Jamaica beats El Salvador, 1-0, advances to Gold Cup quarterfinals
Darwin Ceren of El Salvador runs with the ball in front of Jamaica’s Rudolph Austin during a CONCACAF Golf Cup match Tuesday in Toronto. Jamaica beat El Salvador, 1-0.
Garath McCleary tapped in a rebound in the 72nd minute and Jamaica beat El Salvador, 1-0, on Tuesday in Toronto to clinch Group B in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
It was McCleary’s second goal of the tournament. Jobi McAnuff’s shot from distance forced a diving save by Derby Carrillo, but McCleary was left unmarked in front of goal for an easy finish.
Jamaica is unbeaten in seven of its last eight Gold Cup matches and will play Haiti in the quarterfinals.
El Salvador played a quick corner kick in the second minute of stoppage time, but goalkeeper Ryan Thompson got a hand on Pablo Punyed’s glancing header. Dustin Corea’s close-range rebound attempt hit the side netting.
Jamaica’s Jermaine Taylor was injured in the opening minutes of the game on a challenge with Andres Flores. Then, goalkeeper Dwayne Miller was carried off in the 23rd minute after taking an unintentional hit to the head by Punyed. Miller was replaced by Thompson.
Darren Mattocks was sent off in the 81st minute after receiving his second yellow card for Jamaica.
Costa Rica 0, Canada 0: In the second game at Toronto, Esteban made two saves and anchored a stingy defense as Costa Rica advanced to the Gold Cup quarterfinals with the tie.
Costa Rica, the second-place team in Group B with three straight draws, has qualified for the knockout round of the Gold Cup in its last nine appearances.
Esteban bobbled a free kick in the 81st minute. Canada’s Andre Hainault won the loose ball in front of the net and redirected it toward goal, but Bryan Ruiz made a goal-line deflection and Roy Miller cleared it away.
Canada was eliminated from the tournament after not scoring in a sixth consecutive Gold Cup match — extending its scoreless streak to 560-plus minutes. Canada had a goal disallowed in the 68th minute after Marcus Haber was whistled for an offside on a free kick.
Costa Rica’s best scoring chance came when Deyver Vega forced a diving save by Kyriakos Stamatopoulos in the first minute of first-half stoppage time.
