U.S. beats Jamaica to reach CONCACAF semi-finals

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States scored  twice in the second half to beat a 10-man Jamaica squad 2-0 today and advance to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Gold  Cup.
Jermaine Jones broke the deadlock when he scored four  minutes into the second half after his shot took a deflection  off Jamaican defender Jermaine Taylor, giving goalkeeper  Donovan Ricketts no chance of making the save.
Jamaica, which did not concede a goal in the pool stages,  were reduced to 10-men when Taylor was red-carded for tripping  Jones as he was bearing down on goal.
American striker Clint Dempsey, who only rejoined the team  the morning after attending his sister’s wedding in Texas, put  the result beyond doubt in the 80th minute, side-stepping the  advancing Ricketts and tapping the ball into an open net after  a low cross from Juan Agudelo.
The U.S. have now reached the semi-finals in each of the  last six editions of the tournament for North and Central  America and Caribbean teams and will play the winner of  Sunday’s last quarter-final Panama and El Salvador.
The other semi-final will be played between Mexico and  Honduras.
The eventual winner of the tournament will represent  CONCACAF at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.