The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the Bahamas men’s national team is in Guyana playing their second match in the 2023 Nations League, Puerto Rico will host Antigua & Barbuda in their home game tonight at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.

The Bahamas men’s national team, coached by Nesly Jean, will be out to redeem themselves after losing 6-1 to Puerto Rico in their opening game on Saturday at the TAR Stadium.

Antigua & Barbuda are coming off a 5-1 loss to Guyana, but on their arrival to the Bahamas on Monday, head coach Anthony Ferguson said they are eager to turn things around when they play Puerto Rico.

In making his median voyage to the Bahamas, Ferguson said he heard about the facilities and they are looking forward to playing here, especially after the warm reception they have received from the Bahamian people.

“We have players who are home based and they have been joined by players overseas,” Ferguson said. “Over the last few weeks, we have been working out in preparation for the tournament.

“It’s been a fantastic experience so far. We lost our first game on Saturday, but we are here to compete and we want to make sure that everybody knows that we can compete with our opposition.”

Ferguson said all of their players are looking forward to the challenge and competing at the best of their abilities, but the goal is to come here to win.

DeAndre Bishop, also making his first trip to the Bahamas, said the team are mentally, physically, spiritually, technically and morally ready to compete.

And Myles Weston, back in the Bahamas for the first time since he played against the Bahamas about four years ago, said he’s excited about his team’s chances in the match against Puerto Rico.

He noted that as long as they trust in their coach and trust in themselves as players, they will be a team to reckon with. He admitted that the players on this team have not played against Puerto Rico before, although there are former players who did.

Once they come out and play with a lot of “excitement” and are “organised,” he said, they will be ready to play, even though he noted that they are not taking Puerto Rico for granted.

Having settled in Guyana, coach Nesly Jean said the Bahamas team spirit is up and they are confident that they can compete at this level of competition.

“It’s about taking risks. Speaking to them and getting them to believe in themselves and also slight technical changes,” said Jean about the approach the players and coaches have made to get ready for the tournament. 

“The last game in the second half, we were far behind, but obviously, it showed that we wanted to improve and shoe the fans and to the world that we could play.”

Jean said there are some players who played on Saturday who didn’t make the trip, but he said they will make the adjustment with who they have and he’s confident that they have a team that could win. 

With the first game against Puerto Rico game over and done with, veteran Lesly St Fleur said they have to regroup and get prepared for Guyana.

“The game (tonight) is a more important game, so we have to come out much better than we did in the first period, just like how we played in the second period,” St Fleur said. “The confidence is there and the players are there. 

“There are a few things we have to change. We have to communicate a little more and move together as a team and pull each other up. Tomorrow (tonight) is going to be a difficult game, but we have to pull through.”

Playing on the road is not the same as playing at home, so St Fleur said if they can’t win, they need to at least end up with a draw. 

Goalkeeper Vance Wheaton said after getting off to a great start in the first half against Puerto Rico, they let the game slip away from them until the second half when they switched their formation. 

“We are hoping that we can switch back to that in the Guyana game and we can come back just as hard,” Wheaton said. “Hopefully the line up will change and it will help us get better. I’m looking forward to it.

“Playing at home, I was really nervous representing my country on our home field in front of my family and friends., I felt more pressure,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can do that same thing again, but this time we can win.”

Walter Sawyer, who came in to play in the 57th minute of the game, said he had a good experience.

“I got to do a lot of running, so it was a good experience,” he said. “To see the home fans cheering me on when I came in, was really good.”

Learning from the experience, Sawyer said if he gets the call from coach Jean to play, he hope he won’t make the same mistake that he made against Puerto Rico.

“I wasn’t taking all of my one on ones, so that’s something I would look forward to doing, instead of passing the ball all the time,” Sawyer said.

The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Antigua & Barbuda and Guyana are all playing out of League B and Group 4 in the Nations League that will run for the next three month in a home and away series.