JAMAICA DEFEATS JAPAN 2-1

Theodore "Tapper" Whitmore led Jamaica to a 2-1 win over Japan on Friday giving the Reggae Boyz their first win in a World Cup finals. Over 24,000 saw Japan settle early and seemed the more dangerous of the two teams for most of the first half. Ricardo Gardener and Withmore slowly brought Jamaica into play and then Jamaica struck in the 39th minute when Withmore skillfully evaded two defenders and fired a low shot past Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. Jamaica came alive and started to ball the Japanese. In the 54th minute Jamaica's opened the lead when Withmore moved in from the right flank and buried a left foot shot into the bottom corner. Japan struck back in 75th minute as Nakayama volleyed home a header from substitute Wagner Lopes. Japan continued their attack to equalize but were denied by some superb keeping from Jamaican goalkeeper Aaron Lawrence. Jamaica finishes third in group H behind Argentina and Croatia and will not advance. The United States, Japan and Tunisia are the only teams in the World Cup without a point. Jamaica is the 47th team to win a World Cup final game. It did so on its 3rd attempt. Of the 65 teams which have played at least one match: 18 have not yet had victory. Among these teams, Korea Republic has played more matches (14), followed by Bolivia and El Salvador (6 each).
Teams: Jamaica - 13-Aaron Lawrence; 5-Ian Goodison (captain); 15-Ricardo Gardener; 19-Frank Sinclair; 2-Stephen Malcolm; 17-Onandi Lowe; 6-Fitzroy Simpson (16-Robbie Earle 90); 11-Theodore Whitmore; 3-Christopher Dawes; 8-Marcus Gayle (18-Deon Burton 79); 22-Paul Hall (10-Walter Boyd 72) Japan - 20-Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi; 2-Akira Narahashi; 4-Masami Ihara (captain); 5-Norio Omura (22-Takashi Hirano 58); 17-Yutaka Akita; 3-Naoki Soma; 10-Hiroshi Nanami (11-Shinji Ono 78); 8-Hidetoshi Nakata; 6-Motohiro Yamaguchi; 18-Shoji Jo (12-Wagner Lopes 58); 9-Masashi Nakayama
Referee: Gunter Benkoe (Austria)

BACK TO NEWS • BACK TO MENU • RBZ FORUM