MONTEGO BAY – Jamaica completed their recovery with a 2-1 victory over Haiti Sunday night to earn a place in the Caribbean Cup final and qualify for the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The Group B winning Reggae Boyz will meet rival Trinidad & Tobago tonight in a battle for regional supremacy, while runner-up Haiti – which also booked a Gold Cup ticket – will face Cuba in the match for third place.
French Guiana finished with the best third-place record and will face Honduras next year in a playoff to determine which will seize the last of 12 Gold Cup berths.
The hosts netted twice in the first half to seize the upper hand at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.
Simon Dawkins opened the scoring in the 13th minute off a pass from Darren Mattocks, who got on the scoresheet for a third consecutive game only seven minutes later.
Haiti looked to be on the comeback trail late in the match, but Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake saved a penalty kick in the 89th minute.
Also on Sunday, Martinique scored twice in the second half to post a 2-0 win over Antigua & Barbuda.
The victory had momentarily kept the French hopes alive of finishing second in Group B, a placement that would have given them a spot in today’s match for third place as well as an automatic berth in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
But that hope was foiled later in the night by Jamaica’s win over Haiti.
Antigua were eliminated from the competition.
In an encounter with much at stake, a steady first-half rain was a deterrent to attacking inclinations.
The Antiguan cause, though, was buoyed by the play of goalkeeper Brentton Muhammad. The 24-year-old made a pair of diving saves on efforts by Anthony Angely in the seventh and 34th minutes.
As the rain tapered off after the break, Martinique applied a heavier foot on the accelerator and went ahead in the 57th minute.
An unmarked Bedi Buval found the ball at his feet in the right side of the box, pounding it past a helpless Muhammad from nine-yards out.
The introduction of high-scoring forward Peter Byers injected energy into the Antigua offense. (BA/PR)
