PENNSLYVANIA, USA — Attacker Simon Dawkins says Jamaica’s historic win over the USA in the CONCACAF Gold Cup is sweeter because few people, among them Jamaicans, gave the team a chance to get this far.

The Derby Country attack-minded midfielder, who occasionally plays as an outright striker, said the American media, in particular, had spewed rhetoric that painted the Reggae Boyz as the underdogs going into the semi-final against the defending champions at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Wednesday.

“If you followed the media before the game a lot of people were writing us off, and only a few people actually gave us a chance, and it’s good that we got the result and the victory as it shows that Jamaica has some good players and we as a team is a force to be reckoned with,” said Dawkins.

Contrary to the expectations of those who prophesied of a sure Jamaican defeat against the US, what played out in front of nearly 70,000 fans was something totally against their script. The Jamaican performance was of such quality that not even the best script writer in Hollywood could twist this tale.

In 36 minutes of play, Jamaica were leading the mighty Americans 2-0, with quick-fire goals from Vancouver Whitecaps’s Darren Mattocks and Houston Dynamo’s Giles Barnes.

Michael Bradley, kept on a short leash by the Jamaica midfield, got the USA’s equaliser in the 48th minute to restore some semblance of respectability to the scoreline.

When the final whistle went, Dawkins, like the rest of his teammates, was over the moon.

“My dad and my sister were really happy for me and they are actually overwhelmed that we actually got there (into the final of the Gold Cup) and they said to me to keep going and hopefully we can lift the Gold Cup,” said the 27-year-old.

Dawkins, a former Tottenham Hotspur player, said his moment of joy gave him a throwback to one of the lowest periods in his life as the occasion conjured up memories and the feeling of loss of his dear mother, Lorna Dawkins, who passed away in May.

“My mom is the one who actually got me in the (national) programme, she was the one that really pushed for me,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

When he was first approached to join the Reggae Boyz band, Dawkins said that never in his wildest dream did he think that he would be rubbing shoulders with top players in South America, having played in the Copa America in June.

Neither did he, back then, imagine being in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.

Luckily for him, his mom knew best and here he is.

“She said that ‘you are going to do great things and you are going to be involved in a lot of tournaments’, and I thought to myself that if I kept going, I could actually do it, and coming in and seeing it for myself, it was definitely a good thing (playing in the Gold Cup final) that I was looking forward to,” said Dawkins, who also had a stint at Aston Villa.

Winning the Gold Cup would be a prized moment he would, no doubt, want to share with his teammates and which would honour the memory of his late mother.

— Sean Williams