All eyes were on Leon Bailey for his much-anticipated Jamaica debut, but it was veteran Dever Orgill who stole the show.
The 31-year-old forward struck for a pair of first-half goals to pace the Reggae Boyz to a 3-2 win over Honduras in both teams Concacaf Gold Cup Group C opener Monday night at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Jamaica became the first Caribbean team to host a Gold Cup match and they got the fans in the Office buzzing just 15 minutes into the match. Bailey, the 21-year-old Bayern Leverkusen winger, chipped ahead to Peter-Lee Vassell and the LAFC midfielder’s shot was tipped by Honduras goalkeeper Luis Lopez. The rebound fell to Dever Orgill, who guided his header into the net.
Orgill then pulled out all the stops for his goal celebration, starting with a back flip and ending it with a Usain Bolt victory pose, fittingly from the track.
Orgill had his brace four minutes from halftime, putting a deflected attempt past Lopez with his left foot after a feed from Brian Brown following a penetrating run from FC Cincinnati right back Alvas Powell.
Jamaica were punished for casual passing the back when Houston Dynamo winger Alberth Elis stripped Shaun Francis and played across to Choco Lozano, who hammered home in the 54th minute.
Just when it appeared Honduras had played themselves back into the game, Damion Lowe doubled the Reggae Boyz’s lead again, latching onto a Vassell corner kick and powerfully heading in from the edge of the six-yard box.
Rubilio Castillo gave Los Catrachos some late life, getting on the end of an Emilio Izaguirre cross and putting a glancing header past Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake. But Jamaica held on during a contentious ending to take all three points.
Goals
- 15’ — JAM — Dever Orgill
- 41’ — JAM — Dever Orgill
- 54’ — HON — Anthony Lozano
- 56’ — JAM — Damion Lowe
- 90’+2’ — HON — Rubilio Castillo
Three Things
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
: As goal celebrations go, Orgill emptied the talk with this one.
Next Up
- JAM: Friday, June 21 vs. El Salvador (7:00 pm ET | FS1, UniMás, UDN, FOX Sports GO, TSN GO)
- HON: Friday, June 21 vs. Curacao (9:30 pm ET | FS1, UniMás, UDN, TSN2, FOX Sports GO)
