Jamaica stuns United States in CONCACAF Gold Cup semis at Georgia Dome | PHOTOS

ATLANTA — For all but five minutes Wednesday night, the United States outplayed its opponent Jamaica during the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals in the Georgia Dome.

Unfortunately for the home side, Jamaica scored two goals during those five minutes to defeat the U.S. 2-1 to pull off the stunning upset and advance to its first Gold Cup final.

“Obviously the team is disappointed, the fans are disappointed, because we wanted to play in the big final Sunday,” U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “It was very, very good performance. I told them that at halftime as well, ‘Just keep playing like that you’re going to get more opportunities and sooner or later you’ll put them in the net and sooner or later we’ll turn this game around.’

“We lost this game on two set pieces that we conceded. It’s as simple as that. We had enough chances to put three, four, five in there. We didn’t do that and at the end of the day we lost. It’s unfortunate but that’s reality. Congratulations to Jamaica. They’re in the final and we have to swallow that pill.”

The Reggae Boyz struck first in the 31st-minute as Darren Mattocks’ looping header found the back of the net on long throw-in.

Just five minutes later the hole got deeper as U.S. keeper Brad Guzan was called for handling the ball outside of the penalty box, resulting in a Jamaica free kick from the top of the box. Giles Barnes made the most of the opportunity and rocketed a shot past Guzan for a two-goal lead.

“To see it go in, it’s just incredible,” said Barnes, who plays in the MLS for the Houston Dynamo. “The feeling right now it’s just insane. To come here and defeat a great side with a great manager as well — I want to say congrats to the U.S. for getting to the semis as well, but we’re looking forward to the final now.”

The U.S. had chances in the first half, but never seemed to fully be in rhythm offensively. In the second half, it found that rhythm.

Right out of the gate captain Michael Bradley re-energized the Georgia Dome crowd as he found the back of the net just three minutes into the second half. Bradley charged forward and put home a rebound from Clint Dempsey that Jamaican keeper Ryan Thompson failed to corral.

For the remainder of the game the U.S. seemed in full control and an equalizer seemed more a matter of when, not if.

First, a Fabian Johnson free kick wasn’t handled cleanly by Thompson and led to a terrific chance for Aron Johannsson, but he skied his shot over the net.

Bradley nearly did it himself minutes after his first goal as he scorched a shot right at Thompson, who managed to get a piece of the shot and deflect it into the goal post.

Despite a barrage of crosses and long balls into the box, the U.S. was never able to even the match. Its final truly dangerous chance was a John Brooks header in the 70th-minute that landed right in Thompson’s hands. In extra time, a long cross by Gyasi Zardes was too long for DeAndre Yedlin and the Reggae Boyz celebrated on the Georgia Dome field as time expired.

“We had enough chances to put this game away,” Klinsmann said. “Maybe we weren’t clinical enough to put it in there. But effort-wise, rhythm-wise, passing combinations, everything was there. It was lot of good stuff. But it’s the goals that matter.”

The U.S. will finish the tournament on Saturday in the third-place match against the loser of Wednesday’s other semifinal at the Georgia Dome between Mexico and Panama in Philadelphia.

The loss also means that the U.S. will have to play a one-game playoff with the tournament champion — likely in October — to secure a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup.

“Finishing off in style Saturday in front of our fans in Philadelphia,” Klinsmann said of what’s next for his team. “Doing that with the right attitude, right approach, to give all our to the fans. Swallowing that pill, it’s not nice to swallow but it is what it is. You can’t change anything, and we keep building and we keep focusing and we keep working hard enough to go into this World Cup Qualifying by the end of the year and start all over again.”

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