BRADENTON – Guyana handed Bermuda their first defeat in Group A of 2022 Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship Qualifying in a 3-2 final on Wednesday morning at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Guyana jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead thanks to goals from Shemaiah Samuels in the 25’ and Christopher Whitter in the 34’, but Bermuda would answer back with a score shortly before halftime, as Daion Swan-desilva found the back of the net in the 38’ to make it 2-1 at the break.
Bermuda stayed on the hunt for an equalizer, but instead Guyana was next to score, as Whitter scored his second of the day in the 69’ to give Guyana a 3-1 lead.
Bermuda could pull a goal back in the 80’ from Hayden Dill to make it a 3-2 affair going into the final minutes, but the Golden Jaguars would hold on for the victory.
In the day’s other game, British Virgin Islands edged Saint Martin 2-1 in which all the goals were scored in the first half.
David Zephir of Saint Martin broke the deadlock in the 21’, but British Virgin Islands would rally with goals from Johari Lacey in the 36’ and Jadon Abrams in the 40’ via the penalty spot for a 2-1 British Virgin Islands advantage.
From there, the British Virgin Islands defense handled things the rest of the way to secure the three points.
Group B will come to a close on Thursday at the IMG Academy with Puerto Rico and Aruba vying for a victory and a place in next year’s CMU17 Championship. A draw would be enough for the Boricuas to advance, while Aruba will require a win for passage to the next phase.
Rounding out the day’s games in the group will be Martinique and Anguilla. Martinique will try to bounce back from a narrow loss to Puerto Rico, while Anguilla are seeking their second straight win.
It will be the third CMU17Q meeting between Puerto Rico and Aruba, with Aruba holding a 1W-1D-0L edge. Their last meeting was a 2-1 Aruba win in 2016. Meanwhile, Martinique topped Anguilla 13-0 in 2019 in their lone previous CMU17Q contest.
