A memorable moment – Lowe - National defender reflects on his Gold Cup goal

June 01, 2020
Jamaica’s Damion Lowe (right) and Panama’s Gabriel Torres battle for the ball during the first half of a CONCACAF Gold Cup match in Philadelphia last year.
Jamaica’s Damion Lowe (right) and Panama’s Gabriel Torres battle for the ball during the first half of a CONCACAF Gold Cup match in Philadelphia last year.

National defender Damion Lowe recalls the scoring against Honduras in their Gold Cup 2019 Group C game at the National Stadium last June as a moment that was written in the stars.

The 27-year-old was speaking during last Thursday's Gleaner Instagram Live, interview where he discussed his club's future, his stint at Norwegian Club IK Start, Reggae Boyz World Cup 2022 qualification chances, as well as his evolution as a player.

International retirement

Lowe told STAR Sports that his Gold Cup goal was memorable for him not just because he scored in front of his home supporters, but because of his family's connection to the team and the opponent. His father, Onandi, played for the Reggae Boyz, helping to qualify the nation for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Honduras was the last team that he scored against before international retirement. Lowe said that being constantly around his father's teammates as a youngster made him a Reggae Boy from the start.

"I feel like if it was to happen to any other player, they wouldn't feel it as much. Because [of] my father and the connection to the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), I feel like I was a national player since I was young because I knew all the players," he said. They used to come to my house, hang out, everything. I used to go to the player's house [and] go to JFF office since I was a child."

Already ahead 2-1, Lowe's bullet-like header sent the crowd into a frenzy as the Reggae Boyz scored their third goal of the night. He described the moment as poetic as his father watched from the stands.

"Watching my father in the national stadium, scoring; Me now growing up being able to play for the national team, and then my father was in the stadium, and then me scoring on the team he last scored against for the national team, it was pure joy," he said. "It had to happen because the game I was having was a monstrous game. I felt like that game, nothing could go wrong."

Jamaica would win the match 3-2 and would advance from the Group, where they would reach the semi-finals of the Gold Cup for the third consecutive tournament.

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