Jamaica and 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup hosts, the United States, have booked their spots in the quarter-finals after their 5-0 and 6-0 victories over Saint Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago respectively on Sunday.
Both sides were tied on four points going into the final round of group stage fixtures and were expected to dominate with goals just as they did in their previous games.
The Reggae Boyz raced to a 2-0 first half lead in Santa Clara after Julani Archibald (own goal) and Jonathan Russell found the back of the net towards half-time.
The game is over ????
???????? @jff_football secured the second place in Group A ????#GoldCup pic.twitter.com/Ezs8IMImod
— Gold Cup (@GoldCup) July 3, 2023
It was extended after the break thanks to Di’shon Bernard, Daniel Johnson and Cory Burke.
FC Dallas forward Jesus Ferreira meanwhile was the star for the Americans in Charlotte as he scored a first half hat-trick, including a penalty before Cade Cowell, Gianluca Busio and Brandon Vazquez added their names to scoresheet in the second half.
Ferreira leads the Gold Cup scorers chart with six goals.
⚽️ Fulltime ⏰
Hat-trick by Jesus Ferreira gives @USMNT ???????? the win and secures first place in Group A ????#GoldCup pic.twitter.com/ZF3uLUeURf
— Gold Cup (@GoldCup) July 3, 2023
The US topped Group A with a goal difference of +12 while Jamaica had +8. Trinidad and Tobago finished in third with three points and Saint Kitts and Nevis finished bottom with no points on board.
In Group B, eight-time Gold Cup champions Mexico and Gold Cup invitees Qatar moved into the last eight as the latter defeated the former 1-0 in Santa Clara courtesy of Hazem Shehata’s 27th minute strike.
Full-time ????@QFA_EN ???????? gets its first victory and clasifies to the #GoldCup quarterfinals. ???? pic.twitter.com/3UQYgGQFaZ
— Gold Cup (@GoldCup) July 3, 2023
The Mexicans topped the group with six points while the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts finished second on four points, same as Honduras who defeated Haiti 2-1 but with a superior goal difference.
The Haitians ended the group in last place with three points.
