Atlanta United came out on top after an explosive second half in their 3-2 home win against DC United on Sunday, with all five goals coming after the break.
In fact, all five goals were scored within 22 minutes, starting with DC's Ravel Morrison as he opened the scoring in the 47th minute by controlling a ball on his chest before volleying from outside the box into the bottom-right corner.
Two minutes later Alan Franco equalised for Atlanta with a header from a corner, before DC made it 2-1 in the 55th minute when Ola Kamara got on the end of a terrific whipped cross from Chris Durkin.
The visiting side's joy was replaced with frustration when Josef Martinez equalised in the 62nd minute, before the home crowd finally saw their team take the lead in the 70th through a Juan Jose Purata header.
With the win, Atlanta are now just three points out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, while DC remain stuck on the bottom of the table with 22 points from 27 games, sporting a goal difference of minus 28.
Elsewhere, Orlando City found the back of the net early and extremely late in their 2-1 victory against the visiting New York City.
The home fans only had to wait six minutes before Urso Junior opened the scoring for Orlando, and that would be the only score of the opening half as the hosts produced seven shots compared to just one for New York.
The second half was a more competitive affair, and New York were rewarded with a Maximiliano Moralez equaliser in the 53rd minute, and that 1-1 score would hold until deep into stoppage time.
As the clock ticked past the five allotted minutes of stoppage time, Orlando were able to steal all three points as Tesho Akindele rose up headered home Ivan Angulo's corner for the win.
In the final match of the day, Los Angeles Galaxy jumped up to the seventh and final Western Conference playoff spot with a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution.
It was a dream start for Los Angeles away from home, taking the lead in the fourth minute when Chicharito set up Daniel Aguirre for the opener, before Chicharito scored himself to make it 2-0 after 15 minutes.
New England played well, controlling 62 per cent of the possession to end up with 1.81 expected goals compared to just 0.95 for Los Angeles, but their only goal came in the 82nd minute from Carles Gil.
Guyana won the overall team title at the 2022 Caribbean Senior Squash Championships that concluded at the Liguanea Club in Kingston on Saturday.
Both teams ended up with a red card in the New York Red Bulls' 3-1 home win against Inter Miami on Saturday night, where an early Gonzalo Higuain goal was not enough for the visitors to nab any points against their Eastern Conference foes.
Higuain opened the scoring in the 19th minute with an absolute rocket, firing his direct free kick to the goalkeeper-side of the wall and into the top corner.
While that gave Miami the momentum, it was ripped away 10 minutes later when Alejandro Pozuelo was shown a straight red card, putting the away side on the back foot the rest of the way.
Lewis Morgan's goal in the 43rd minute ensured the teams would head into the break all tied up, and Daniel Edelman made it 2-1 for the Red Bulls just eight minutes into the second half.
A second yellow card to Kyle Duncan turned it into a 10-on-10 match, but 19-year-old substitute Caden Clark was able to give New York some breathing room in the 74th minute, building an eight-point gap between his fourth-placed side and fifth-placed Orlando City in the East standings.
The Red Bulls are still 10 points adrift of the conference-leading Philadelphia Union, who enjoyed a 6-0 smashing of the Colorado Rapids in front of their home fans.
Daniel Gadzag netted a hat-trick, giving him 11 goals in his past nine games, and 16 for the season, which ties him for the second-most in the league.
The one-sided beatdown included a 26-to-five shot count, while Philadelphia also controlled 59 per cent of the possession.
The Houston Dynamo – the worst team in the Western Conference this season – nearly pulled off an upset away from home against third-placed Minnesota, but ultimately went down 2-1.
Houston opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time through Corey Baird, and they held their 1-0 lead until the final stages when an own goal from Fafa Picault tied things up in the 79th minute. Minnesota then stole all three points with Luis Amarilla's 84th-minute winner.
Cincinnati and the Columbus Crew are fighting it out for the fringe playoff sports in the Eastern Conference, and they could not be separated in their 2-2 draw.
Columbus – who only had 0.43 expected goals in the game, compared to 1.36 for Cincinnati – made it 1-1 in the 74th minute with Derick Etienne's leveller, but Cincinnati took the lead straight back three minutes later through Matt Miazga. Steven Moreira would salvage a point for the Crew with nearly the last touch of the game in the 96th minute.
An Italian one-two punch lifted Toronto to a 2-0 win over Charlotte, with Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernadeschi both striking in the second half.
Montreal received two early goals courtesy of Ismael Kone and Romell Quioto and were able to defend them for a 2-0 win against the Chicago Fire, while Sporting Kansas City edged fellow Western Conference cellar-dwellers the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0.
In the late window, FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake fought out a 1-1 draw, and Hany Mukhtar grabbed another two assists to help Nashville SC handle the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0. Mukhtar now has 16 goals and 11 assists in 27 appearances.
200m World Champion Noah Lyles insists he would not be surprised to see Jamaica sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce break the longstanding women’s 100m world record, on the heels of a remarkable season to date.
Fraser-Pryce, the 100m World Champion, pulled out of a showdown with compatriots Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson earlier this week, after feeling some tightness in her hamstring.
Prior to that, however, the 35-year-old has been in near flawless form so far. Fraser-Pryce has dipped below 10.7 on a record six occasions, with her best of 10.62 coming at the Morocco Diamond League meet two weeks ago. Lyles an athlete who is no stranger to fast times himself believes the performances are an indication the Jamaican is on the verge of something special.
“I heard that she said she wanted to break the world record this year and I’m like yeah I can see that. I mean consistently dropping below 10.7s, 10.6s like almost every race and that’s very scary,” Lyles said ahead of the Lausanne Diamond League meet.
“Anytime you see somebody running a time that’s almost the exact same time, very consistently, every race, it means they’re about to make a huge drop. It happened for me in the 2018 season when I ran nothing but 19.6 every race and I dropped it down to 19.5. This year I was just playing around in the area of 19.6, 19.7, and all of a sudden I just made that huge jump to 19.3,” he added.
Last season, it was another Jamaican who had the record in her sights. After a sensational 2021, which saw her crowned the double Olympic champion in Tokyo, Thompson-Herah clocked the second fastest time ever recorded over the distance with a 10.54 run in Eugene, Oregon.
“When Elaine was running in 2021 and messing around with the 10.6, 10.7 area then she just dropped it to 10.5, that just wasn’t out of nowhere she was just consistently running the same pattern and when her body was ready, the wind was ready and the day was good, she was ready to go,” Lyles said.
“I’m really just waiting on Shelly to have that moment where her body is ready and the day is right, the crowd is there and the wind is perfect, I’m not going to be shocked when that world record pops up or it's right next to it or maybe way ahead of it.”
The record of 10.49 held by the United States’ Florence Griffith-Joyner has stood since 1988.
Veteran Jamaica defender Adrian Mariappa has commended an inexperienced Jamaica Reggae Boyz unit for its positive attitude after ending the Austria mini-tournament with a 1-1 draw against World Cup-bound Qatar earlier this week.
With the tournament occurring outside of the FIFA international friendly window, the majority of the team selected to represent the Reggae Boyz were taken from the country’s local league, which left many understandably short on international experience.
The team got off to a rough start with a 3-0 loss to Morocco but rallied back against Qatar and even led the match courtesy of a Jourdain Fletcher goal before being pegged back.
“I thought the goal was brilliant, that’s as good a team goal as I’ve seen that I’ve been a part of with the national team,” Mariappa said.
“It shows that with a bit of composure there is quality there and we can hurt teams, so it’s just about building. We are not going to get too ahead of ourselves because at the end of the day it is a draw, we should have kept the clean sheet,” he added.
“The attitude from everyone was spot on and that’s the first thing you need, that always gives you a chance and a base to play from.”
The majority of the team will arrive back on the island on Sunday.
Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz were held to a 1-1 draw by World Cup hosts Qatar in the team’s final game of the Austria mini football tournament at the Wiener Neustadt Arena on Friday.
After a scoreless first half, it was the Jamaicans who took the lead when Jourdane Fletcher found the back of the net in the 70th minute. The team, however, failed to hold on to the lead after Qatar's Khaled Muneer found an equalizer in the 83rd minute. The match followed up on a 3-0 defeat to Morocco earlier this week.
Interim Jamaica coach Merron Gordon credits tactical adjustments from the first fixture and a bit more luck for a more positive result in the second.
“The technical staff really planned this out in terms of tactically how we would approach the game. I think we got it right tactically right the last time as we but we were unfortunate, so we knew as long as we could build on that we would get it right today,” Gordon said following the match.
“Probably with a bit more concentration we wouldn’t give up that goal and we would have probably won the game and with a bit more luck on the transitional plays we could have scored a few more goals as well, but it was good. This Qatar team has all the resources in the world and we are still just an emerging team.”
Guyana’s Ramon Chan-A-Sue was returned unopposed as president of the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) during the association’s Annual General Meeting held at the Liguanea Club in Kingston on Wednesday, August 24.
Janet Sairsingh of the Cayman Islands was elected vice president while Kevin Hannaway of St Vincent and the Grenadines was elected secretary. Bermuda’s Nick Kyme is the treasurer. Each of the eight-member countries will appoint a director before October 2022.
During the AGM it was decided that the junior and senior championships will be held in 2023. However, a host nation will be selected by October 2022. At those championships that a doubles category will be added for the junior Championships, while women over 60 will play in the senior championship.
Veteran Jamaica Reggae Boyz defender Adrian Mariappa has branded the team's recent 3-0 loss to Morocco in the Austria Mini Football Tournament, on Wednesday, as a valuable learning experience.
The team that consisted of mostly players based in Jamaica, for the most part, struggled to keep up with their African counterparts who created plenty of opportunities before goals from Ahmad Hammoudan (33), Mohamed Nahiri (74th), and Reda Slim (80th) decided the contest.
With several players making their debut and a few more with just a handful of appearances, Mariappa who has logged 64 caps for Jamaica, insists it’s all just part of the valuable learning process.
“We were disappointed with the result but there were plenty of positives to take out of the game. Playing against good opposition who have been together a long time, we only came together recently…a lot of guys were making debuts, just playing with each other. It was a learning experience,” Mariappa said.
“It was good for the boys to gain experience playing against good sides on decent pitches as well and to able to show what they can bring to the table,” he added.
The Reggae Boyz will next be in action when they play against World Cup hosts Qatar on Friday.
Four new players have been called to Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz 23-player squad for their international friendly against South Korea at the at Hwaseong Sports Complex on September 3 and a ‘practice match on September 6.
Nineteen-year-old forward Kameron Simmonds, 17-year-old goalkeeper Liya Brooks, 28-year-old defender Sioban Wilson and defender Maliah Atkins are the new players that will be vying for spots on Jamaica’s senior women’s team that has already qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.
The call-ups add depth to a strong unit, most of which were members of the World Cup qualifying squad, even though there are a few absentees because of injury.
As part of his stated policy, Coach Lorne Donaldson will be using this opportunity and other windows this year to look at other players who were not involved in the recent World Cup qualifiers.
The full squad includes Sydney Schneider, Yazmeen Jamieson, Chantelle Swaby, Allyson Swaby, Vyan Sampson, Chinyelu Asher, Kayla McCoy, Atlanta Primus, Marlo Sweatman, Khadija Shaw, Tierney Wiltshire, Drew Spence, Mireya Grey, Trudi Carter, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Deneisha Blackwood, Tiffany Cameron, Shania Hayles, Kameron Simmonds, Liya Brooks, Siobhan Wilson, Giselle Washington and Maliah Atkins.
The squad and the technical staff are scheduled to assemble in Hwaseong on August 30.
Former West Indies Women captain Stafanie Taylor scored an unbeaten 33 to lead the Guyana Amazon Warriors Women to a five-wicket victory over Barbados Royals Women in the 6IXTY Women’s Competition in St Kitts on Wednesday.
Jamaica’s Chris Binnie won a record10th singles title at the Caribbean Senior Squash Championships being held in Jamaica on Tuesday, August 23.
Coming off his recent standout performance against Toronto FC, Reggae Boy and Inter Miami CF defender Damion Lowe has been named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 26 of the 2022 MLS regular season.
Interim Jamaica Reggae Boyz head coach Merron Gordon insists he was pleased with the team’s performance, in light of limited preparation time, despite a 3-0 loss to Morocco on Tuesday.
Goals from Ahmad Hamoudan (33rd), Mohammed Nahiri (73rd), and Reda Slim (80th) saw the contest, which took place at the Ernst Happel Stadium, end up as a very one-sided one with the African team dominating the majority of the major categories.
Although they struggled to really get forward the mostly local Jamaica contingent at times proved difficult to break down and kept its shape well. For Gordon, those were encouraging signs given the limited time the team had to prepare for the tournament.
“Tactically, in terms of discipline, I think we had it with our compactness. I think they couldn’t really play through our lines most of the time but the longer the game goes is the more you realise the fitness will show,” Gordon said after the match.
“The muscular strength will show also because those guys were very strong, the Moroccans. I think we did well. With the limited time of preparation, I think we really responded well.
The Jamaicans will be back in action on Friday when they face Qatar in their second match.
An understrength Jamaica Reggae Boyz proved to be no match for World Cup-bound Morocco who cruised to a 3-0 win in the Austria Mini Football Tournament at the Ernst Happel Stadium on Tuesday.
Although the Jamaicans put together periods of enterprising play, it was the Moroccans who the more dominant from the outset and looked more likely to take the lead.
Ahmad Hamoudan ensured that they did take advantage of their early domination, in the 33rd minute, slotting the ball past Jamaica custodian Amal Knight at the far post.
Despite creating few chances, the Jamaicans continued to remain defensively resolute but were undone by another defensive error in the 73rd minute. Experienced defender Jason Mariappa was forced to bring down a surging Ahmad Hamoudan in the penalty area. Mohammed Nahiri slotted the resulting spot kick past Knight to double the lead.
Morocco continued to press to increase the lead and finally did so when Reda Slim was picked out at the post from a deft cross and headed the ball into the back of the net in the 80th minute.
The Jamaicans will next be in action against World Cup hosts Qatar on Friday at 10:00 am.
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