Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz were eliminated at the quarter-finals stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup Sunday night (July 25) as they were defeated 1-0 by hosts, the United States of America at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

A late goal in the 83rd minute by Matthew Hoppe cast the Reggae Boyz in despair after they had battled gallantly with their opponents.

The USA will face invited Qatar in Thursday’s 6:30 pm semi-finals at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, with Canada meeting Mexico in the other semi-finals at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas at 9:00 pm also on Thursday.

The USA hogged possession in the early stages of the match as the Reggae Boyz settled slowly, before making the match a competitive affair.

Bobby Reid, in the 42nd minute, got the easiest chance of the first half to score but failed to get any power on his shot from just outside the six-yard box, directly in front of goal, after being fed the ball by Kemar Lawrence.

Lawrence had dribbled down the left flank to set up the pass, but Reid’s tame shot was collected easily by goalkeeper Matthew Turner.

Before that, in the 39th minute, Junior Flemmings had Turner diving brilliantly to his left to block a curling shot, which he struck firmly from the penalty box arc. Turner turned the ball outside for a corner.

Hoppe also gave Jamaica’s goalkeeper Andre Blake some work to do in the 22nd minute. Blake had to dive low to his right to block a powerhouse shot.

Both teams continued their tense midfield duel at the start of the second half, until Gyasi Zardes forced Blake into another excellent save as his powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area, had the custodian once again going low to block.

Substitute Shamar Nicholson got an excellent opportunity to open the scoring for Jamaica in the 78th minute, but after losing his marker, he failed to control the ball inside the six-yard box from a Lawerence left-side free-kick.

Minutes later, Hoppe converted a header from inside the six-yard box after he was picked out unmarked at the back post as goalkeeper Blake advanced from his goal line to collect a cross from the right by Cristian Roldan and failed to make contact with the ball.