COLUMBUS, Ohio:

JAMAICA'S chances of moving into the quarter-final phase of the CONCACAF Gold Cup got slimmer as the team suffered its second consecutive loss, 0-1 to Costa Rica, at the Columbus Crew Stadium last night.

"I'm very disappointed," Jamaica's coach, Theodore Whitmore, said. "We still created a number of chances but we didn't put them away."

Besides Celso Borges who scored the game-winner at the 64th minute, Costa Rica had American referee Jair Marrufo to thank for issuing an outrageous red card to Jamaican midfielder Rodolph Austin at the 35th minute.

The sending off tilted the balance decidedly in favour of the Costa Ricans, who were being dominated by the Reggae Boyz until then.

"I didn't have a clear view of it, so I don't want to say anything about the red card," Whitmore pointed out.

Assessing how it affected his team, Whitmore said: "It hurt us because we were down one man and had to make adjustments."

Bottom of Group A

The loss left Jamaica bottom of four-team Group A without a point, while Costa Rica advanced to three. The other teams in the group, Canada and El Salvador, which were playing the second match at the same venue at press time, also have three points.

One round of matches remain and with 12 teams contesting preliminary action in three groups of four, the top two teams from each group shall qualify. The two top third-place teams will also qualify for the eight-nation quarter-finals.

In their current position, it appears Jamaica's greatest hope is claiming one of the third-place spots.

For the second consecutive game the Reggae Boyz - who had some players cautioned when they shouldn't have in their opening match - were hard done by the refereeing as Austin was red-carded at the 35th minute.

The Jamaican midfielder made a sharp turn to challenge Celso Borges in the middle of the park and accidentally clipped the Costa Rican. As Borges went down, he stretched to grab possession of the ball, throwing himself further into the path of Austin, who made an attempt to kick the ball. He did not kick Borges and was clearly trying his best to skip away from the moving body of the Costa Rican player on the ground.

The sending-off had an immediate impact on the game as it allowed Costa Rica to settle against the more dangerous team on the pitch, the Reggae Boyz, who were clearly having the upper hand in terms of possession and chances created.

Jamaica made two changes to their starting 11 from the Canada match they lost 0-1, replacing striker Luton Shelton and midfielder Jason Morrison with forwards Nicholas Addlery and Omar Cummings, and may have lessened their offensive capacity by playing the explosive Jermaine Johnson in a flank midfield position, which restricted him to a largely defensive role for the entire 90 minutes.

Both teams hit the crossbar.

Shot unleashed

At the 22nd minute, Omar Cummings, the most threatening player on the pitch, hit a shot from outside the box that was deflected on to the goalpost. Cummings had actually chased back to defend and won the ball near the half line, then turned and dribbled to the top of the box, where he unleashed the shot.

Twice before that Cummings had already gone close to scoring. He had a 22-yard drive turned inches wide of the upright at the 13th minute by the diving goalie, Ricardo Gonzalez, one of four changes to the Costa Rica starting team that lost 2-1 to El Salvador.

On the second occasion, Jamaica made a sweet build-up with several one-two passes, which saw Nicholas Addlery slipping a pass inside. As Cummings hit the ball one time, defender Harold Wallace slid in and blocked the shot behind for a corker kick.

Playmaker Walter Centeno headed Costa Rica's best chance of the first half on to the crossbar at the 20th minute. It started with a play on the right side of the penalty box, when Armando Alonso, with a clear chance from an angle, kicked a shot that was steered wide of the far post by Ricketts.

Jamaica made some tactical substitutions at the half, replacing strikers Fuller and Addlery with midfielders Jason Morrison and Oneil Thompson.

They went with one striker, Cummings, and obviously, were looking to sit back and defend in numbers, then hit on the counter.

While conceding much possession at the start, the Reggae Boyz's ploy almost worked at the 51st when Ricardo Gardner fed a pass over defence for Cummings to go at the goalie from wide. The striker beat the goalkeeper and went wide but had no option. He dribbled inside then hit a shot, but the custodian dived to make a sharp save.

Costa Rica slowed the tempo and moved around the ball well, but Jamaica plugged defence and proved to be more dangerous at their counter-attacking game, with Demar Phillips going close with a rasping drive from the left angle that rocketed into the side-netting.

Just like the first game though, Jamaica's failure to stop a wide player from sending in the cross, when they could have, proved detrimental. Thompson stepped back after tracking substitute Pablo Herrera, leaving him free to deliver a cross, which was met at the six-yard box by a surging Borges.

Borges took the shot one time and although Ricketts made a bold attempt, the ball deflected off his body into the net.

Boyz dug deep

Despite the numerical disadvantage and one-goal setback, the Jamaicans were not done yet and they dug deep and played with a lot of fight to keep the game open.

Coach Theodore Whitmore made one last tactical change to aid that process, putting in striker Luton Shelton for defender Damion Stewart.

The team remained competitive and, naturally, gave up two chances on the counter.

However, such misses kept them in the game and at the 89th minute Cummings, who worked double overtime, wormed through three defenders and chipped a cross to the far post. Two of his teammates were unmarked in that position, but there was miscommunication and Shelton ended up jumping in the way of Phillips, who had long lined up the shot.

TEAMS:

Jamaica: 1-Donovan Ricketts (GK), 3-Damion Stewart (11-Luton Shelton 69th), 4-Claude Davis, 14-Tyrone Marshall, 15- Ricardo Gardner, 12-Demar Phillips, 16-Jermaine Johnson, 17-Rodolph Austin, 10-Ricardo Fuller (7-Jason Morrison 45th), 19-Nicholas Addlery (20-Oneil Thompson 45th), 22-Omar Cummings.

Subs not used: 21-Dwayne Miller (GK), 18-Rafe Wolfe, 23-Dane Richards, 8-Jamal Campbell-Ryce.

Costa Rica: 18-Ricardo Gonzalez (GK), 2-Dario Delgado, 3-Freddy Fernandez, 15-Harold Wallace, 16-Esteban Sirias (22-Josimar Arias 78th), 20-Dennis Marshall, 5-Celso Borges, 10-Walter Centeno, 14-Amando Alonso (17-Pablo Herrera 53rd), 9-Alvaro Saborio, 21-Froylan Ledesma (Warren Granados 54th).