Reggae Boyz striker Ryan Johnson (left) catches American Michael Parkhurst in the face during their FIFA World Cup qualifier inside the National Stadium on Friday. Jamaica won 2-1. - Ricardo Makyn

Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Jamaica's senior men's national football team created history yesterday evening inside the National Stadium, as they recorded a come-from-behind 2-1 win over CONCACAF powerhouses United States in an exciting World Cup qualifying match.

The Reggae Boyz first ever victory over their American counterparts was made possible by free kick goals from Rodolph Austin (23rd minute) and Luton Shelton (62nd minute) after Clint Dempsey had given the Americans the lead in the opening minute.

The Reggae Boyz head coach Theodore Whitmore was very pleased that a feat that he failed to achieve during his illustrious playing career, has finally been realised.

"It is a very historic night for me; what I haven't done as a player I have done as a coach by beating the USA team," Whitmore said. "It is wonderful, but I knew it was coming, as we could see it in our training session; the players were up for it and everybody was up for it, both physically and mentally, to beat this US team."

Even after going behind to such an early goal, Whitmore said he never lost faith that the objective of beating the US for the first time in 19 meetings would have been realised.

Jamaica are now sole leaders of the group on seven points, while the US dropped to second on four points where they are joined by Guatemala, which also has four points, after defeating Antigua and Barbuda 3-1.

A dream start

The US got off to a dream start, as they sought their first every World Cup Qualifying win over Jamaica at 'The Office', when the Tottenham Hotspurs man Dempsey scored his 28th international goal in 88 appearances.

Austin was presented with a glorious opportunity to let loose from distance in the 23rd minute when he was offended 25 yards away from goal by Kyle Beckerman. The Leeds United man picked himself up, but added a bit of craftiness to his powerful shot, as he fired the ball under the jumping wall pass the diving Tim Howard in goal.

Jamaica got off to a much better start in the second half than they did in the first and deservingly took the lead in the 62nd minute when the country's all-time leading goal scorer netted an absolutely beautiful free kick for his 34th goal in national colours.

"After that equaliser they (Jamaica) rose to the occasion, they had a tremendous amount of energy and they gave it everything they had and Jamaica deserved that win," US coach Juergen Klinsmann reasoned. "They (Jamaica) were hungrier, more determined and that's how they came off the field as the winning team; we have to fix it now back in Columbus."