CHICAGO, USA — Jamaica opened their Copa America Centenario on an unlucky note, going down 0-1 to Venezuela here inside Soldier Field in Chicago yesterday.

Josef Martinez hit the target for the South Americans, but the man that made an equally telling body blow to the Reggae Boyz in front of 25,560 spectators was Peruvian referee Victor Carrillo, who cruelly reduced the Caribbean champions to 10 players midway the first half when he sent Rodolph Austin to the dressing room following a challenge with an opponent.

The Brondby IF midfielder, in his usual no-nonsense manner, went into a challenge forcefully, but played nothing but the ball away, only to see the South American referee quickly brandishing a red card, much to his surprise and chagrin. Television replays corroborated that Austin played the ball cleanly, though he might have caught the player in his natural follow through.

It immediately made the game difficult for the Boyz, who had a bright start when Clayton Donaldson, after being sent through on goal by his strike partner Giles Barnes, powered a right footer at goal which Dani Hernandez tipped behind.

From the resulting corner kick in the 12th minute, Je-Vaughn Watson soared highest and powered a downward header which beat Hernandez, but not the horizontal frame, and rebounded into play.

Then on the quarter-hour mark Martinez made the Boyz pay, when he reacted quickest to his team’s neat combination play just outside the penalty box. He raced in on goal slightly from the left, and with goalkeeper Andre Blake advancing and Jermaine Taylor closing in on a challenge, Martinez slid the ball into the goal.

Going a goal down was bad, but the unnecessary intervention of Carrillo made the day more of a nightmare for the men from the Caribbean with his decision to send Austin off, thus handing Venezuela the numerical advantage.

And as fate would have it, left wing back Kemar Lawrence was forced off injured five minutes from the half-time break, and the technical staff then injected Wes Morgan at centre back, moved captain Adrian Mariappa out to right back and switched Watson from right back to left back.

And with the final action of a tumultuous first half, Taylor forced Hernandez into a low save at his back post from a Barnes free kick.

With the one-man disadvantage, the Boyz were prepared to sit back, be compact and try to hit the South Americans on the counter-attack. Shortly after the resumption the goal frame once again saved the victors as Michael Hector, who was having a bad game, curled a beauty of a right-footer from the left side of the penalty area, and though Hernandez flew to his left in an attempt to save, the ball skimmed the outside of his left and upright, another signal that it was not going to be the Reggae Boyz’ day.

Joel McAnuff then went close with a right-footed half volley inside the penalty box from a Garath McCleary right-sided cross, but then Blake produced a magnificent save to keep hopes alive when he dove to his right to palm away a powerful diving header from Wuilker Angel in the 70th minute.

Shortly after, Watson had a glorious chance to pull his team level, but he blasted his right-footed volley well high after being perfectly set up with a headed flick on by Barnes.

Thereafter, the game petered out as the Venezuelans employed good game tactics and gamesmanship to see out the time, especially in slack officiating.

This result has left the Boyz in a precarious position as Venezuela were considered the easiest target, if they were to force their way into a surprise second-round berth.

They now depart Chicago today for Los Angeles, California, where they will prepare to face Mexico at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena on Thursday.

Mexico and Uruguay were slated to face each other later yesterday at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Only the top two teams from each of the four group advance to the quarter-finals.

Teams:

Jamaica — Andre Blake, Adrian Mariappa, Jermaine Taylor, Kemar Lawrence (Wes Morgan 40th), Je-Vaughn Watson (Michael Binns 88th), Rodolph Austin (ejected 23rd), Michael Hector (Lee Williamson 77th), Joel McAnuff, Garath McCleary, Giles Barnes, Clayton Donaldson.

Subs not used: DuWayne Kerr, Ryan Thompson, Damano Solomon, Rosario Harriott, Dever Orgill, Chevone Marsh, Andrew Vanzie, Allan Ottey, Joel Grant.

Booked: Hector (20th), Austin (ejected 24th), Mariappa (90th+2)

Venezuela — Dani Hernandez, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, Arquimides Figuera, Tomas Rincon, Salomon Rondon, Luis Seijas (Romulo Otero 86th), Alejandro Guerra (Alexander Gonzalez 90th+1), Roberto Rosales, Josef Martinez (Adolberto Penaranda 77th), Rolf Feltscher.

Subs not used: Jose Contreras, Wuilker Farinez, Mikel Villanueva, Jose Manuel Velasquez, Yonathan Del Valle, Juan Anor, Carlos Suarez, Christian Santos, Yangel Herrera

Booked: Figuera (45th+2),Vizcarrondo (75th)

Referee: Victor Carrillo (Peru)

Assistant Referee 1: Jorge Yupanqui (Peru)

Assistant Referee 2: Coty Carrera (Peru)

Fourth Official: Wilmar Roldan (Colombia)