Kemar Lawrence struck late with a brilliant free kick as Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz stunned tournament favourites Mexico 1-0 in a tense semi-final Sunday night in the USA, to advance to Wednesday’s final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
With the contest at the Rose Bowl locked nil-all and seemingly headed for extra time, Lawrence stepped up in the 88th minute to curl a left-booter past goalkeeper Jesus Corona, and hand the Jamaicans their first win over Mexico in eight Gold Cup meetings.
They will now meet the United States who beat Costa Rica 2-0 in the other semi-final at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Reggae Boyz captain and goalkeeper, Andre Blake, again voted Man-of-the-Match for another spectacular performance between the uprights, said organisation had been key to the Caribbean side’s victory.
“It was a great game. Mexico is very good team. You have to come out and be very organised, very patient defensively and we did just that,” the 26-year-old Philadelphia Union custodian said afterwards.
“The guys did a great job. I’m there to do whatever I can to keep my team in the game. Once we stop teams from scoring, we are always close to winning the game so it was great to move on to the finals again.
“As a group, we all believe in each other and that’s the most important thing. We just have to stay hungry, keep fighting and hopefully we can win the entire thing.”