Bulls Abroad: Kemar Lawrence helps Jamaica beat Curacao in 2017 Gold Cup

Jamaica's 2017 Gold Cup opener was a re-match of the 2017 Caribbean Cup final - a match the Reggae Boyz lost, 2-1, to Curacao.

It took some sharp work by 'keeper Andre Blake to keep Curacao off the board in this game, but in the end a strengthened Jamaica team was able to pull off a 2-0 win to extract a measure of revenge over the opponent that snatched this year's Caribbean crown.

New York Red Bulls' Kemar Lawrence was also a significant contributor to Jamaica's win. The 24-year-old is a senior member of his national team squad, and was on set-piece duty for his side. His dead-ball deliveries won him some praise on the night, though that aspect of his game is no great secret: back in 2014, Lawrence scored his first goal for his country off a direct free kick.

Still, he is a long way down the set-pieces depth chart for RBNY, so it isn't often one gets to see what Lawrence can do with a dead ball.

Despite his best efforts, however, Jamaica's goals didn't come from any great set-piece execution. Romario Williams deserves all the credit for scoring from a position only he thought was likely to produce a goal. Lawrence's overlapping run and cut-back found Darren Mattocks in space and handed the forward enough time to hammer home his team's second.

Next up for Lawrence and Jamaica is a re-match of the 2015 Gold Cup final - against Mexico on July 13.