BALTIMORE, MD (July 18th-)The Reggae Boyz summer tour will continue for at least another week. After years of frustration and missed opportunities, Jamaica’s national team are two games away from their first-ever international title. On Saturday night, Giles Barnes helped get Jamaica back to the Gold Cup semifinals with a 1-0 win over Haiti.
Barnes scored in just the 8th minute of the match, finishing off a cross set up by defender Adrian Mariappa. The Houston Dynamo forward found an inch of space to place his shot past Haitian goalkeeper Johnny Placides for his first goal of the tournament.
Despite being down a goal, Haiti controlled possession for most of the match and appeared at times to be close to putting the match level. Just five minutes after Barnes’ goal, Haiti forward Duckens Nazon blasted a shot from beyond the eighteen yard box that Jamaican goalkeeper Ryan Thompson was forced to save. Thompson again came up with a dynamic save in the 15th minute when Haitian midfielder James Marcelin nearly finished off a corner kick.
The Jamaican defense, in general, played well despite being under immense pressure. Of the twenty-eight shots taken by Haiti eleven were ultimately blocked by Jamaica and four were saved by Thompson.
Jamaica had a chance to put the game out of reach in the 70th minute when midfielder Jaime McAnuff had an opportunity alone at goal. But his shot was saved by Placide. On the rebound Barnes had another chance but could not control his shot. In general, the Haitian defense did an excellent job at matching Jamaica’s speed on the outside and forcing them to a much more compact attacking style. That, coupled with long sustained possessions kept the match at 1-0.
For the Jamaica marks another positive that the program has made strides since their appearance in the hexagonal during qualification for the 2014 World Cup. Their biggest lies ahead on Wednesday night though when will travel to Atlanta, Georgia to take on the United States.
As for Haiti this loss is not necessarily a sad moment. After years of turmoil the program finally seems to be going in the right direction. With a young, exciting crop of players at both the senior and U-20 level Haiti will certainly be a difficult opponent come Olympic and World Cup qualification time.
