United forward Darren Mattocks scored the game-winning goal in Jamaica's 2-1 victory over Suriname on November 17, converting a penalty kick in the 16th minute to put the Reggae Boyz up 2-0. While Suriname would get on the board before halftime, Mattocks' PK was enough to give Jamaica the win.
After being taken down in the box, Mattocks confidently stepped up to the line and fired a strike to the top right corner. The forward nearly tallied a brace in the 87th minute when he flicked a header into the back of the net, but he was narrowly ruled offside. The Philadelphia Union's Cory Burke scored the Reggae Boyz's first goal in the 7th minute.
Next up for Jamaica is El Salvador, and while the Reggae Boyz were glad to pick up the win over Suriname, they recognize they will have to be much sharper against a challenging Salvadoran side.
“It’s going to be twice as hard," Mattocks said of Jamaica's next match. "El Salvador is a very hostile environment so we have to go there really prepared because we can’t have a performance like this against El Salvador. We just have to go back to the drawing board, and the opportunities that we are creating, we have to put them away.”
Mattocks has shown his goalscoring ways with both Jamaica and the Black-and-Red in his first season in the District. The forward scored 10 goals for United in their 2018 campaign, and was tied for the club's second-leading goalscorer this year.
