Concacaf Nations League – USA 1-0 Jamaica: The first quarter final match sees America prevail

The USMNT took on Jamaica in the first competitive match of Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure with the squad. The game would feature a bumpy pitch in Kingston with the home team happy to turn the game into a frustrating one for the USA. That wouldn’t be the case as an early goal put the Americans ahead and saw them ultimately prevail. There would be both some luck and solid goalkeeping as a saved penalty and two close calls on set pieces nearly saw Jamaica even things up several times. In the end, the USA took all three points and an away win from the match.

Poch lined up in a 4-2-3-1 BECAUSE THE USMNT POSTED AN ACTUAL FORMATION FOR ITS LINEUP TONIGHT. The XI would see two holding midfielders with Tanner Tessmann and Johnny Cardoso shielding the backline.

The Reggae Boyz set up in a 5-4-1 in order to set a defensive tone for the match.

GIFS OF …. WELL, I MEAN… A WIN IS A WIN

Things got off to an ideal start for the USA. This wasn’t much more than a ball getting cycled out to Johnny Cardoso who passed it to Pulisic and Jamaica just watched him run past them until he found Ricardo Pepi and… Jamaica just watched him run past them until he scored.

A foul inside the box gave Jamaica a chance to even things up but Demari Gray’s shot was well read by Matt Turner and the American netminder made sure there were no fish in his net.

The USA was forced to make a sub as Johnny Cardoso was taken off holding his hamstring in the 21st minute for Malik Tillman. The Stars and Stripes would dominate possession in the half with 62% though they only managed four shots to Jamaica’s five.

The second half saw the Americans continue to dominate possession. All the time on the ball did not turn into more chances on goal though as the team just had two shots in the final 45.

Jamaica fought on looking for an equalizer and nearly had one in the 65th minute off well worked chance from a set piece.

A minute later it seemed like the Reggae Boyz scored an olympico off of a corner but the goal was eventually ruled out.

That would be the most dangerous moment for the home side of the half. Though the USA didn’t score again, things would get worse for Jamaica as Mason Holgate was shown a second yellow and sent off with five minutes left in regulation.

The end of regulation would see the USA hold onto their 1-0 lead and take the first leg of the quarter-final with a win. It sets the stage for a home match where the USA will hold a goal advantage in their hopes to advance to the semis.