MIAMI, Florida, CMC – Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz twice surrendered first-half leads before producing a sterling defensive second-half effort to come away with a 2-2 draw against giants Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League on Sunday.
Playing in Group A of the League at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Fulham’s Bobby Reid put the visitors ahead in the eighth minute before Orbelín Pineda leveled in the 17th minute.
An Edson Álvarez own goal in the 33rd minute fortuitously put the Reggae Boyz in front for the second time until the stroke of half-time when Napoli winger Hirving Lozano converted from the spot.
With the win – their second of the campaign – unbeaten Mexico moved to eight points from four games while booking their spot in the Nations League finals in June.
Jamaica, meanwhile, lies second on six points and is also unbeaten. However, they have won just once – a 3-1 verdict over Suriname last June – and drawn three times.
The 30-year-old UK-born Reid gave them a scent of success when he unleashed a rasping 20-yard drive from the top of the box after a ball fell nicely for him when defenders failed to clear.
And moments later, Jamaica had a glorious chance to double their lead when Jamal Lowe was played through, but the Queen’s Park Rangers winger failed to get the ball out of his feet at close range, allowing Mexico to quickly snuffed out the threat.
The equalizer came when Lozano combined with Henry Martín in a clever move on the left side of the box, which resulted in Pineda finding himself unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box to tap past goalkeeper Jahmali Waite.
Jamaica reclaimed the lead in heavy rain when Reid swung a corner into the area, and captain Damion Lowe missed the header at the far post, only for the ball to bounce off the thigh of Ajax’s Edson Álvarez and past his own ’keeper.
Following a safety break due to lightning in the area, MLS midfielder Ravel Morrison brought down Martín just inside the box, and Lozano struck the resulting penalty firmly down the middle, Waite diving in vain to his right.
In the second half, Shamar Nicholson watched a near point-blank header saved by Italy-based goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa in the 57th minute before Jesús Gallardo teed up substitute Raúl Jiménez in the 70th, only for the Wolves forward to drive wide.
Diego Lainez found the crossbar with a rasping drive from outside the 18-yard box in the 76th before Jiménez and Gallardo combined again to nearly find the winner in the third minute of stoppage.
In League B, Barbados won their first game when they came from behind to beat hosts Antigua and Barbuda 2-1, thanks to second-half goals from Thierry Gale (62) and Tajio James (87).
Down 1-0 at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium break through Myles Weston’s 31st-minute strike, Barbados leveled when Gale burst from midfield to thump a right-footed drive past goalkeeper Nicholas Townsend from the top of the box.
And the winner came just minutes from full time when James latched on to a long ball out of the back, held off center-back Daniel Bowry before deftly lobbing the advancing Townsend.
In the same group in Havana, hosts Cuba beat Guadeloupe 1-0, while in League C, Puerto Rico thrashed, visiting the Cayman Islands 5-1.
and then 