By Vijay Setlur

MIAMI - El Salvador needs to figure out how to score goals - and avoid a Gold Cup elimination that could affect other priorities.

Despite a 2-1 opening victory over Costa Rica in the Gold Cup opener, a 1-0 loss to Canada leaves El Salvador in a precarious position heading into its Group A finale against Jamaica on Friday in Miami.

"It was a hard game, we tried to control the midfield a little bit, but Canada definitely had a strong approach to it and we had a bit of difficulty with that," El Salvador manager Carlos de los Cobos said.

It was a tale of two games. Despite enjoying overwhelming crowd support and using the same lineup, El Salvador appeared as two different teams.

"The rivalries are big (in Central America) and they (El Salvador) consider us one of the better teams in Central America, so they always want to beat us," Costa Rica defender Gonzalo Segares said. "I think El Salvador had 12 years without winning games against us. It's always going to be tough because we have a target on our backs and everybody wants to beat us."

Costa Rican striker Andy Herron predicted a Salvadoran letdown against Canada, saying he figured El Salvador already had won what it considered the biggest game of the first round.

Osael Romero scored twice against Costa Rica, and the strong play of midfielder Salvador Coreas' have been bright spots. However, Canada stifled the Salvadoran midfield, restricting service to strikers William Torres and William Reyes.

To avoid a repeat, El Salvador will require contributions from several others against the quick and stronger Jamaicans.

An early exit after a promising start would be disappointing, and could significantly affect morale as it heads back into World Cup qualifying.

Sitting fifth in the six-team "hexagonal", El Salvador would like adding more obstacles to that path.