PHOENIX, United States — Two years after their historic Gold Cup Finals appearance, the Reggae Boyz have advanced to the final four of this ongoing tournament here in the United States, and unlike many, goalkeeping captain Andre Blake is not surprised.

“If I am honest we didn’t put a limit on it, but we knew that when we look in the room we had the talent and we had guys who were capable of doing it,” Blake told the Jamaica Observer minutes after he led his team 2-1 past Canada in their 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament quarter-final inside the University of Phoenix Stadium on Thursday night.

Shaun Francis in the sixth minute and Romario Williams in the 50th had given Jamaica a two-goal cushion before David Hoilett reduced the deficit in the 6st minte.

He added: “Obviously, on paper we weren’t the best team as a lot of people doubted us and still they do, but that’s okay; that’s motivation for the team as we knew that we could go on a run and now we are going and we just have to keep believing.”

Blake, the 2016 Goalkeeper of the Year in Major League Soccer for the Philadelphia Union, has received rave reviews from commentators for his exploits between the sticks for the Reggae Boyz, and he was grateful for the plaudits.

“Again, it’s always good when I can lead from the front, so every time I’m able to do something like that it’s a big positive for me and I always challenge myself every time to do better and every time I touch the pitch to do whatever it takes to impact the game positively to make sure we come out on top.

“The guys did a great job, I could not have done it without them, so it’s me for them and them for me, so that was good and I think all the guys are kind of understanding more and more what we are capable of doing and it’s just a stepping stone. It’s still a building process for us and the sky’s the limit, we just have to stay grounded because we haven’t won anything yet, the last time I checked. Stay hungry, stay focused and keep the fight going and hopefully we can go all the way and win it,” he said.

Blake was called upon on a number of occasions and save for Hoilett’s unstoppable, curling beauty, he proved equal to the task. And after Canada got back into the game, he had to call upon his leadership qualities to keep his team composed and alert to all dangers.

“With the little experience that I have I try to pass on the message to make sure every time that the back four is in a good position and ensure that there is either one of the midfielders — Je-Vaughn Watson or Lambert — making sure they are protecting the back four, so there are always some basic things that I have to make sure they are in place for there are times when great strikers like to make runs off the centre backs… so I have to make sure I keep talking to Taylor (Jermaine) and Lowe (Damion) to always be checking their shoulders and not just paying attention to the ball… little stuff like those I have to be constantly talking to them because at this level one lapse and you can pay. So that’s one of my jobs to be vocal and to give precise information,” he said.

“Defensively we are pretty solid, but obviously there is still more that we can learn, but for me, whenever we win the ball and to move forward we have to get better at having that outlet, someone to hold up the ball so the midfielders and the back four can move forward because when you pass the ball forward we lose it and it is going to come right back and we won’t get to bring the team up, so we just have to keep working on spacing and making sure that whenever we win the ball there is always an outlet and someone who can actually hold the ball so the team can move forward and the team can get better at keeping possession of the football.

“Great goal from Romario, congrats to him. He can shoot and I always encourage him to shoot so that’s good, but I think we lapsed a little after we scored the second goal, we kind of lost the organisation and we were made to pay for that and we were getting stretched a bit so I had to pull the guys back and I passed on information to Taylor telling him that we have to get back our shape, get everyone behind the ball and then we can play from there.

“Obviously, they were chasing the game so they are going to throw numbers forward and if we get stretched, then it could be very difficult for us, so I had to pass on the message quickly to force them to break us down and then we could hit them on the counter.

“I think after sending that message out the guys did a better job of getting behind the ball knowing that if we can see this game out, we would make it to the semi-finals.”

Blake admitted that he had concerns when the Boyz kept missing chances in the first half and thus encouraged the Canadians to remain interested in the game.

“I know football is a cruel sport and when you get your chances and you don’t make teams pay and you leave teams to hang around that can come back and haunt you. But at no point today, for some reason, I was worried about that, so that was good and we could have scored three, four goals and it is what it is sometimes and starting with me in the back we just have to know that, okay, if it is one that the strikers get we just have to shut it down in the back and know that once we don’t concede a goal, then we are pretty much winning the game.

“Obviously, for the guys in the back we always want more goals to take some of the pressure off us, but we also have to know that we have to do our jobs and that is to not concede any goals.”

— Ian Burnett