Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes scored first-half goals to propel Jamaica to an unexpected 2-1 victory over the US in the CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday.
The victory ensured Jamaica became the first Caribbean team to reach the Gold Cup final since its inception in 1991.
The Reggae Boyz are to face Mexico in Philadelphia on Sunday after El Tri overcame 10-man Panama 2-1 with two late penalties in a combustible affair.
Photo: AP
SHELL-SHOCKED
The hosts and 2013 champions had reached five successive Gold Cup finals and were fresh off a 6-0 thrashing of Cuba in the quarter-finals, but the tournament favorites were left shell-shocked by an early Jamaica onslaught.
Mattocks, who was suspended for his team’s quarter-final win over Haiti, struck in the 31st minute with a header before Barnes scored from a free-kick five minutes later.
The US made defensive changes ahead of the contest, with John Brooks returning from suspension to replace Omar Gonzalez and Brad Evans coming in for Timmy Chandler, and it was at the back where the US struggled the most.
However, home captain Michael Bradley dragged his side back into the match with a goal in the 48th minute, but the US were unable to find an equalizer, despite pressuring Jamaica goalkeeper Ryan Thompson for much of the second half.
In the late match at the same venue, Mexico emerged victorious from yet another controversial marathon to reach their fourth final in the past five tournaments.
RED CARD
Andres Guardado netted two late penalties to lead Mexico to victory over an unlucky Panama side, who were reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes when forward Luis Tejada was shown a red card for raising his arm into the face of Francisco Rodriguez.
Undeterred, Panama took a surprise 1-0 lead when Roman Torres scored in the 57th minute and they looked set to reach the final as they held on to the advantage with just two minutes remaining.
However, US referee Mark Geiger was back in the thick of the action when he awarded Mexico a penalty after Torres fell on the ball in the area and was adjudged to have handled when it wedged under his body.
CONFRONTATION
The contentious decision triggered a heated confrontation between both sides and delayed the match for a lengthy period.
Guardado eventually converted the penalty to force extra-time.
Mexico were then awarded another less controversial penalty when Panama defender Harold Cummings fouled Javier Orozco shortly before the break in extra-time.
Guardado once again buried the spot-kick and Mexico held on to advance to the final.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier