ATLANTA, Georgia — Jamaica midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson makes no apologies that he knows his USA opponents very well.

For Jamaica and his club FC Dallas, the 29-year-old has matched strides with many of the players who make up the current USA team, who Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz face in a semi-final match-up of the CONCACAF Gold Cup at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta this evening.

“The USA is a never-say-die team and they are going to run hard and we have to match their intensity, and we have the guys who can do that, as we got a lot of guys with heart and who are willing to work both sides of the ball,” Watson told the Jamaica Observer.

By his assessment, he thinks Jamaica can match, or even exceed what the USA will bring to the theatre of war.

“It’s not like they are a way better team than us, as we are technically as good as them… they like to put the ball down and play and run behind the ball, but we have done our research and we know about them just as they know about us,” he argued.

For Watson and his team, a defeat of the USA on home soil for the first time would make the victory tastier.

“It would be a good accomplishment for me, the team and the country Jamaica because we have never defeated US on their soil,” he said.

Watson, who is making a return to the team after missing out on the quarter-final game against Haiti, says he intends to “pick up” where he left off today.

“It’s good to be playing in the semi-finals as the guys went out in the game against Haiti and they played very well defensively and offensively.

“I can see the guts and the determination in the team, so coming in to play again I am just going to pick up where I left off from the last couple of games and just to keep working hard to help my teammates as much as I can because they are doing the same,” said Watson, the former Sporting Central Academy standout.

It is believed in some quarters that the game could be won or lost in the midfield, and Watson, the workaholic in the midfield, says he’s ready to partner with his leader Rodolph Austin to repel the US threat.

“We are just going to go out there against the USA and put our best foot forward and win that game because we want to win that tournament… Austin and I have been playing together for a long time and we won’t be giving them the chance to build in there,” he said.

Watson has once been named Man of the Match in the 1-0 win over Canada in Houston, but says he wants to up his game for the benefit of the team.

“I am aiming for more, but I put the team first before I play for myself, but I am a guy who is going to be out there running and working hard because in the midfield spot you have to be running up and down the field.

“I will have to be putting in tackles and making sure to break up plays, but so far I think I have had a good tournament and I think I’ll just have to keep playing for the team and make sure we keep going forward and try and win the tournament,” he ended.

— Sean Williams