Introduction

This was the championship match of Gold Cup I, featuring Panama vs. Jamaica. The match ended 1-1 and Jamaica won the penalty shootout 4-3 to win their first title.

Panama reached the final after finishing top of their group ahead of United States, Mexico, and Trinidad & Tobago, having won all three matches against those opponents. This allowed them to bypass the quarterfinals and go straight to the semifinals. At this stage they wound up in a rematch against the United States in which they found themselves down a man thanks to a red card to Barahona and also down 1-3. Panama surged from behind though, scoring 2 goals to force overtime, where they fell behind once again, 3-4. They managed to pull level one more time at 4-4, which meant the match had to be decided on penalties. Panama won the shootout to advance to the championship match.

Jamaica also won their group, with wins over Canada and Curacao despite a loss to Costa Rica in between. Their record wasn't good enough to get a BYE, so they had to play in the quarterfinals. In that stage they met El Salvador, who had just lost 7-1 to Honduras in their last group stage match. Jamaica didn't quite score 7 goals, but they were close, and won 5-2 to progress to the semifinals where they then met Honduras. Neither side was able to score during regulation, so the match went to overtime. In this period Jamaica outscored Honduras 2-1 to secure their place in the final.

Starting Lineups

Panama

GK - Mejia
DF - Dasent
DF - L. Moreno
DF - Baloy
MF - Godoy
MF - A. Cooper
MF - L. Henriquez
MF - Quintero
MF - R. Escobar
FW - Blas Perez
FW - Renteria
--
FW - Garces (80' for Blas Perez)
MF - Bonaga (86' for R. Escobar)
FW - L. Tejada (110' for Renteria)


Jamaica

GK - Ricketts
DF - Goodison
DF - King
DF - Langley
DF - R. Gardner
MF - A. Williams
MF - Kelly
MF - Whitmore
MF - Ziadie
FW - Lisbie
FW - Fuller
--
FW - Euell (71' for Kelly)
DF - Sinclair (81' for R. Gardner)
FW - Hayles (90' for Lisbie)

Game Summary

The match was played with "player lock" on, and ZeekLTK controlled Panama midfielder Quintero for the match.

Both teams may have been a bit tired from playing 120 minutes in the semifinals, so neither side was able to break through in the first half, despite creating some nice chances. The game finally opened up in the second half when Quintero headed in a cross (set up by a throw in) during the 65th minute to put Panama in the lead. Panama nearly doubled their lead a couple of times after that, but just couldn't manage to score again. This ultimately cost them, as Jamaica scored on a counter attack that was crossed in to Fuller, who headed in the equalizer in the 78th minute. Neither team was able to score in overtime, so the match had to be decided with penalty kicks.


Possession: PAN 50 - 50 JAM
Shots: PAN 21 - 10 JAM
On Target: PAN 6 - 5 JAM
Free Kicks: PAN 7 - 11 JAM
Corner Kicks: PAN 8 - 3 JAM
Offsides: PAN 1 - 2 JAM
Yellow Cards: PAN 1 - 0 JAM

Penalty Kicks

The match was decided on penalty kicks, where Jamaica won 4-3 after 9 shots apiece. Defender Marlon King was the hero, as he made the winning shot.

Shooting Summary

Panama - Garces: O, L. Tejada: X, Bonaga: X, Quintero: X, A. Cooper: O, Godoy: O, L. Henriquez: X, Baloy: X, L. Moreno: X

Jamaica - Fuller: O, Hayles: X, Ziadie: X, Whitmore: O, Euell: X, A. Williams: O, Sinclair: X, Langley: X, King: O

*(O = make, X = miss)

Tejada Controversy

L. Tejada was still carrying an injury from the semifinals when he was subbed into the match in the 110th minute to replace a tired Renteria, which was Panama's last substitution. Even further, Tejada was then picked to be one of the "first five" shooters in the penalty shootout. Many critics felt that these decisions were what cost Panama the title.

They feel that either Renteria should have remained on the field or that at least Godoy should have moved up in the penalty order, and point to the fact that he made his spotkick as evidence that Panama would have won 3-2 after 5 shots, rather than losing 3-4 after 9 if Godoy had been in the top 5 of the order and not Tejada. The manager argued that Tejada was well rested and that he was still one of their best offensive weapons despite the injury. He said that he did consider moving Godoy up, but felt that Tejada was more likely to score.

Goals

Quintero headed in a cross from Renteria in the 65th minute (this was his third goal of the tournament)

Fuller headed in a cross from Whitmore in the 78th minute (this was Fuller's 6th goal of the tournament and won him the scoring title)

Last modified: ?5?/?29?/?2014? ?9?:?42?:?55? ?AM