Audley Boyd, LOS ANGELES, California:

POOR FINISHING sent Jamaica crashing to a losing start in the CONCACAF Gold Cup yesterday, as they were beaten 1-0 by Canada at the Home Depot Center here yesterday.

Ali Gerba scored the winning goal at the 75th minute.

Jamaica and Canada played a cat and mouse game practically all the way through the first half against some questionable officiating.

The Reggae Boyz were very patient in possession, moving the ball carefully as they changed angles that suited high percentage passing.

On the occasions that they were daring, they were dangerous and scythed open a Canadian team that was very susceptible to dribbling. Not surprisingly, Jermaine Johnson unleashed his true character and boldly emerged as the Jamaicans’ most dangerous player, carving his way through the Canadian team on several occasions and went close to goal twice. Operating from wide right, he took a pass off Luton Shelton, worked his way inside and curled a low shot with his left boot, that rolled inches wide of the far post with Canadian goalie Greg Sutton clueless. That was at the 24th minute. Four minutes later, Johnson took a pass off Fuller and shifted through Canada’s defence to the edge of the six-yard box, where he went down under a challenge.

He looked for a penalty, but American referee Terry Vaughn flashed a yellow card, one of two for the half to the Jamaica team. The other went to Claude Davis Jamaica’s best opportunity though, went to its captain, Ricardo Gardner, at the 16th. It followed a long dribble down the centre of the pitch by Shelton, who slipped a pass to Gardner when the defenders converged to shut him down atop the penalty box. With a clear kick from the top of the box, Gardner measured his kick, but hit the ball slightly off-timed and it rolled easily to Sutton, standing in the centre of his goal.

Luton himself might have had a shot on goal at the 10th, but after sprinting past the central defender to win a headed pass off Fuller, just inside the box, he turned towards the corner flag. Canada, which had less possession, were more circumspect and put a large number of its players behind the ball when defending.

In offense, the played their game around midfielder Julian de Guzman, making mainly 10-15 passes. Too often they were given too much room in which to operate inside the final third, but they weren’t sharp enough to pose any great threat to the Jamaican defence on open play. On one occasion, at the 25th minute, they almost scored when Atiba Hutchinson whipped in a cross from the right that was headed on goal by Kevin McKenna. But goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts timed his jump and leapt high to acrobatically turn the ball over the post. The second half was more enterprising. Jamaica came out very ragged, giving up the ball easily and lethargically getting into marking positions, and almost conceded twice inside the first two minutes.

The first chance fell to Josh Simpson, just on as a sub at the half. He got a ball headed out from a clearance, then struck a shot that was saved by Ricketts, diving to his left. The resulting corner kick was headed out to McKenna, but he fired over the goal. The near misses appeared to have stung the Jamaicans into action and they lifted their game to the point where they created four clear scoring opportunities by within the next 20 minutes.

Fuller laid off a pass to defender Damion Stewart, but with a clear shot from 10 yards, he fired a shot that was saved by Sutton at the 54th. Threw minutes later, Sutton threw out a ball to Shelton, and was some way off his line. The striker hit a shot at the open goal, but it sailed directly at the goalie and he caught the ball just over his head. At the 63rd minute, Gardner played a corner to the edge of the penalty box, on a crafty set play. However, Rodolph Austin’s shot from the top of the box was deflected for a corner.

A minute later, Fuller got the best chance with a clear run at the Canadian goalie. When he hit the penalty box, he hit a shot that was blocked by Sutton. Jamaica made some substitutions thereafter, replacing Austin, who was having a strong game in midfield with Oneil Thompson, and the uncontrollable Johnson with Jamal Campbell-Ryce, by the 71st minute.

Under the circumstances, Gardner, who was just returning to action after an injury lay-off, may have been a better option. Neither change made a positive impact on Jamaica’s game and Canada capitalised to score on the counter, this time making Jamaica pay for poor marking. Michael Klukowski hit a seemingly harmless cross from midway the left flank and Gerba - who hit two goals in Canada’s 3-0 warm-up victory over Guatemala on

Tuesday - broke free beyond Davis to hit a one-time shot across goal, that lodged inside the net at the far post.

The Reggae Boyz replaced central defender Davis with a more reasonable change, striker Omar Cummings, as they chased the game but a goal was not forthcoming.

Jamaica will fly to Columbus, Ohio, today, where they will play their next match on July 7th against Costa Rica.

The Costa Ricans were engaged with El Salvador, in the second game of the opening day double header, at the Home Depot Center last night.

TEAMS: Jamaica: 1 - Donovan Ricketts (GK), 14- Tyrone Marshall, 4 - Claude Davis (22 – Omar Cummings 81st), 3 - Damion Stewart, 17 - Rodolph Austin (20 – Oneil Thompson 71st), 7 - Jason Morrison, 16 - Jermaine Johnson (8 – Jamal Campbell-Ryce 75th), 12 - Demar Phillips, 15 - Ricardo Gardner (capt.), 10 - Ricardo Fuller, 11 - Luton Shelton. Subs not used: 21 - Dwayne Miller (GK), 20 - Oneil Thompson, 19 - Nicholas Adllery, 22 - Omar Cummings, 23 - Dane Richards, 8 - Jamal Campbell-Ryce, 18 - Rafe Wolfe, 2 - Eric Vernan. Canada: 1 - Greg Sutton (GK), 3 - Mike Klukowski, 5- Kevin Mckenna, 6 - Julian de Guzman, 7 - Paul Staltieri (capt.), 8 - Marcel de Jong (15 – Josh Simpson), 9 - Ali Gerba, 10 - Will Johnson (16 – Simeon Jackson 70th), 13 - Atiba Hutchinson, 14 - Dejan Jakovic, 20 - Patrice Bernier, Chris Pozniak, Kenny Stamatopoulos and Charles Gbeke. Subs not used: 2 - Adrian Cann, 11 - Richard Hastings, 12 - Issey Nakjima-Farran, 15 - Josh Simpson, 16 - Simeon Jackson, 17 - Jaime Peters, 18 - Joshua Wagenaar (GK).