ORLANDO – On Friday night, the second Round of Group C Gold Cup play continued with Jamaica beating Guadeloupe 2-1, followed by Costa Rica beating Suriname 2-1 to advance to the Quarterfinals.
Jamaica 2 Guadeloupe 1
Guadeloupe surprised everyone with a goal by Dimitri Ramothe at the 4 minute mark. Edwin Malpon crossed a pass in to Ramothe for an easy put in with a score that was the third match in Group C to score within the first 7 minutes of the match.
Apparently Concacaf saw something that we didn’t as they officially changed the goal to an own goal, saying that the ball deflected off of defender Amari’i Bell before going into the net.
It took only 10 minutes for Jamaica to respond when Cory Burke found an opening. The Philadelphia Union striker blasted one into the net to equalize in the 14th minute.
In the 25th minute, Leon Bailey found his way into he box and was able to chip a ball over the head of Guadeloupe goal keeper Yohann Thuran into the net, but it was called offsides.
Later in the match Malpon had a great chance and blasted a ball that was tipped over the bar in a great save by Jamaican goal keeper Andre Blake.
Jamaica finally sealed the deal in the 87th minute when Junior Flemmings made some shifty moves in the box to get past three Guadeloupe defenders and shot a roller that straight through the legs of Thuran for the win.
Costa Rica 2 Surinam 1
In the second match of the night for Group C, the early scoring streak ended. Neither Costa Rica nor Guadeloupe managed to get one enduring the whole first half, let alone in the first ten minutes.
After some safe play and a couple of chances here and there in the first half, game play really didn’t open up until the second.
In the 52nd minute, Gleofilo Vlijter curved one into the far side of the net for a 1-0 Suriname lead.
Costa Rica came right back and scored back to back goals.
In the 58th minute Joel Campbell headed in a cross from Ronald Matarrita to equalize the score 1-1.
Right after, in the 59th minute, Celso Borges was first to the loose ball got his foot on a rebounded shot from Campbell and blasted it in for the lead and eventual win.
Suriname had a chance to equalize in the 63rd minute. Substitute Nigel Hasselbaink sent a cross in past goal keeper Esteban Alvarado. Kelvin Leerdam just needed to touch it home and he made contact with the ball but sent the shot wide of the post.
In the 75th minute, Costa Rica had another chance as Lassiter nabbed another nice cross to Borges that was sent just wide.
Ivenzo Comvalius got a ball between two defenders in the 83rd minute and fired, forcing a diving clearance by the Costa Rica defense that led to a corner. On the corner kick, Costa Rica defender Francisco Calvo hit Ryan Donk in the face. After video review, Calvo was sent off with a red card and even though the foul was in the area, the ball hadn’t yet been put in play so it wasn’t a penalty.
Because of the red card Calvo will miss the game on Tuesday against Jamaica as will Kendall Waston two got his second yellow card of the tournament for checking into the game without permission.
Group C action will conclude on Tuesday. Jamaica and Costa Rica will meet in the early match at Exploria Stadium, while Guadeloupe and Suriname will square off in Houston at BBVA Stadium. Panama and Grenada from Group D will be the late match at Exploria Stadium on Tuesday. The reason for the venue switches is that all of the final match day games in each group have to be played at the same time.
