The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IT WAS a disappointing finish for Team Bahamas at the Caribbean Football Union Men’s Under-17 Qualifiers this week as the team was unable to advance to the next round of play.

The team closed out the series with a 4-0 loss at the hands of Puerto Rico yesterday in the group stage finale at the Roscow Davies Soccer Field.

The visitors struck early on a goal from Marco Arocha in the 17th minute to take an early 1-0 lead which they maintained until the half.

Puerto Rico nearly added a second goal when a strike by Andre Rivera hit the cross bar. However, the ball bounced in a fortunate direction for the home side.

A pair of spectacular saves from Bahamian goalie Ari Brathwaite kept the team in contention.

A strike from Tre Rolle just missed wide left as the Bahamas’ best chance at scoring the equaliser.

Puerto Rico went ahead 2-0 when Rivera scored on his second opportunity in the 76th minute. Alex Martinez added another goal in the 89th minute and Arocha scored his second of the day in extra time at the 91st minute for the game’s final margin.

The Bahamas finished the tournament with an 0-3 record after previous losses to Bermuda and Martinique.

In game one the Bahamas fell 4-0 to Bermuda on Wednesday, followed by a 2-0 loss to Martinique on Friday night.

Twenty teams competed in this first round of the CONCACAF qualifier. The additional top two teams in the draw, Haiti and Jamaica, will receive first round byes directly to the final round, hosted in Haiti.

Other opening round hosts at the group stage include Guadeloupe, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Cuba. Winners in each group and the top-ranked second place finishers will advance.

Despite the outcome of the series, members of team Bahamas remained upbeat and placed a positive spin on the future of the programme.

“It was a pretty tough loss. Last year when we went down to Cayman we were so disorganised, we lacked technical ability, responsibility, discipline, but now a year later - despite the scores - we have really developed as a team. We have come out and shown that grass soccer can still stay alive in the Bahamas,” right midfielder Johnathan Miller said.

“Tiny mistakes cost us silly goals, but overall we tried our hardest. To be honest the scores shouldn’t matter, what we have been able to achieve in the last week has been phenomenal.”

Right centre back Chris Godet added: “At the end of the day our mentality as a team fell apart after some easy goals, and we weren’t able to get back into the game. The sun was a problem but I just believe we didn’t get our heads into in the second half. We weren’t able to pressure and move our team like how we were used to doing. Where we came from, I’m proud to be with this group of young men that evolved into a team.”

Brathwaite gave credit to the many supporters that came out over the course of the three day event. “We fought. We had a man down and they were able to take advantage,” he said. “These aren’t team-mates these are my brothers. Thanks to the fans for coming out and supporting us. We didn’t win but I can guarantee to everyone that we did our best.”

National team head coach Dion Godet said the team is already looking ahead at training for its next event, and will spend the next few months working on adjustments.

“We have to develop a true attacking striker. We have to develop someone who can take that ball and find a way to put it in the back of the net under any circumstance. We had good opportunities, we had really good opportunities, but I’m not sure if we had enough of the desire to give up let’s say ‘bone, blood and life’ to put the ball in the back of the net,” he said.

“Next on course for this crew is a Disney tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. We hope to take what we have learned here. We faced three quality sides over the last couple of days, we hope to take that to Disney and hopefully show that we have quality football players here in the Bahamas and these kids will also have an opportunity to obtain scholarships so we look forward to that.”