Santa Clara, CA – USA 2- Jamaica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final, Levi’s Stadium, July 26, 2017.
SANTA CLARA, CA-The 2017 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup came to a close on Wednesday night at Levi’s Stadium as the United States men’s national team took on Jamaica in a rematch of the 2015 semifinal. After being upset by Jamaica two years ago, the United States triumphed in this year’s final 2-1 thanks to a late goal from Jordan Morris.
The U.S. played aggressive attacking football from the opening whistle, keeping the Jamaican defense on their heels for much of the match while Jamaica relied on the speed of Darren Mattocks, Je-Vaughn Watson, and Romario Williams to counterattack the Americans constantly.
Jamaica was dealt an early blow when star goalkeeper Andre Blake suffered a hand injury less than 20 minutes into the match. Jozy Altidore found space 25 yards from goal to lace a shot at Blake who made a spectacular dive to punch away the shot. Kellyn Acosta crashed the net in an attempt to put home the rebound only to be stuffed by Blake, causing the keeper a hand injury that would require seven stitches and force a substitution.
Still the Jamaican defense remained difficult to break down as backup keeper Dwayne Miller proved to be up to the task of matching Blake’s performance. It looked as though he would see out a scoreless half for the Reggae Boys but Jamaica committed a poor foul 30 yards away from goal, setting up a free kick for Altidore in the 45th minute.
Altidore struck his free kick perfectly, dipping just under the bar and with enough power to keep a diving, stretching Miller from pushing the ball over the bar with his finger tips. Altidore rushed to the right corner flag celebrating with his teammates and the American fans as the U.S. took a 1-0 lead into the break.
Jamaica would fight their way back into the match though, earning a corner kick in the 50th minute and capitalizing on poor marking from Morris. Kemar Lawrence’s corner traveled to the back post where Watson had beaten the American forward and was wide open to tap home an equalizer that stunned the crowd in Santa Clara.
Now needing a winning goal, U.S. coach Bruce Arena called Clint Dempsey off the bench to replace Acosta in the 55th minute. Dempsey’s impact was felt almost immediately as he began to probe the Jamaican defense with precise passing and dangerous touches. With 57 international goals, Dempsey sat tied with Landon Donovan as the all-time leading scorer for the United States and he seemed destined to break that tie with a late winner.
In the 75th minute Dempsey finally got his chance as a Jorge Villafana cross came perfectly to his head and Dempsey hit it hard and down to the near post, taking off towards the sideline to celebrate. The Jamaican keeper, Miller, pushed off hard to his right, diving for the ball and deflected the shot off the post, denying Dempsey the record for the time being.
“I hit it well,” said Dempsey after the match. “I adjusted well and got a good header, got it low and hard where I wanted, the keeper just made a huge save.”
With two minutes left in the 90 and extra time looming, the Americans finally found the winner they had been pushing for. Jermaine Taylor attempted to clear a Gyasi Zardes cross into the box heading the ball away from goal. His clearance was right at Dempsey, deflecting off his body and right to Morris. After being at fault for the Jamaican equalizer, the Seattle native found redemption for his earlier poor defending by ripping the back of the net, sending the American fans into a frenzy.
“During [the shot]you don’t really think of it, it just happens so fast,” said Morris while addressing the media. “Afterwards, for me it was a sense of relief, kinda trying to make up for the mistake I made earlier, and it felt good I could help the team come back.”
As the final whistle blew, the players rushed the field in celebration, all stopping at some point to congratulate Morris on his match winner before accepting their medals and then lifting the cup.
After the celebration, members of the United States team sang high praise of the Jamaican side that upset Mexico to reach the final and gave the U.S. a real test defensively. Tim Howard said after, “They were rock solid defensively. Their game plan was efficient, they got numbers behind the ball, they defended very diligently, hit us on the break, and were good on set pieces. That’s exactly what we knew they would be and they didn’t disappoint us. Jamaican football is back on the map.”
