The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

TEAM Bahamas ran into one of the most prolific offences of the tournament thus far and suffered a lopsided loss in their second game of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017.

The Bahamas suffered a 10-1 loss to Senegal Saturday night at the national beach soccer stadium in game two of the tournament for each team. The Senegalese team has now stockpiled 19 goals in just two games after a 9-0 win over Ecuador in their opener.

It ended the Bahamas’ bid to reach the knockout stage, while Senegal was one of three teams to advance to the quarter-final on the evening.

Gavin Christie scored the lone goal for the Bahamas, his team-leading second of the tournament.

The Bahamas is slated to face Ecuador at 8pm tonight in the evening’s finale.

Bahamian national team head coach Alexandre Soares said the side did not display the toughness and enthusiasm from night one when they nearly pulled off the upset over Switzerland in a 3-2 loss.

“It was a bad performance. Our team played very bad in defence and had no fight,” he said. “I wish we had the same performance we had against Switzerland. Against Senegal we did not play with intelligence, we did not fight and you see the result. It was not even the first period but we were thrown off in the first four minutes. Within that first four minutes, it was already 4-0, it’s our mentality in this aspect that we need to improve.”

Soares, a native of Brazil holds the record for being the only coach to lead a national beach soccer team to four world titles. He led Brazil to the FIFA World Beach Soccer titles in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. He was the head coach of the Brazil national beach soccer team from 2005 to 2011.

“Now is time to talk to the team, motivate the team and try to win one game in the World Cup,” Soares said.

The African champions raced out to a five-goal lead in the first period and never looked back, as the Bahamas struggled to contain Senegal’s attack. Ibrahima Balde struck a hat-trick before Papa Ndoye and Hamad Diouf each scored a brace to book Senegal’s place in the quarter-finals alongside Switzerland.

Bahamian goalkeeper, Julio Jemison, said the slow start defensively placed the Bahamas into a hole they were unable to recover from.

“We allowed the guys to play their game. What we did against Switzerland is we forced them to play the game we wanted them to play but we weren’t able to do that against them. We gave Senegal too much freedom and they took advantage of us,” he said, “Defending them was a bit of a struggle because their playing style was so unique. They’re probably one of the only teams that play like that, that keeps the ball in the sand and they’re a bit unpredictable. Their players are world class so it was a bit of a struggle restricting them. I think we gave them too much space and too much time on the ball. Ecuador doesn’t play the same way, but we’ll take this game learn from it and come back on Monday with a vengeance. The only option is to get ready and work harder and get ready for the next one.”

Bahamian forward Lesly St. Fleur was also critical of his team’s lack of ability to respond to an early deficit.

“We had a game plan, we just didn’t execute so we couldn’t succeed, but it wasn’t really tough. When the four goals happened, we couldn’t really fight back from the early deficit. We lacked focus, everyone’s head went down and we couldn’t lift each other up. You have to believe and we didn’t go out there and believe. We have to go back to the drawing board. We have to work on some things, in particular, our throws and our finishing but the crowd never gave up on is, they were there since CONCACAF and were with us tonight up until the last whistle.”

Italy and Switzerland joined Senegal to become the first three countries to book their places in the quarterfinals. Italy defeated Iran 5-4 while Switzerland defeated Ecuador 9-5.

Senegal has also allowed just one goal thus far in the tournament to rank as the top defensive team.

Balde made it clear that he and his teammates are not getting carried away: “We’re really happy. We’ve played very well, although we haven’t achieved anything yet. The tournament will begin in earnest for us in the quarter-finals,” he said.

Group A and Group B will return to the sand tonight with four matches on the schedule.

Italy will face Mexico at 3:30 pm (Group B), Switzerland and Senegal will decide the top team in Group A at 5 pm, followed by Nigeria versus Iran at 6:30 pm and finally, the Bahamas versus Ecuador.