South Africa holds Ja's Boyz
los angeles, california:
TEOFORE BENNETT knew he would have scored the equaliser for Jamaica from the moment Andy Williams' free kick was coming over.
"Once the ball was kicked I knew it was a goal because I was free at the back post," the 24-year-old striker told STAR Sports of his finish that tied Jamaica's CONCACAF Gold Cup match 3-3 against South Africa at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum yesterday.
"I'm feeling very, very good for bringing my team back into it," added an obviously elated. "My team was down and I came in and got the job done. I knew I had to work as hard as possible to score and it paid off."
Quarter-finals
Even with an outstanding game against Mexico, Jamaica qualified for the second round - the quarter-finals.
They lead Group C on four points by virtue of scoring more goals than South Africa, which had also won their opening game. Mexico are next on three points, while Guatemala are virtually eliminated after losing their second consecutive match.
The Reggae Boyz trailed on all occasions and had to wait until the final 10 minutes to secure the point they knew was good enough to launch them into the second round.
"Overall we're particularly pleased with the result," Jamaica's coach Wendell Downswell said. "We came with the intention first and foremost not to lose this game, the fact that we came away with one point was good and the fact that we came from behind on three occasions is a fitting testimony to the sort of character we've displayed ... and the fact that we can safely say we're through to the next round speaks volumes for itself."
The Jamaicans conceded thrice while beating Guatemala 4-3 in their first game and having done the same yesterday, the coach says it's a big concern.
"It's a major concern as it relates to our defence ... and it's something we've got to work on, especially when we go up against a team like Mexico."
Commenting further on the impending battle against giants Mexico on Wednesday in Houston, Texas, Downswell said: "We'll be extremely positive. ... We'd very much like to top the zone. Looking at the teams there's not much between them right now so we're going into the game very positive."
Eight of the tournament's 12 teams are moving onto the knockout stage, including the top two finishers in each group and the top two third place teams. The
United States and Canada have won both matches in Group B over Canada and Cuba so Jamaica should finish the preliminaries, at least, as one of the top two third place teams.
The game exploded in the last 10 minutes of the first half with the teams sharing two goals apiece.
Jermaine Hue (36th), Damion Stewart (56th) and Teofore Bennett (80th) scored for Jamaica, while Abram Raselemane (35th), Lungisani Ndela (41st) and Siyabongo Nomvete (56th) accounted for South Africa's goals.
Jamaica started the more dominant team with a high percentage of possession and far more attacking moves but they did not make that advantage show, much through the failure of Jermaine Johnson to finish several good chances.
South Africa, who led on both occasions, went ahead at the 35th minute when Lebohang Mokoena swung in a deep cross from the right. It deflected off Tyrone Marshall's head as he challenged for the clearance, and flew by a non-responsive Jermaine Taylor to Raselemane who firmly side-footed a volley inside the near post.
Level terms
Within 30 seconds, Jamaica were on level terms as they used the possession from the kick-off to score. Hue, who scored a big goal in Friday's 4-3 win over Guatemala, netted another magnificent goal when he skilfully body-shifted and turned with the ball to send defenders wide and open space to goal, before cracking a sweet left-footed drive beyond reach of outstretched goalie Calvin Marlin into the far post.
As the buzz created by the effort begun to die down from the crowd, South Africa recaptured the lead when basketball forward-height forward Ndela beat Marshall to Elrio Van Heerden's corner whipped out six yard and glanced a header between Tyrone Sawyers on the post and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
Like the first time, the Reggae Boyz' goal response was instant and deadly decisive, though simply executed.
"At the critical time of the game we switched off," South Africa's technical director Stuart Baxter said of those lapses after scoring.
On the second occasion Williams swung a corner to the back post and Stewart burst in and slammed a header just inside the post to put the match back on even keel at 2-2. South Africa started the second half badly by losing a player when Siboniso Gaxa took down Johnson for his second yellow card and was ejected after only four minutes.
Despite Johnson missing one of his many chances six minutes later, for much of the game after, Jamaica did not make that advantage count as they did not mark or track properly, which allowed South Africa to keep possession and move around the ball too easy.
As a matter of interest, immediately after Johnson crashed the opportunity off Hue's pass into the goalie's chest, South Africa led again when a ball played between the central defenders caught square once too often, was taken by Nomvete who outpaced the defenders before playing the ball over the advancing Ricketts into the net.
There was no quick response this time and South Africa did well to keep the ball and launch some promising attacks against a Jamaica team that did more chasing than tracking and marking.
When they had the ball, too few players committed themselves fully into attack and as the game lengthened, some amount of panic begun to creep into the Jamaicans' game. This was evidenced even more while they missed opportunities to score.
However, with time fading, Jamaica stepped up the tempo and the pace and additional belief shown by players driving at the South African defence paid dividends for the second time from a set play, when one of the subs introduced to get the important equaliser, Teofore Bennett, scored at the 80th minute.
Teofore's header
Williams, like he had done from the corner kick, put in a measured cross and Bennett pounced on the ball and hit it with a powerful header to tie-up a game among the countries for the third successive time in their last three meetings.
With the assurance that a draw was good enough to qualify for the quarter-finals, both teams were reserved in their attacking trends over the last 10 minutes and expressed relief at the finish.
Speaking about the Boyz, South Africa's technical director of football, Stuart Baxter, said: "The Jamaican team is probably everything a South African team doesn't want to face. The South Africa people roll the ball around and they play a technical game.
Suddenly we're confronted with very powerful, athletic players and they made us work very hard on our defending and defending the second ball and keeping our discipline.
"I was very pleased with how we responded but I think the Jamaican team is a very good team, they've got a nice blend of power and they've got a nice blend of technique and when the coach has worked with them a little bit more I think they'll be a very exciting team."
Teams
Jamaica: No. 30 Donovan Ricketts, 3 Damion Stewart, 4 Jermaine Taylor, 5 Tyrone Sawyers, 6 Robert Scarlett, 9 Andy Williams,10 Ricardo Fuller, 12 Jermaine Johnson, 14 Tyrone Marshall, 17 Jermaine Hue, 18 Khari Stephenson.
South Africa - No. 1 Calvin Marlin, 2 Lucky Lekgwathi, 3 Lucas Thwala, 4 Philip Evans, 5 Ricardo Katza, 6 Siboniso Gaxa, 8 Siyabonga Siphika, 11 Elrio Van Heerden, 14 Siyabonga Nomvete, 18 Abram Raselemane, 19 Lungisani Ndela.
