Ricardo Pepi shines as USA down Jamaica

Ricardo Pepi and the young Americans saw a red, white and blue crowd, a scene seldom at past U.S. World Cup qualifiers, then dominated Jamaica behind the new 18-year-old sensation and moved into first place.

"We're just sitting there and we're on the train," U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said Thursday night after Pepi scored in the 49th and 62nd minutes in a 2-0 victory over Jamaica. "It's amazing. I mean, an 18-year-old gets an opportunity and takes advantage of it. What you see, and I think what I really like, he has this instinct, and it's really hard to teach that that to players. And he has an instinct to score."

Pepi, an El Paso native whose goal broke a second-half tie at Honduras in his international debut on Sept. 8, became the youngest American to score in consecutive qualifiers.

With family and friends in the stands, he got the first goal from a flowing movement as good as can be produced by the U.S., which outshot the Reggae Boyz 17-5.

Goalkeeper Matt Turner rolled the ball to his right flank, where Sergi