June 24 – With the afternoon sun dropping in Austin, Texas, Panama put an end to Jamaica’s Gold Cup challenge with a composed performance and three goals from standout forward Ismael Diaz.
Jamaica will have better days, and with a bit more luck could have had a better evening, but they need to take more of their opportunities in front of goal and find a way to control midfield.
Even without injured Adelberto Carrasquilla, Panama showed they have plenty of quality and control to push into the final rounds and another title challenge.d
Panama, were losing Gold Cup finalist to Mexico in 2023 and Nations League finalist in March this year, had pretty much qualified for the quarter finals but would make sure if they avoided losing to Jamaica.
Jamaica’s task was clear, win or go home.
Jamaica had arrived at the Gold Cup with their cohort of England based players and high expectations having just beaten Guatemala 3-0 in World Cup qualifying. In their opening group game they then lost 1-0 to the Guatemalans.
With everything to play for it made for an eventful first half.
Panama have looked impressive from the start of the tournament and in Ismael Diaz have found a striker who can make a difference. It took just four minutes for Panama to take the lead.
Diaz received the ball on the top of the box from a corner on the left by Cristian Martínez. Diaz moved the ball from his right foot to his left and hammered a shot that took a big deflection off Leon Bailey and past Andre Blake. Jamaica would have been two down on nine minutes if Blake hadn’t snaffled up another deflection on his line.
In the 14th minute Kasey Palmer, free in the box, mistimed his header from a corner over the top – he should have done better, reflective of Jamaica’s performance in this championship generally.
On 16 minutes Diaz had his second goal, his fourth for the tournament making him the Gold Cup’s leading scorer. A ball from wide right to Jorge Gutierrez was slipped inside to Diaz who beat his marker and hit another left footed shot past Blake.
Jamaica were a yard too slow and a second too late. Blake could not move his feet fast enough to stop the shot that went through him.
Jamaica manager Steve McLaren looked on perplexed. An injury to Blake enabled him to get his tictac board out and remind his players about the job they were there to do. On 26 minutes Jamaica showed they were still in the fight.
Demari Gray switched play left to right. Derek Lembikisa, advancing from right back, collected, drove to the byline and chipped the ball to left back Amari’i Bell who headed in from close range.
Jamaica had suddenly found their mojo and had upped their intensity. Russell intercepted a sloppy pass out of defence by Fidel Escobar (no relation to Pablo Castro) and drove his shot over the bar. It was a wasted opportunity.
It suddenly all went wrong for Jamaica again. Palmer pulled Azarías Londoño down on the top of the Jamaican box and Honduran referee Selvin Brown pointed to the spot. Diaz stepped for his hattrick, sending Blake the wrong way as this time he struck the ball with his right foot – 3-1 to Panama.
Warner Brown should have pulled one back for Jamaica deep into added time but from 5m out but scuffed his shot into Orlando Mosquera’s arms.
Mosquera was again called into action two minutes later diving to his left to push a low shot from Palmer past the lost.
From the resulting corner the ball came to Brown who turning his marker in the box was brought down. VAR intervened taking the half into 16 minutes of added time but no penalty was given. It could easily have gone the other way but the Jamaicans haven’t been getting the luck this Gold Cup.
Both coaches made double changes for the start of the second half.
Just before the hour mark Jamaica called for another penalty. Renaldo Cephas, on as a sub at halftime, was brought down near the byline but referee Brown was unmoved.
McLaren worked his bench with 20 minutes to go bringing on Bobby Reid and Kaheim Dixon and Michail Antonio for a reconstituted forward line.
Dixon hammered a shot into the post and Cephas’s follow up was deflected wide.
With two minutes to go Panama put the result beyond down. Tomas Rodrguez stole the ball on half way. Pushed the ball past an advancing Blake and collected the ball to sidefoot into an open goal – 4-1 and Jamaica’s participation in the Gold Cup was over.
| Grp C | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panama | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 9 |
| Guatemala | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Jamaica | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| Guadeloupe | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
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