United States midfielder Benny Feilhaber sets up Jordan Morris's goal in the 59th minute Friday night at Finley Stadium. Morris scored the lone goal in the USA's 1-0 win over Jamaica.
photo by Greg Davick
The U.S. Men's National Team used Jordan Morris' 59th minute strike to defeat regional rivals Jamaica 1-0 on Friday night at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn. The win marked the first victory of Bruce Arena's second tenure in charge of the MNT.
The U.S. found its first chance of the game in the seventh minute when Benny Feilhaber hit a picture-perfect corner kick from the left to find Dax McCarty rise outside the six-yard box where he nodded a shot just over the crossbar. Twelve minutes later, Sebastian Lletget broke free up the left flank where he powered past two Jamaica defenders to center a pass for Juan Agudelo, but the striker's first-time effort scraped just wide of the near post.
A close call on Romario Williams' 34th minute rebound was followed up by two more U.S.
chances. In the 38th minute, Jordan Morris broke free into the box, but Jamaica 'keeper Andre Blake turned his effort out for a corner kick. On the ensuing take, Feilhaber played a short corner into the box for McCarty who settled for Lletget, before the LA Galaxy midfielder's measured effort curled inches past the left post.
The MNT would find the go-ahead goal just before the hour mark when a clever combination between Feilhaber and Morris saw the latter beat substitute goalkeeper Ryan Thompson to record his second international goal in the 59th minute. Lletget nearly doubled the lead 10 minutes later, but placed his headed effort straight at Thompson before the U.S. closed out the 1-0 victory.
Next on the Schedule: The U.S. MNT reconvenes for two crucial World Cup Qualifying matches on March 24 vs. Honduras in San Jose (10:30 p.m. ET; FS1, UniMas, UDN) and March 28 at Panama (Kickoff TBD; beIN Sports).