Houston Dynamo v Charlotte FC: Westwood credits flexibility of Crown team-mates (2024)

« New England Revolution v Columbus Crew: Nancy hoping to build on important winLos Angeles FC v Colorado Rapids: Cherundolo's men to force the issue »

Related items

• Nashville SC 1-2 Inter Miami: Alba stunner sees Herons maintain winning form without Messi and Suarez

  Jordi Alba filled in for his absent Inter Miami stars Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as the Herons made it three MLS wins on the spin with a 2-1 victory over Nashville SC.

  With his former Barcelona team-mates Messi and Suarez away at the Copa America, Alba provided the stardust as he volleyed home in the 44th minute on Saturday to put the away team 2-0 up.

  The Spaniard's sensational strike, which came with an expected goals (xG) value of just 0.01, arrived four minutes afterIan Fray had headed home from Julian Gressel's corner to nose Miami ahead.

  Yannick Bright's clumsy challenge onTyler Boyd provided Hany Mukhtar the chance to drag Nashville back into the contest in the second half - an opportunity the German duly took from the penalty spot.

  Forster Ajago almost completed the comeback, but Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender made a fine save to deny the hosts a late equaliser.

  Miami remain top of the Eastern Conference, two points clear of FC Cincinnati.

  Data Debrief: Gressel the creator

  Gressel provided an assist to Fray for Miami's opener against Columbus Crew on June 19, and that duo teamed up again this time out.

  Since he joined MLS in 2017, Gressel has provided 62 assists, with only Cincinnati's Luciano Acosta (65) setting up more goals.

• Boyz hunt positive result against Venezuela to end Copa America on high

  With no shot at progressing beyond the group stages, Jamaica’ senior Reggae Boyz will at least be hoping to salvage some pride from their final Group B contest to possibly end another failed Copa America campaign on a high in Austin, Texas.

  Kickoff is 7:00pm Jamaica time.

  The Boyz, who lost 0-1 to Mexico and 1-3 to Ecuador, will now have group leaders Venezuela to contend with, which means their task of securing an historic point or win at the prestigious CONMEBOL tournament that much more difficult.

  However, the feat is by no means beyond the Jamaicans, and with Michail Antonio already accounting for their maiden goal at the tournament, it should lift their confidence significantly.

  In fact, if the head-to-head statistics is anything to go by, then it puts the Boyz in good stead, as Jamaica has won two of six meetings with their South American counterpart, with one ending in a stalemate. This will be their second meeting in the Copa America, with the first being in the Centenario 2016 (USA), where Venezuela registered a 1-0 win.

  

  Knowing very well that his team can compete at this level, Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson pointed out that the aim is for nothing less than a win. But, to achieve the feat, they will require a more compact display in the midfield, fluent passing, and certainly more creativity in the attacking third.

  “We are going for for the win in this game,” Hallgrimsson declared in a pre-game press conference.

  “Of course, we hoped and wished that we were in a different position than where we are, but it is what it is. There is good morale and the players are happy and together, and I give them a lot of credit for the atmosphere still in the camp. So we go into this match wanting to win for a lot of reasons that are important for us to get a win,” he added.

  The Boyz are rooted at the foot of the standing without a point, with Venezuela on maximum six points from two games, while Ecuador and Mexico, on three points each, will do battle for the second spot to the quarter-finals.

  Despite Venezuela’s current vein of form, Hallgrimsson believes they are by no means infallible.

  

  “Well, they are the surprise package of the tournament, I would say. We have analysed them before and we knew they are a hard-working, honest team with great individuals. But, how they have performed, especially with the confidence they have displayed now, is impressive to see,” he said of the opponents.

  “For the players, it is just margins that we can control that made it that we don’t have a point today. We go into this match knowing that we can get a win for sure, but there is balance,” he noted.

  Still, the Icelandic coach pointed out that regardless of the outcome, the Boyz have shown glimpses of their potential to prove formidable at the highest level. This he believes is a significant positive, especially as they target a successful World Cup qualifying campaign.

  “No matter what the result will be, I think this is a really important tournament for Jamaica in working towards qualifying for the World Cup 2026, and probably the closest thing to the World Cup that we can participate in,” the tactician reasoned.

  “There has been a lot of questions about whether we are good enough to qualify for the World Cup. With how we’ve played Mexico and how we’ve played Ecuador, who played in Qatar World Cup, we’ve matched them in some areas. So, if anyone were to doubt if Jamaica can qualify for the World Cup 2026, I hope that some doubts are gone,” Hallgrimsson stated.

• Argentina 2-0 Peru: Martinez double seals top spot with knockout blow to La Blanquirroja

  Lautaro Martinez's fine goalscoring form continued as he sealed top spot for Argentina in Group A, with a 2-0 victory over Peru, who were eliminated from the competition.

  With Lionel Messi out due to a groin injury, the forward stepped up, scoring at the start and end of the second half to ease any nerves after a slow first 45 minutes at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

  Leandro Paredes' miss from the penalty spot did not prove costly as Peru failed to threaten in what was a must-win game.

  Argentina will face the runner-up of Group B in their quarter-final, while Canada take second place in the group after their 0-0 draw with Chile, while Peru make an early exit.

  With a place in the quarter-finals already secured, Argentina made a slow start to the game - Alejandro Garnacho's deflected curler was their only chance in the opening 25 minutes.

  The goalkeeper was required to keep things level shortly after, getting a strong hand to stop Paredes' whipped free-kick from heading into the top-left corner.

  Giovani Lo Celso was then picked out on the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time, but Gallese parried his first-time shot before Garnacho fired the rebound just over the crossbar.

  The half-time team talk worked wonders for Argentina, as Angel Di Maria cut Peru's defence wide open by picking out Martinez, who deftly chipped the opener over Gallese just two minutes into the second half.

  Nicolas Tagliafico thought he had doubled their tally moments later, poking over the line from a corner, but it was disallowed as Lo Celso was blocking the goalkeeper's view from an offside position.

  Argentina had another chance to double their lead in the 69th minute, with Jesus Castillo penalised for a handball as he slid in to block Paredes' cross in the box, and the midfielder could not profit, rattling the inside of the post with a powerful spot-kick.

  In an almost carbon copy of his first goal, Martinez raced in behind once again in the 86th minute and lifted a lovely effort over Gallese, who could not get a hand to it.

  Franco Zanelatto almost salvaged some pride for La Blanquirroja in the dying moments, but his thumping header bounced off the near post and, agonisingly, along the face of goal.

  Martinez retains golden touch

  Though Argentina were already into the quarter-finals with a game to spare, it felt like they might not be at their best without talisman Messi and manager Lionel Scaloni, who was serving a touchline ban.

  However, Martinez has stepped up in this tournament, scoring in all three of their group games as he leads the race for the Golden Boot with four goals to his name.

  His first two strikes both came off the bench, with his late winner sending the Albiceleste into the knockout stages against Chile, and he made the most of his first start in the tournament with an early goal in the second half.

  It is just the third time this century that Argentina have won all three of their group games - the last two times (2007, 2016) they finished as runners-up, but Scaloni will be hoping they can go one better and defend their title this time around.

  Peru go out with a whimper

  This year's Copa America has been a tournament to forget for Peru, who go out of the tournament with just one point to their name - it is the first time they have been eliminated without a single victory since 1995.

  La Blanquirroja needed a win to have a chance of snagging second spot, with hope that Canada and Chile played out a draw in the other Group A game.

  However, they managed just six shots in the game, creating an expected goals of 0.14, and finish the tournament with a meagre tally of 22 efforts from their three matches without hitting the back of the net.

  It was always going to be a tough ask to get a win against the defending champions, even with all of their changes, but Peru's starting front three of Bryan Reyna, Paolo Guerrero and Edison Flores not managing a single shot did not make matters easier.

back to top