ATLANTA — Jamaica's “Reggae Boyz” stunned defending champion United States 2-1 Wednesday in a Gold Cup semifinal, becoming the first Caribbean squad to reach the final by shocking the heavily favored host. Darren Mattocks headed in the first goal in the 31st minute and Giles Barnes netted a free kick in the 36th minute to put Jamaica ahead 2-0 and signal an epic upset was in the making at the sold-out Georgia Dome. The Americans, after all, were 13-1 with eight drawn in prior matches against the Jamaicans, their only loss in that span coming by 2-1 at Kingston in 2012. US captain Michael Bradley answered for the Americans in the 48th minute off a rebound and the US kept pressing the attack but never found the equalizer to avoid a humbling defeat. Jamaica will face Mexico, which scored a controversial 2-1 extra-time win over Panama, in Sunday's final. The US team had been trying to match Mexico's all-time record of six Gold Cup crowns. The Americans had won their past five Gold Cup semifinals in a row while the “Reggae Boyz” had matched their best runs to the last four in 1993 and 1998 just making the semifinal. They were the first Caribbean semifinalist since Guadeloupe in 2007. Jamaica jumped ahead 2-0 by striking twice in five minutes after denying and disrupting US attacks over the first half hour. A long throw from the left side found forward Mattocks, who outleaped two defenders and headed the ball in off the far post. Spectators had barely calmed down before the “Reggae Boyz” doubled their margin when Barnes curved a free kick from just outside the penalty area over the wall and into the upper right corner of the goal. But the Americans were far from finished, striking quickly in the second half. In the 48th minute, Aron Johannsson blasted a shot that Jamaican goalkeeper Ryan Thompson stopped but couldn't keep in his grasp. Clint Dempsey followed and spilled over prone Thompson as the ball came loose and an onrushing Bradley buried it into the back of the net. Panama coach Hernan Dario Gomez felt like quitting and his counterpart Miguel Herrera was embarrassed when his Mexico side reached final. “I'm shocked. At one moment in the match I thought of retiring from football. I won't because of the group (of players) I have,” Colombian Gomez told reporters after the defeat at the Georgia Dome. “It's the first time this has happened to me, it's hard, I was saying to myself ‘I don't want to carry on any longer in football because this was a vile robbery',” added Gomez. Panama, who were reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes when striker Luis Tejada was sent off for raising his arm into the face of Francisco Rodriguez, led 1-0 going into the last few minutes, thanks to a Roman Torres shortly before the hour mark. American referee Mark Geiger then awarded Mexico a penalty, hotly contested by Panama with play held up for several minutes, after Torres had fallen on the ball in the area and was adjudged to have handled when it wedged under his body. Andres Guardado converted that penalty and another in the 105th minute to send Mexico into the final. Herrera, whose side also benefited from a controversial penalty to beat Costa Rica 1-0 after extra time in their quarterfinal, said his team had been lucky to be awarded the first penalty and played its worst match in the tournament. — Agencies
