Boyz rally to beat Guadeloupe 2-1 for first Gold Cup win
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Reggae Boyz rebounded from their opening loss to deliver a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Guadeloupe in their Concacaf Gold Cup Group C game played at PayPal Park in San Jose, California, on Friday.
The win left the Reggae Boyz as joint leaders on three points with Panama and Guatemala, both of whom are set to play each other later on in the match day.
Guadeloupe’s hopes of advancing would have been over, however, after losing their first two games.
All three goals in Friday’s game came in the first half as the Jamaican team still looked well short of any rhythm or coordination.
Despite hitting the goal frame twice and dominating the possession, Jamaica fell behind in the 32nd minute as they failed to negotiate a clever set play by Guadeloupe from a short corner, and Thierry Ambrose scored from close range.
Leon Bailey, who had a productive first half, brought Jamaica level in the 41st minute when his left footer from just outside the area caught goalkeeper Brice Cognard flat-footed.
Jonathon Russell gave Jamaica the lead in time added at the end of the first half when he headed a cross from Demarai Gray past Cognard and into the far left corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Andre Blake was the man of the match in the second half as he pulled off two magical saves to deny a hard-charging Guadeloupe, first reaching back with his left hand to deny a point-blank effort and then used his legs to block the ball in stoppage time.