Jamaica wrapped up Group B honors and cemented its place in the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Nations League A after a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Haiti inside the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad on Sunday.
Demarai Grey, Shamar Nicholson, and Leon Bailey were on target for the Reggae Boyz, but their goals were sandwiched by a pair of strikes by the burly Frantzdy Pierrot.
In other games from Group B, Honduras blanked Cuba 4-0 and Suriname inflicted a similar defeat on the bottom-placed Grenada.
Jamaica ended the group stage on 10 points, three ahead of Honduras on seven, followed by Suriname and Cuba on five points, with Haiti on three and Grenada on 1 point.
Jamaica now awaits either Canada or Costa Rica in the two-legged quarter-finals in which the winner punches tickets to the Gold Cup and the Copa America tournaments.
For Assistant Coach Merron Gordon, it was mission accomplished for the Reggae Boyz.
“First thing, I think it’s mission accomplished. We came to these two games wanting six points and to top the group, we did that. Sometimes over the two games we were rocky in terms of how we wanted to defend, but I think offensively we got it right over the two legs and we just need to fix the defensive work and move on to play either Canada or Costa Rica,” he told the media at the post-game press conference.
Ace striker, Michail Antonio, who failed to capitalize on a number of chances, was ecstatic.
“Over the moon, to be fair. I would have been a bit more happy if I managed to get one of my chances, but to finish top of the league that’s what we set out to do before this competition even started, so now we find out on Tuesday who we’re going to play next and we hopefully win that game and keep progressing.”
Jamaica threatened early forcing goalkeeper Jhony Placide to palm away a right-sided corner kick.
But like they did inside Kingston’s National Stadium, Haiti grabbed the lead on 15 minutes when Gray’s crossfield pass in midfield was picked off by Carl Sainte who released Fabrice Picault down the left flank. Picault sent in a pin-point cross for Pierrot to climb highest to head home behind center backs Di’Shon Bernard and Damion Lowe.
Jamaica equalized almost immediately on 18 minutes when Gray’s shot on goal was deflected by Merchack Jerome, wrong-footing Placide in goal.
The chance was created when Antonio’s left-sided cross was partially cleared by the Haiti defence and the ball fell kindly to Gray who weaved his way in before unleashing the shot.
Jerome almost made amends for his deflected shot when he fired a free kick off the frame of the goal.
Nicholson, a second-half substitute for the ineffective Dujuan Riahards, doubled the team’s lead in the 57th minute when he slotted home under Placide after Antonio had released him.
Then on 66 minutes Bailey latched onto a free-kick over the top of the defence from Daniel Johnson just inside in own half. The Aston Villa man made no mistakes in firing under the body of Placide.
Both Gordon and Antonio were excited about the number of goals being scored.
“We know we have goals in us and we didn’t want them to score on us but such is the game. The guys rose, they showed good character, we came from 1-0 down to lead 3-1 then at the end we gave up what I would say is a soft goal based on our standards, but football is football.”
For Antonio the number of goals scored gives an indication of the strength of the attacking force.
“Four goals against Grenada and three tonight so this shows the positive attacking, we score goals, so to see that we can change players and still get goals. I didn’t play against Grenada, I played today I didn’t get a goal, but we still got another three goals, so hopefully we can try and get some clean sheets next, defend as a team as score as a team.”
Suriname and Cuba will avoid relegation from League A of the Nations League 2024/25, but do not qualify for the quarter-finals, while Haiti and Grenada will be relegated to League B in the 2024/25 version of the Nations League.
Teams: Jamaica – Andre Blake, Greg Leigh, Damion Lowe, Di’Shon Bernard, Dexter Lembikisa, Joel Latibeaudiere (Karoy Anderson 80th), Daniel Johnson (Jahshaun Anglin 90th+5), Dujuan Richards (Shamar Nicholson 46th), Leon Bailey, Demarai Gray (Phillips 80th), Michail Antonio (Michael Hector 88th)
Booked: Phillips (90th+5)
Subs not used: Kemar Foster, Jahmali Waite, Kevon Lambert, Kyle Ming, Bobby Reid, Richard King, Romario Williams
Haiti – Jhony Olacide, Carlens Arcus (Stephane Lambese 81st), Mechack Jerome, Ricardo Ade, Djimy Alexis (Jeppe Friborg 90th+3), Don Louicius (Jonel Desire 81st), Fabrice Picault, Mikael Cantave (Duckens Nazon 70th), Carl Sainte (Bryan Alceus 46th), Frantzdy Pierrot, Alex Christian
Booked: Pierrot (50th), Lambese (83rd), Sainte (30th)
Subs not used: Alexandre Pierre, Garissone Innocent, Francois Dulysse, Steven Séance
Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Ventura (Guatemala(
Assistant Referee 2: Humberto Panjoj (Guatemala)
Fourth Official: Oliver Vergara (Panama)
Points Standings
| Teams | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| Jamaica | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Honduras | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Suriname | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Cuba | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 5 |
| Haiti | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 3 |
| Grenada | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 13 | -11 | 1 |
