Morris fires USA to friendly win over Jamaica

AFP, LOS ANGELES: Jordan Morris struck in the 59th minute to lift the United States to a 1-0 friendly victory over Jamaica on Friday, the first victory of Bruce Arena’s second spell as coach of the US men’s football team.
Arena returned to the job after Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked in November in the wake of two World Cup qualifying defeats. Arena’s first match in charge was a scoreless draw against Serbia last week.
But with World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama coming up in March, the United States got a morale-boosting win in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
A clever combination between Benny Feilhaber and Seattle Sounders striker Morris ended with the latter beating substitute goalkeeper Ryan Thompson for a second international goal. Sebastian Lletget almost doubled the lead 10 minutes later, but his header went straight to Thompson.
Arena made nine changes to the team that drew against Serbia, with Graham Zusi and Steve Birnbaum the only players retaining their places.
Luis Robles, Jorge Villafana, Walker Zimmerman, Feilhaber, Dax McCarty, Chris Pontius, Lletget, Juan Agudelo and Morris came in for Nick Rimando, Chad Marshall, Gregory Garza, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, Alejandro Bedoya, Darlington Nagbe and Jozy Altidore.
Jamaica fielded an inexperienced side with coach Theodore Whitmore without such mainstays as Jermaine Taylor, Demar Phillips, Adrian Mariappa and Leicester City captain Wes Morgan.

Morris fires USA to friendly win over Jamaica

AFP, LOS ANGELES: Jordan Morris struck in the 59th minute to lift the United States to a 1-0 friendly victory over Jamaica on Friday, the first victory of Bruce Arenas second spell as coach of the US mens football team. Arena returned to the job after Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked in November in the wake of two World Cup qualifying defeats. Arenas first match in charge was a scoreless draw against Serbia last week. But with World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama coming up in March, the United States got a morale-boosting win in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A clever combination between Benny Feilhaber and Seattle Sounders striker Morris ended with the latter beating substitute goalkeeper Ryan Thompson for a second international goal. Sebastian Lletget almost doubled the lead 10 minutes later, but his header went straight to Thompson. Arena made nine changes to the team that drew against Serbia, with Graham Zusi and Steve Birnbaum the only players retaining their places. Luis Robles, Jorge Villafana, Walker Zimmerman, Feilhaber, Dax McCarty, Chris Pontius, Lletget, Juan Agudelo and Morris came in for Nick Rimando, Chad Marshall, Gregory Garza, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, Alejandro Bedoya, Darlington Nagbe and Jozy Altidore. Jamaica fielded an inexperienced side with coach Theodore Whitmore without such mainstays as Jermaine Taylor, Demar Phillips, Adrian Mariappa and Leicester City captain Wes Morgan.