The Tribune

THE Bahamas national men’s soccer team will return home tomorrow after suffering their latest loss 1-0 versus Saint Kitts and Nevis at Warner Park in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis.

It was their second consecutive loss in the last two matches as they were also knocked off by the Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warriors 7-1 on Saturday in the second round of CONCACAF matches for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification.

Assistant coach Kevin Davies said after Saturday’s devastating loss against the Soca Warriors, Team Bahamas was able to improve their overall play against Saint Kitts and Nevis. “I think defensively we kept our shape a little better and communicated a lot better.

“We changed our formation to play with more attacking and this time we defended in a different way and it worked out for us. Saint Kitts had chances that we didn’t put away but that is the way it goes. The goalkeeper made some key saves that kept us in the game and we had our chances that we didn’t put away but that is the way the game goes,” he said.                       

Despite recovering from some of last game’s mistakes, The Bahamas national men’s soccer suffered a tough loss when defender Jean Tilo was issued his second yellow card of the game at the 44th minute in the first half.

The host country got a crafty goal from Ethan Bristow off a header that came from the left side of the six-yard box straight to the back of the net.

In the final minutes of the first half, Tilo was issued his first yellow card for a foul in the midfield and then the second violation came at the 44th minute which resulted in The Bahamas having to play without his services. The home team would have a 1-0 advantage at the halftime mark and never relinquished the lead.

Coach Davies spoke about the impact of the pivotal loss for the Junkanoo Boyz in game two of this 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier window.                       

“Overall, the team played a lot better than the last game. They stuck to the game plan, we had a lot more but unfortunately we got a red card at the end of the first half which put us into a little bit of a bind. Nonetheless, we still held them scoreless after the red card but guys had to work a lot harder because we were down a man. We were under a lot of pressure in the second half but we weathered the storm and pulled through,” coach Davies said.

The latest loss kept The Bahamas in the last spot of the Group B standings with 0 points. Meanwhile, Saint Kitts and Nevis moved up to the third spot in the group rankings. The away team currently owns a 0-0-2 (win/draw/loss record) and the host country now has 1-0-1 record with 3 points.

Costa Rica is leading the group at 2-0-0 for a total six points and next up is Trinidad and Tobago with a 1-1-0 record good for four-points. Grenada is fourth in the standings at 0-1-1 along with one point.

The Bahamas sits in a tough spot as only the top two teams in Group B will advance to the third round.

Although the situation is not ideal, coach Davies shared his biggest takeaway from the last two matches.

“The guys are talented enough to play at a high level when we get them in the right frame of mind. I think we have some aspects we can build on defensively and with attacking. We just need the guys to be willing to put in the work and I think we can have success going forward. We have a pretty young team with four players that are 25 and over so the future is bright,” he said.

The second window of the CONCACAF schedule for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification will continue June 4-10 in 2025.