Bermuda Knocked Out of World Cup Qualifer
The Bermuda National U/20 football team played their last game on their Suriname World Cup qualifier tour this afternoon [Jan 23], losing 2-1 to the host country, and will not advance to the next round. The winner of this match was due to advance, meaning the host country Suriname will now go through to the final qualifying stage for the CONCACAF U/20 World Cup qualifier.
Casey Castle gave Bermuda the lead in the 9th minute. After some 30 minutes, Casey Castle beat a defender and was taken down on the edge of the box, however the free kick taken by Quadir Maynard came off a defender and out for a corner.
Suriname just scored before the half, when a 20 yard shot beat goalkeeper Tahj Bell to level the score 1 – 1, where the score remained going into half-time.
In the second half a free kick went through a maze of players and the ball landed at the feet of a Suriname player who scored what proved to be the winner.
Head Coach Gary Darrell used the same starting line up as the first two games; Tahj Bell, Anthony Hunter, Reiko Trott, Roger Lee, Jaylon Bather, Casey Castle, Jamel Swan, Troy Tucker, Reggie Lambe, Quadir Maynard, and Dante Leverock.
On January 21, the U/20 football team played their second game, going down 2-1 to Curacao, with Bermuda`s goal coming courtesy of Troy Tucker. Bermuda won the first of three matches in the World Cup qualifier on January 19, defeating Guyana 3 – 0 with goals from Dante Leverock, Dante Albouy and Troy Tucker.
Bermuda’s U/20 team will now leave Suriname, with many of the players returning to their schooling. Through the course of Bermuda’s efforts at qualifying for the U/20 World Cup, the team beat Guyana, Antigua and drew with Guadeloupe.
The Bermuda Football Association said: “This was a match that we had to win and by all accounts during the first – half we were headed that way. However, football is played in two-half’s. Suriname came out controlling the first 20 minutes of the second –half mounting pressure on the Bermuda team. However Bermuda started to come back when the midfield took control. This provided a number of attacks for Bermuda but were in the end was unlucky to find the back of the net.”
“The future looks bright for this new crop of young players who are on the horizon for Bermuda. Although a number of our players attend College and or University in the United States or England, they performed admirably as collective team advancing this far in the competition. We must salute our players; tell them we will continue to support them. Lets not forget the coaching staff; without them this would not be possible. We look forward to seeing these players representing Bermuda at the international level.”
Good effort Guys! Hold your heads up high!
unlucky,i reckon if this squad stays together we will see great things from them in the future…i predict bermuda to make it to the 2018 world cup
Nice effort Bermuda…this team sounds like one to watch for the Future of Bermuda Football^^
Great effort, particularly given that the games were played in Suriname, who were the eventual winners.
We must however view these results realistically and factor in our opponents when evaluating how far we have come and what is possible in the future. In doing so we should consider the fact that our opponents are not in the top echelon of CONCACAF football. In fact they are in the mid to lower region of that table.
When rating CONCACAF countries ( forget FIFA rankings ) consider the following groups:
Level 1 – USA, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Canada
Level 2 – El Salvador – Jamaica – Trinidad – Guatemala
Level 3 – Cuba – Haiti – Guadeloupe -St Kitts
Level 4 – Suriname – Barbados- Bermuda – Netherland Antilles
The upside is that there is talent on the island and with hard work, improved technical direction and sustained international exposure and an improved domestic program, we can get back to the level 2 status that we enjoyed in the 70′s. Keep in mind that or under 19 team with Best, Simmons, Parsons et al,actually won the first CONCACACF under 19 tournament which was held in Bermuda..
Let’s put this in the correct pespective.As Tony states, we went out against the lower level countries in Concacaf. Countries that we owned in the past. So have we made any progess under this Technical Director? I think not.Can more learned football scholars than me explain his football philosophy of “running with the ball”? I have looked and looked and have yet to find this philosophy used at any major clubs or national program in the world. I have yet to find it as a philosophy, period. I became more confused when we struck a relationship with West Ham and here’s why, how can a philosphy of running with the ball merge with a West Ham philosophy that calls for ball rotation/ passing? We have some raw talent on this island,but it is clear that we have been found wanting from a tactical perspective.
thats a good point,but think of it this way unfortunately we have not had the funds to invest in football as a whole for a long time.i played for the under 17 in 97 in trinidad and we took two beatings,i also remember a few years before that there was regular youth tournaments like the diadora and lanzera trophey and then you get older and with the regular lack of exposure to play against better NATIONS and not international friendly against club teams from overseas.more needs to be invested into the game before people commit to it full time..we have good coaches but we never stick with them.clyde best should have been given a proper chance.Berkard Zeus was a proper coach and that was the last foreign coach we have had.the last 5 years i have seen an improvement in youth football but not at a senior level,at least now youths are getting a bit more exposure to the game with regular clinics and trials abroad.this under 20 team can go a long way as long as they stick together and the BFA do their part..
The BFA must do their part Serg, however there lies the problem. Does success equal the number of FIFA committees the President sits on or how many match commissioners are signed up by Uncle Jack?
There is no short term solution and you will never,ever have a sustained and productive national program without considerable improvement being made in the area of coaching at the domestic level. That is simply a fact.
I agree that Ziese was a fantastic coach however, he never saw Bermuda as a long term project and never put in place programs that looked to the future.
I am glad however that the current TD is leaving. We spent quite a large chunk of change on this guy and the net results are simply not acceptable. Just not good enough!!!
Therein lies the problem Serg, we will never get there without having many good coaches on island, not one per era. At some point we need to grow up as a country. A trial here and there and bringing a foreign coach in, here and there to run a 4 day clinic will never get it done. The vast majority of the clinics targeting youth players are nothing more than commercial exercises that lighten parents pockets. Nice little acts of fantasy with parents hoping that there little Bobby will be seen and whisked away on trials. Until we accept that we must train our local coaches or better still, local coaches accept that they need to continuously educate themselves, we won’t get much further than we are today. The US game only progressed(and progress they have) after they accepted that the NY Cosmos and the like were nice little side shows and that in order to improve, a few things had to happen,(1) they needed to grow their own coaches and stop relying on 2nd rate coaches from england and (2) they needed to grow their own leagues exposing American players to a consistent and higher level of football. We must first stop relying on foreign full time coaches from 2nd rate football experiences and accept that we must grow our own coaches. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why we would look to england for a Technical Director when the top clubs in England don’t want English coaches. England don’t even want an english coach to run their national team. Just food for thought.
Thanks guys, these comments are some of the most thoughtful I think we have seen on the state of domestic football and I agree whole heartedly.
Especially the part about being realistic and not going crazy everytime I Bermudian steps onto a football pitch overseas. Lets wait until our kids are regularly ready for D1 Universities in the US or are able to earn a living from football. Note that league 2 in England is not high enough for this.
One comment is that there is a coaching philosophy which states that a player should run with the ball whenever and wherever possible. When I told an (English) coach that I didn’t agree with that philosphy he looked at me as if I was an alien!
What really concerns me is comments like those in todays RG which congratulates the boys on their efforts (which is a good thing) but then goes on to plug the National Academy while painting it with the same brush as the Hogges.
Most of the u20 starting line up is not in the National Academy – given they reside off Island – some have never been in it.
And yes in real terms Tony and Serge inspite of all the hype and media coverage we haven’t actually progressed relative to our peers and in some areas we have regressed (see the u17 in Trinidand last summer).
I’d take the good effective coach in the mug tracksuit over a spin doctor any day…