will look weak.
Here is my problem with CONCACAF.
There really is no excuse for Jamaica not scoring any goals.
Haiti being blown out is just plain embarrassing.
I think FIFA funds should be used to help the Island nations develop their soccer. Otherwise CONCACAF will not be taken seriously. We cannot just ride the Mexico/USA train all the time.
agree on all points my friend. Jamaica was riding high, and in some sense so was Haiti, considering their play in the Gold Cup last summer but clearly that looks more a product of Concacaf being uneven from a quality perspective from top to bottom. I will say this though, South America hasn’t impressed me that much and i’m still of the opinion that the US and Mexico would qualify for World Cups if they were in Conmebol