Jamaica's Ryan Johnson (right) was guilty of missing several chances. - Ap

... Reggae Boy discovers scoring touch in 2-0 win over El Salvador

WASHINGTON, DC, United States:

A somewhat risky plan by Jamaica's head coach Theodore Whitmore to tinker with Jamaica's playing system in preparation for crucial World Cup qualifiers (WCQ) against the United States next month paid dividends last night when the Reggae Boyz beat El Salvador 2-0 in a friendly football international at the RFK Stadium here.

Two goals from striker Luton Shelton, in the 16th and 66th minutes, were enough to bury a pesky El Salvador team, which created their own scoring chances, but failed to capitalise.

According to Whitmore, the decision to switch from the 4-4-2 formation, which earned Jamaica four points from two WCQ in June, a win against Guatemala and a draw with Antigua and Barbuda, was all part of the gearing up for the Americans. However, Whitmore revealed at a post-game press conference that Jamaica had hardly rehearsed the 5-2-3 system used last night, which often employ five defenders, two central midfielders and a trio of strikers.

"We haven't played this formation in quite a while," the coach explained. "We haven't trained in this formation."

With the exception of occasional confusion over marking assignments, especially in defence, the grand experiment paid off in the end as Jamaica met several objectives, including creating and scoring goals, plus introducing several players who were not part of the recent WCQ. Overall, Whitmore was pleased.

"I wouldn't say it was 100 per cent," he said, "but I was pretty much satisfied with the game.

"I think the team did well (last night) in areas," he added. "It's good to see us getting goals and keeping a clean sheet ... Anything we do now is toward the USA game on the 7th (of September)." A huge chunk of credit for shutting out El Salvador was due to an excellent display by goalkeeper Dwayne Miller, who made several crucial saves last night, especially against the wily Eliseo Quintinilla.

scoring touch

However, Shelton appeared to have rediscovered his scoring touch in time, especially with the deepening pool of strikers available for national duty, including Ryan Johnson, Omar Cummings and newcomer Darren Mattocks, who made his senior debut last night. Whitmore sounded relieved after Shelton first curled a shot inside the far post and later headed in a second from Johnson's excellent cross to seal the win.

"Shelton hasn't scored in quite a while," the coach said.

Mattocks squandered two clear chances to score on debut and Johnson too was guilty of missing the mark.

The Reggae Boyz will play Kenya on August 25 in Hartford, Connecticut.

It is another game Whitmore said he plans to use as fine-tuning exercise for Jamaica ahead of the first US game in Kingston. For him, it's time to finally break the jinx of failing to defeat the Americans at the senior level. Last night, the US beat CONCACAF rivals Mexico 1-0 in another friendly. Whitmore said he especially wants to beat the US as Jamaica celebrate 50 years of Independence.

"We have never beaten the USA," he said adamantly. "We are preparing ourselves to beat this USA team."