Late Cephas Winner Sends Jamaica Past Guatemala in Five-Goal Thriller

Renaldo Cephas scored minutes into stoppage time to help Jamaica secure a 3-2 victory over Guatemala at the National Stadium on Friday.

The substitute had gone close in the 79th minute when his effort went narrowly wide, but he made the next chance count, beating goalkeeper Kenderson Navarro for his fourth international goal and giving the Reggae Boyz all three points in their Concacaf Nations League Group B League A opener.

Jamaica had been forced to respond twice during an eventful contest. After taking a 2-1 advantage early in the second half, the hosts surrendered the lead in the 67th minute when a defensive error allowed Oscar Santis through. Andre Blake came off his line, but Santis rounded the Jamaican captain and finished into the unguarded net.

The Reggae Boyz had moved ahead in the 53rd minute through Ruman Burrell. Kasey Palmer supplied the pass before Burrell beat Navarro with a finish directed into the far corner.

Palmer had already made his mark before the break. The midfielder took advantage of an error from Jorge Aparicio in the 39th minute and drove his effort beneath Navarro to make it 1-1. It was Palmer’s third goal for Jamaica.

Guatemala also had opportunities to regain control of the contest. Darwin Lom failed to convert a dangerous Santis cross in the 18th minute, sending his attempt just outside the far post, while Olger Escobar struck the inside of Jamaica’s left upright in the 90th minute.

Santis had given the visitors the perfect start just two minutes after kick-off. Guatemala broke forward on the counter before he finished low beneath Blake to put Jamaica behind almost immediately.

The result gave Jamaica some measure of revenge against the Central Americans after Guatemala defeated the Reggae Boyz 1-0 at last year’s Gold Cup, with Santis also scoring the winner on that occasion.

Friday’s fixture was Jamaica’s first competitive assignment since their unsuccessful bid to reach the expanded FIFA World Cup. That campaign ended in March when the Reggae Boyz lost 1-0 to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the FIFA intercontinental play-offs in Mexico.

Interim head coach Rudolph Speid included seven players in Friday’s starting XI who had featured in the final match of that World Cup attempt. Captain Blake was joined by Joel Latibeaudiere, Richard King, Isaac Hayden, Palmer, Ronaldo Webster and Tyreece Campbell.

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