By Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor
Jermaine Johnson (right) celebrates after scoring Jamaica's second goal with teammates Tyrone Marshall and Damani Ralph during their friendly international football game against Uruguay at the National Stadium last night. Jamaica won 2-0. - Ricardo Makyn / Staff Photographer
THE REGGAE Boyz stepped up to the plate and made an important statement for the nation's football with a 2-0 shutout of strong South American team Uruguay at the National Stadium last night.
Onandi Lowe (10th minute) and late substitute Jermaine Johnson (83rd) scored the goals for Jamaica in an exciting friendly international viewed by a crowd of about 25,000.
The much vaunted Uruguay team, with 11 European-based stars including Manchester United's Diego Forlan, came to life with several shots on target after being kept quiet for the opening 20 minutes and squandered one outstanding scoring chance.
This happened at the 34th minute when a penalty kick taken by Italy's Serie A midfielder Ernesto Chevanton was saved by Jamaica's goalkeeping captain, Donovan Ricketts, who dived to block the powerful shot.
Jamaica's programme needed the boost following its Under-23 team's failure to qualify for the Olympic Games in a final round play-off in Mexico barely a week ago and the fact that the sport's governing body, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), is in debt to the tune of just under $30 million.
Technical director Carl Brown, under pressure to keep his job due to previous unimpressive showings by the team in its build-up towards CONCACAF'S 2006 World Cup qualifying schedule, was full of optimism after the Boyz' excellent performance.
"This augurs well for football," Brown said. "It's a statement and it's a good enough one for me."
The tempo was set from the opening whistle with both teams hitting two good shots apiece at goal inside the first four minutes and the attacking trend continued throughout the entire game.
RUNNING HARD
Uruguay, two-time World Cup winners and fourth in South America's current qualifying campaign a point behind Brazil and Argentina and two behind leaders Paraguay, came running hard at Jamaica in the early going.
However, they were surprised by the skill level of the locals, who excited their partisan crowd with some slick passes and good dribbling from Ricardo Fuller and Andy Williams, in particular.
Most of the Jamaican players are drawn from overseas-based clubs in Britain and the United States and Brown said "the team has shown that there's no shortage of understanding. I always knew we were on track."
