Goalscorer Onandi Lowe braces himself under a challenge from Guillermo Garcia of El Salvador during their World Cup qualifying match at the National Stadium last night. Lowe scored the only goal of the match to give Jamaica a 1-0 win.THE Reggae Boyz continued their march towards qualifying for successive World Cups when they maintained their lead at the top of Group D with a 1-0 win over El Salvador last night at the National Stadium.
Red-hot striker Onandi Lowe was on target for Jamaica in the 35th minute. With the win, Jamaica moved to nine points in the group with a perfect win record from three games. They are expected to be followed with six points by Honduras who played group minnows St Vincent and the Grenadines late last night. El Salvador are third with three points while St. Vincent remain firmly rooted at the bottom pointless.
It was an impressive display from the locals who but for the first seven minutes of the game and the final 10 minutes when they got a little careless, were in total control. El Salvador started the stronger team with the Carlos Castro Borja anchoring things in the middle.
Jamaica created their first real chance in the 10 minute when right back Tyrone Marshall got himself in position to score but appeared to be caught in two minds whether to place the ball or power it. In the end a left-footer which was neither powerfully struck or well-placed flew over the crossbar from his volley.
The one-way flow towards the Salvadorean goal continued as playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos was kept in control by Christopher Dawes in the central midfield. Whitmore broke into the 18-yard box in the 13th minute after collecting a loose ball but had his shot saved by goalkeeper Juan Jose Gomez.
El Salvador had what would be a rare chance in the 18th minute when forward Raul Diaz Arce headed a cross into the Jamaica area for his strike partner Elias Montes who fired wide.
The only goal of the game - a beauty - was to come after one of many fouls on Lowe. After being fouled about 40 yards from the goal, the in-form striker picked himself up, brushed himself off and rocketed a free kick towards goal which curled away from Gomez and nestled in the left-hand bottom corner of his net.
It was Lowe's eighth goal in the past five games; three in World Cup competition.
The capacity crowd stared in disbelief for a full second before erupting.
Perhaps fittingly another goal was not scored and the game never quite got to that level again. That strike could not be bettered. The Boyz though were not content as they sought to extend their lead and go for the death blow.
Wingback Steve Malcolm climbed on top of a ball and pumped it at Gomez who did well to push it away for a throw. Three minutes later, Lowe blasted another at him but it went wide.
The Reggae Boyz could have gone into the halftime break with the 2-0 cushion they so craved as Theodore Whitmore pulled something out of his bag of tricks making his way past a number of Salvadoreans into the 18-yard box in combination with Deon Burton. With the goalkeeper at his mercy, Whitmore not one to do things simply, tried to beat the goalkeeper at his near post without success.
Chances continued to come Jamaica's way but without success in the second half. Burton had a header of his headed off the line in the 56th minute. Marshall missed the ball completely two minutes later after being set up by Malcolm just outside the six-yard box and Williams had his follow up shot turned out for a corner. The pressure continued from the corner with captain and central defender Linval Dixon forcing the Gomez to tip over the bar.
