October 08, (THEWILL) – In his second senior debut for the United States men’s national team, 18-year-old attacker Ricardo Pepi continued to shine, scoring two goals in 13 minutes to give the Americans a 2-0 victory over Jamaica in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier in Austin, Texas.
The game began on a throttle for the home side but fouls by Jamaican defenders thwarted the Americans’ two finest chances before halftime.
Just 20 seconds into the game, Paul Arriola got behind the defence on a through ball, but he was taken down from behind by Kemar Lawrence. Referee Reon Radix issued Lawrence a yellow card after conferring with the linesman.
Aaronson was hauled down just outside the area in the 33rd minute after a diagonal through ball. Damion Lowe of Jamaica was yellow-carded, and the United States was unable to capitalize on the resulting 19-yard free kick.
Pepi scored the game’s first goal in the 49th minute, knocking a short cross from Barcelona’s Sergino Dest past Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake in the bottom left corner. Brenden Aaronson supplied a pass behind the back line in the 62nd minute, and Pepi finished it with one touch to increase the lead.
Pepi, an FC Dallas product, had scored the game-winning goal and added two assists in the United States’ senior international debut against Honduras last month.
Gyasi Zardes and Tim Weah entered six minutes later, he and Aaronson were both subbed off In the 78th minute, the substitution combination almost made it 3-0 as Weah broke clear down the left side and crossed to Zardes, but the cross was just too firm for Zardes to connect in front of a gaping net.
Two wins and two draws in four qualifiers, means the United States has gone ahead of Mexico at the top of the CONCACAF qualification standings. But, the two teams are tied on eight points with the tiebreaker based on goal differential (plus-five to plus-two).
Later Thursday night, Mexico drew at home against Canada, a six-point team. On Sunday, the United States will go to Panama, and on Wednesday, they will host Costa Rica.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
