The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Team Bahamas followed game one’s dominant performance with a hard fought win in a thriller yesterday to edge closer to Saturday’s semifinals.

The Bahamas moved to 2-0 in the the 2013 CONCACAF Qualifier for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, with a 4-3 win over Guatemala.

Nesley Jean’s strike put the Bahamas ahead with just 1:12 left to play to break the 3-3 tie which lasted for over seven minutes of the final period.

Ehren Hanna broke up a corner kick from the Guatemalans, which sparked a breakaway opportunity for the Bahamas which Jean converted for the go-ahead score, his second of the game.

Mark Daniels and Hanna also added goals for Team Bahamas.

“It feels great. It’s the first time we have made the semifinals so it’s a good accomplishment for the team and for the country so I’m proud of my team. The guys are confident, I have great confidence in my team and I feel like we can go through to the finals,” Jean said.

The Bahamas never trailed in the match, but Guatemala always found the answer with an equaliser to keep pace.

“It’s up to us to go out there and play better. I think we dropped our level to their standard. They are not a bad team but I think we can actually play much better than we played in the last two games,” Jean said. “I think we need to improve our communication on defense because we gave up too much easy goals. On offense we seem fine but we have to improve defensively. In the third we adjusted a little bit and we tried to fix the problem but we have to do much better when we move forward.”

The Bahamas is slated to face the United States in a highly anticipated match to determine the top seed in Group A headed into the playoff round.

With both teams coming in with 2-0 records and, according to Jean, a competitive animosity between the teams, he expects another tough physical match.

“We expect to play better when we play the US. We have played the US before and it’s always a physical game because they don’t like us and we don’t like them and we don’t want to lose to them. They beat us the last time we met, 4-3, but this time we’re going for them,” he said.

Daniels opened the scoring with a strike at the 10:17 mark for a 1-0 lead in the first and Guatemala’s Wilson Gonzalez would answer at the 5:53 mark to tie.

Jean would score his first goal of the game at the 7:48 mark in the second period to put the Bahamas ahead only to have Eduardo Samayoa score the equaliser at 1:48.

Hanna opened the third period with a strike, straight from the kickoff to give the Bahamas a 3-2 lead.

After a scare at the other end, Guatemala rebounded offensively to force a 3-3 tie at the 8:40 mark.

In a tensely played, physically taxing game for both sides, Bahamian goalkeeper Torin Fergsuon and Guatemalan goalkeeper Jersson Alas stood out at times with spectacular saves.

Ferguson came up with a spectacular save late in the third period when the ball appeared to be in the net, but his second effort deflected the ball above the crossbar. He came up injured on the play, but says he is ready to go for today’s match against the Americans.

“I’m good to go, just had a little knock to the head, but I’m reeady to go, we trained for this and this game is too important to let anything stand in the way,” Ferguson said. “Guatemala was a more experienced team than Puerto Rico, but the team pulled together and we gave it our all. We wanted to qualify and we wanted to prove to the country and to all young players that they can progress in this sport and it’s a good one to pursue.”

The final schedule of round robin games is set for today.

Action begins at noon when Guatemala faces Puerto Rico, followed by the Bahamas against the US at 2:30pm.

The second and third place teams in Group B are slated to face off at 3:45pm, followed by the same matchup in Group C at 5pm.