World Cup quarter-finalists the United States barely avoided an historic loss to Jamaica when they pulled off a late 1-1 draw in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifyer today.
In the start of semi-final qualifying in the North and Central American and Caribbean region, Guatemala won 2-0 at Canada, Honduras gained a surprising 5-2 victory at Costa Rica , El Salvador defeated visiting Panama 2-1 and Trinidad and Tobago won 2-0 at St Vincent and the Grenadines.In Jamaica, Ian Goodison's second-half goal appeared set to lead Jamaica to a first win over the United States in 15 attempts, but replacement Brian Ching scored in the 89th minute to spare the Americans embarrassment in the Group A semi-final.
"I was chomping at the bit to get in," said Ching, making his third national team appearance.
"We battled hard and it was a fair result. It starts us off on the right foot."
Cobi Jones' cross into the box set up Ching's decisive score for the United States, who didn't come alive until after Goodison netted.
"We kept believing 'til the end, we played well defensively on the road against a difficult and good team, and we got a point," US captain Claudio Reyna said.
In the next games in September, the United States play El Salvador, Jamaica meets Panama, Guatemala hosts Costa Rica, Honduras travels to Canada, Mexico plays St. Vincent, and St. Kitts and Nevis face Trinidad and Tobago.
Top two teams in each group advance
GROUP A
Jamaica 1 United States 1
El Salvador 2 Panama 1
Team GP W D L GF GA Pts
El Salvador 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
United States 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Jamaica 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Panama 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
GROUP B
Canada 0 Guatemala 2
Costa Rica 2 Honduras 5
Team GP W D L GF GA Pts
Honduras 1 1 0 0 5 2 3
Guatemala 1 1 0 0 2 0 3
Canada 1 0 0 1 0 2 0
Costa Rica 1 0 0 1 2 5 0
GROUP C
St Vincent and the Grenadines 0 Trinidad and Tobago 2
Team GP W D L GF GA Pts
Trinidad 1 1 0 0 2 0 3
Mexico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
St Kitts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
St Vincent 1 0 0 1 0 2 0
