Jamaica bounced back with an important road win in CONCACAF qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup while Honduras suffered a home defeat in Tuesday’s second game of the semifinal round. Jamaica captured a 1-0 win at Haiti while Honduras fell to Mexico, 2-0, in a match marred by the gruesome injury to Dynamo midfielder Luis Garrido.
Clayton Donaldson’s 64th-minute header was the difference as the Reggae Boyz recovered from Friday’s home loss to Panama with the vital win at Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince. Dynamo midfielder Giles Barnes did not feature for manager Winfried Schaefer, just his second absence while making 14 appearances for Jamaica in 2015.
Jamaica and Panama (3 points) are tied for second in Group 2, trailing Costa Rica (6 points), with Haiti in fourth place (0 points). Next up, Jamaica faces Costa Rica in a home-and-home series, with a home game on March 25 and a road game at Costa Rica on March 29.
Meanwhile, in San Pedro Sula, Boniek Garcia started alongside Garrido as Jesus Corona and Jurgen Damm came off the bench to score five minutes apart for El Tri. It was Garcia’s 105th cap while Garrido made his 35th appearance for Los Catrachos.
View the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying standings and schedule
With four games left in the semifinal round, Honduras (0 points) trails Mexico (6 points), Canada (4 points) and El Salvador (1 point). Following the format for all 12 nations during the late March qualifiers, Honduras and El Salvador will stage a home-and-home series, with El Salvador hosting on March 25 and Honduras at home four days later.
In other results Tuesday, the United States and Trinidad drew 0-0 in Port of Spain; Guatemala won 4-0 at St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Canada and El Salvador played to a 0-0 draw in San Salvador; and Costa Rica defeated Panama, 2-1, in Panama City. Each nation plays six total games – three home and three away – during the semifinal round. The top two teams from each of the three groups advance to the final round, also known as the “Hexagonal”.
