It was not the start that The Bahamas’ Under-20 (U20) Women’s National Soccer Team was looking for, dropping a hurtful 2-0 loss to the Cayman Islands in their opening game of the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) Women’s U20 Championship Qualifiers at Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curaçao, on Monday night.
The loss was a tough one as they now sit at the bottom of Group B with a 0-1 win/loss record. The Cayman Islands, who grabbed three vital points, sit at the top of the group with their 1-0 record in the tournament. The third team in the group is Anguilla who have not started their play in the competition as yet.
Team Bahamas was able to keep it clean for the first 44 minutes of the game. However, just before half-time, Cayman’s Molly Kehoe was able to put the ball in the back of the Bahamian net to put her team up 1-0.
The game was far from over and The Bahamas had time to tie it and eventually win it. However, Kehoe found the back of The Bahamas’ goal once more, in the 70th minute of the game. Both teams were unable to score the rest of the way.
The Bahamas will look to regroup from that tough outing when they take on Anguilla at 8 p.m. tonight in their final game of the group stage. For The Bahamas to win the group and advance to the next stage they will first have to get a win tonight. They will also hope that Anguilla defeats the Cayman Islands on Friday, and then win the goal differential battle.
Representing The Bahamas are Alexis Williamson, Brianna Capron, Rokesia Sands, Nia Hall, Shasta Saunders, Jade Thelmour, Jada Thelmour, Gabrielle Murphy, Julia Raine, Giselle Laing, Angel Williams, Janeka Edey, Kendi Outten, Malia Kinger, Hadassah Knowles, Rachel Rolle, Samina Moss, Sellene Johnson, Mia Williams and India Davis.
The head coach is Cherlindria Thompson and she is assisted by Jodei Clarke.
The competition consists of 13 teams playing in four different groups. Three groups have three teams and one group has four teams.
The other 10 teams in the tournament are host nation Curaçao, Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, the US Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Suriname and Belize. The winners from the four groups will advance to the knockout stage which is set for the first quarter of 2022.
The winners from the four groups will join 12 other teams and they will be divided into four groups. After round-robin play in that portion of the championships, the top teams in each group will advance to the round of 16.
The entire knockout stage, which includes the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, third-place and final matches, will be played in a single elimination format.
The winner, runner-up and third-place team will qualify for the 2022 FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica, set for August 10-28, 2022.
