United States tops Jamaica in Gold Cup

German-born Jermaine Jones, who opted to play internationally for his father's native country, scored in the 49th minute and Clint Dempsey added a goal in the 80th in the United States' 2-0 victory over Jamaica yesterday in a CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal in Washington.

Jones fired a shot from outside the penalty area and Jamaica defender Jermaine Taylor deflected the ball past goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. It was Jones' first goal in a USA uniform. Taylor later tackled Jones from behind, earning a red card in the 67th minute.

To celebrate his Father's Day goal, Jones gave a salute, honoring his soldier father.

"It was a nice little gift," said Jones in remarks translated from German by U.S. teammate Steve Cherundolo.

With Jamaica down a man, Dempsey added the second goal with 10 minutes to play.

Jamaica had entered the game as the only team in the tournament to win all three of its group-stage games without allowing a goal, but the Reggae Boyz failed to earn their first-ever win against the United States.

The U.S. team suffered a blow early in the game when striker Jozy Altidore left with a strained left hamstring and was replaced by Agudelo in the 12th minute.

Landon Donovan and Dempsey had not trained with the team in Washington before the match. Each was excused to attend his sister's wedding - Dempsey in Texas and Donovan in California. Dempsey was in the starting lineup, but Donovan was a substitute, the first U.S. game he's begun on the bench since June 9, 2007.

The United States' semifinal opponent will be Panama, which defetaed El Salvador in a shootout after the teams played to a 1-1 tie. Panama was a 2-1 winner over the USA in the first round. In the other semi, Mexico meets Honduras. The games will be played as a doubleheader Wednesday in Houston's Reliant Stadium.

The expansion Whitecaps ended a 14-game winless streak when Alain Rochet scored 12 minutes into the game for a 1-0 victory over the Union on Saturday night.

Despite the loss, the Union (6-4-4, 22 points) remained tied with New York for first place in the Eastern Conference of MLS.

The Union has two home games this week, Wednesday with Kansas City and Saturday with Chivas USA, then does not have another MLS home game until July 29 with Colorado.

Danesha Adams scored two goals, Tasha Kai, Leanne Sanderson, Veronica Boquete and Holmfridur Magnusdottir one each as the Independence (4-2-3, 15 points) routed magicjack, 6-0, in a WPS game Saturday night at Widener University. The Indepence is in second place behind Western New York (6-1-2, 20 points).