Tough loss for The Bahamas

The Bahamas men’s national beach soccer team gave it quite a ride on Friday but just came up short in their quarterfinal match against Mexico.

Team Bahamas held the lead in the final third on Friday but the game went into extra time, and they ended up falling 5-4, and was eliminated at the 2021 CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) Beach Soccer Championships (CBSC), at the Complejo Deportivo Fedefutbol in Alajuela, Costa Rica.

Scoring goals for The Bahamas were Wood Julmis with a double, and Jean Francois and Timothy Munnings with one goal each.

Julmis scored both of his goals back-to-back in the first third, surprising the heavily favored Mexican team. Julmis scored on the first offensive possession of the game when team captain Lesly St. Fleur faked a shot and passed him the ball on the right side of the field. Julmis found the back of the net for his second goal of the tournament. He put The Bahamas up 1-0 four seconds into the game. It was the first time defending champions Mexico trailed in the tournament.

Less than 30 seconds after scoring, an unmarked Julmis was crashing the goal on the back post when he headed a bouncing St. Fleur bicycle kick. Julmis was in the right place at the right time as St. Fleur’s shot bounced once to give Julmis enough height to tap in The Bahamas’ second goal of the game. The Bahamas was in the driver’s seat as the early lead surprised their opponents.

Head Coach for The Bahamas Luiz Escobar said that they competed at a high level but lost concentration in the final third.

“We played a great game against Mexico who is currently ranked number one in CONCACAF and are the champions of the 2019 CONCACAF tournament. In this type of game against a highly qualified team we have to maintain concentration and focus until the end of the game. Unfortunately, our team lost concentration in the final third which cost us the game and a qualification spot in the semifinals,” Escobar said.

Francois put The Bahamas up 3-0 with a shot just below the half line with 4:13 left in the first third.

Just before the end of the first third, Mexico cut the lead to 3-1.

The second third saw The Bahamas taking a 4-1 lead when Munnings scored with under five minutes left in that period to put his team up. Mexico got a goal back, making it 4-2 at the end of the second third.

The Bahamas was unable to find the back to the net for the rest of the game. Mexico found the back of the net twice in the final third to end that third 4-4. The game went into extra time.

In extra time, both teams were fighting to take the lead but the Mexicans took their first and only lead of the game at the 1:40 mark. The score was 5-4 in favor of Mexico. The score remained the same at the end of the game.

Escobar was happy with the team’s overall performance in the tournament.

“In my opinion, we had a great tournament and a great performance,” Escobar stated. “We were in a very strong group with El Salvador and Guatemala, both finishing in the top four of the tournament. The team had ups and downs but knew how to overcome the obstacles during the tournament, making it the quarterfinals and unfortunately losing a close match to Mexico but ending up being the number one team in the Caribbean.”

He added: “Over the past two years the team has improved and evolved to be able to compete at the highest level in CONCACAF. I am extremely proud of the team, the work and dedication to the sport and with 30 percent of the team being young players, the team has a very bright future.”

For St. Fleur, he said that it was good to see the young players make their debut.

“The tournament was a good and better experience for me personally and for the teammates it was a great for them especially how we have new and young players who made their debut for their country,” St. Fleur said.

St. Fleur has scored 41 goals in the tournament’s history that puts him at number three on the all-time list. It is an accomplishment that he attributes to his hard work every time he practices. A total of seven of those goals came in this year’s tournament. He finished fourth in scoring this year.

The Bahamas finished tied for fourth with Mexico and Costa Rica with 19 goals scored throughout the tournament.

The post Tough loss for The Bahamas appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/tough-loss-for-the-bahamas/