Ricardo Pepi scored in the fifth minute and Matt Turner made the lead stand with a penalty-kick save to help the U.S. men’s national team defeat Jamaica 1-0 in the first leg of the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals in Kingston, Jamaica, on Thursday.
The second match of the series is scheduled for Monday in St. Louis. The winner advances to the 2025 Nations League Finals held March 20 and 23 in Inglewood, Calif., and earns a spot in the CONCACAF Gold Cup from June 14 to July 6.
The U.S. won the inaugural Nations League in 2021 and the subsequent ones in 2023 and 2024.
Pepi scored his 12th goal in 32 international matches off a pass from Christian Pulisic despite the subpar field, which had loose chunks of turf.
Pulisic drew the attention of two defenders and slipped a through ball to Pepi entering the right side of the box. He managed to control the ball on the dribble and banked a shot off the left post.
Antonee Robinson nearly doubled the lead in the seventh minute but Andre Blake, who has played 245 games for the Philadelphia Union in MLS, made the save.
Jamaica got a break in the 12th minute when Joe Scally committed a turnover and Shamar Nicholson worked into the box where Turner tripped him while reaching for the ball.
Turner made amends when he extended to his right to make a two-handed punch on Demarai Gray during his penalty attempt.
Jamaica controlled much of the second half but went down a player in the 86th minute when Mason Holgate was issued his second yellow card.
The Jamaicans led in shot attempts 12-6 but had only two on target while the U.S. had three to run its unbeaten streak in the series to 6-0-2 since June 2019.
This was the first competitive match for U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino after a pair of friendlies in early October resulted in a 2-0 win vs. Panama and a 2-0 defeat at Mexico.
–Field Level Media