It was hardly a throwback to the days of a high-noon Kansas City shoot-out as the timid-looking US Men’s National Team (USMNT) strolled around aimlessly in the first half before what must have been a serious team talk from head coach Jurgen Klinsmann inside the dressing room.

Whatever it was, it worked, starting with the 46th-minute substitution of veteran talisman Landon Donovan with young hometown hero and fast-rising star Graham Zusi. The move saw a reshaped five-man midfield (4-2-3-1) as the tactical manoeuvre from the starting formation (4-4-2), immediately shifted the game vastly in the favour of the hosts.

Jozy Altidore became the lone point man as the central pivotal striker, as a three-man deployment of Zusi, Mix Diskerud, and Aron Johannson now withdrawn from the front-line, as they began to spread thin the Reggae Boyz backline.

The Jamaican tactic of only the defensive four players, staying behind the ball in tandem with captain and defensive midfielder, Rodolph Austin, looked suspect.

Austin tried to retain possession by positioning himself higher upfield inside the limited three-man midfield areas where he needed to be compact with Je-Vaughan Watson and Jobi McAnuff. They were doing very well throughout the first 45 minutes as the US allowed far too much time and space to them.

Watson had possibly his best game in the national colours as the three combined well inside the midfield zone but both flanks in addition to areas in front and behind them, were screaming to be attacked until Klinsmann’s men were redeployed into those crucial areas, soon and very soon the game was gone forever.

With two defensive midfielders attracting the attention of McAnuff and retreating attacker, Ryan Johnson to chase, Watson had now taken on multiple roles to try to double team with Austin defensively as attacking options disappeared.

It worsened in minute 66 as young, fit, fast Edgar Castillo replaced another veteran in DeMarcus Beasely on the left flank with instruction to surge forward regularly. This started tearing away at the fabric of stationary rightback Lloyd Doyley, that looked really hopeless to the routine overlapping onslaught every time.

The Reggae Boyz’s defensive stance crumbled around the minute 70 as the playmaker-now-turned-defensive midfielder, Watson, was injured in his constant coming and going, mixed with strong tackling and had to leave the field, lucky not to receive a caution. The genuine workload was lost, as a less than 100 per cent Austin was already wilting. McAnuff was wasted and could not recover as Ryan Johnson kept working, covering for him.

To complicate matters, on minute 73, US’s Sacha Kljestan replaced Johannson and Jamaica’s Theo Robinson entered the game strangely for the best attacking player on the night, Darren Mattocks, only to be shifted due to Watson’s sudden injury, into midfield, but though fresh he knew very little about midfield roles.

Under pressure, the turnover in midfield led to a sustained series of passes, tackles, as the USA kept the ball outside the area, while spreading it from centre to left and then wide right, to eventually create enough space for Zusi to swipe home from Alejandro Bedayo’s cross from 12 yards into the far corner, away from a diving DuWayne Kerr, in minute 77 to open the scoring.

Resistance broken, the US were on the hunt like a posse after a gunslinger, soon they had their reward as Castillo played yet another give-and-go with Zusi on the left to fly past Doyley, to cross easily for a gift to in-form striker Altidore to tap home from six yards, leaving Kerr without a chance for 2-0 in minute 81.

Local cult hero, Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson entered the field in the 68th minute against Costa Rica and did the extraordinary to score in the 90th.

Now with only a victory to give the Reggae Boyz any chance at all, he is left out of a three-man frontline, with Ryan Johnson preferred over him, likely for his defensive capabilities, not his attacking prowess.

Then he comes in after Theo Robinson, who did very well late on with a telling strike on goal.

He would have been further behind had Jermaine ‘Teddy’ Johnson not been ruled out injured just ahead of the start.

Deflated we move on to Tuesday’s encounter in Kingston against Honduras assured of finishing last in the hexagonal.