Costa Rica beats Jamaica 1-0 in second game of Gold Cup Group A

Costa Rica beats Jamaica 1-0

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Celso Borges’ goal in the 64th minute gave Costa Rica a 1-0 win over Jamaica in their CONCACAF Gold Cup match Tuesday night.

Borges slid to get under a low crossing pass from second-half substitute Pablo Herrera, knocking the ball beneath the arm of goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

Costa Rica is 1-1-0 in Group A and will face Canada on Friday. Jamaica is winless and will have to get past El Salvador on Friday to have any hopes of advancing out of the group stage.

Jamaica played a man down after a midfielder Rudolph Austin was shown a straight red card by referee Jair Marrufo for his tackle against Borges in the 35th minute. But the Reggae Boyz held their own with 10 men, pressing the attack at the start of the second half before surrendering the decisive goal to Borges.

Jamaica forward Omar Cummings squandered an opening against goalkeeper Ricardo Gonzalez in the 51st minute, hesitating on his shot and giving three Ticos defenders time to close ranks and snuff out the opportunity.

Eleven minutes later, Jamaica midfielder Demar Phillips found space inside the penalty area and sent a shot skimming just over the crossbar and off the top netting.

Walter Centeno barely missed putting Costa Rica ahead in the 20th minute when his header from 8 yards beat Ricketts but deflected off the crossbar.

A spinning shot from Cummings left Gonzalez flat-footed as the ball dipped rapidly behind his head but bounced off the upper-left corner of the goal and out of play in the 29th minute.