By GORDON WILLIAMS, ContributorAN ILL-TIMED sequence of events around the hour mark was enough to sentence Jamaica's Under-20 team to a 1-0 defeat by the United States in a highly competitive Under-20 friendly football match played in Sunrise, Florida last night.
Will John was credited with scoring from a corner kick taken by teammate Christian Jiminez. But the strike appeared to ricochet between several gold and green shirts on its way to the roof of the net, leaving Jamaica's goalkeeper Ryan Thompson little chance to save.
Laspse in marking
The corner came less than a minute after Jamaica made four substitutions, followed by a lapse in marking assignments inside the penalty box, leading to John's clear header. Nevertheless, in a game billed as a stern test for the Jamaicans, largely due to the expected appearance of 14-year-old Freddy Adu for the U.S., the young Reggae Boyz started brightly as Adu watched in full gear from the bench. The D.C. United forward, the highest paid player in U.S. Major League Soccer, who scored his first goal as a professional over the weekend, would not enter the game, saving himself instead for another U.S. encounter tonight against Haiti's Under-20 in Fort Lauderdale.
Yet Jamaica, coming off a recent successful tour to Germany, looked confident early against an experienced and aggressive U.S. team. And despite the occasional blemish, the first when the U.S. missed a clear header inside the first five minutes of the game, Jamaica's defence, led by Jermaine Taylor, Adrian Reid, captain Keiron Bernard and Rodolph Austin, appeared comfortable against the hard running U.S. forwards, while the midfield duo of Akeem Priestly and Howard Wong seemed confident, relaxed and skilful on the ball.
Yet, as the game wore on, the U.S. gradually started to look physically stronger and more dangerous, and Jamaica's midfield struggled desperately for ways to create decent scoring opportunities for forwards Richard West and Luton Shelton. Still the hard working West managed to come close a few times. He headed wide in the 20th minute and should have done better with an acrobatic volley after the U.S. defence failed to clear properly in the 42nd. In the second half another West volley flew across the face of the goal.
Missed chances
In between, the U.S. too missed scoring chances. A quick counter attack just before halftime ended with Kamani Hill heading high, and just after the break John repeated that error. In between, Thompson was called on to make a couple of fine saves, including a full-stretched effort to parry Jiminez's torrid left foot drive, and another sprawling effort to turn away Hill's powerful strike.
After the game, Jamaica's coach Wendell Downswell appeared satisfied with the team's performance, especially ahead of the qualifying rounds for the Under-20 World Cup beginning in August.
"I think we played fairly well defensively," he said. "I feel we could have improved, especially on our forward passes. In the attacking third we needed to be more creative...If we can get them back up to the level that they played in Germany then they will be extremely competitive for the next game."
Jamaica will play the U.S. again on Thursday in Sunrise as part of the young Reggae Boyz' five-day camp in that South Florida city.
Downswell also hinted that the absence of Adu may have been a slight disappointment for his team, which had looked forward to competing against the teenage star.
"Yes, as a special talent they would have definitely liked to have him on the field," he said. "
