Bermuda 0 Costa Rica 5

Bermuda crashed to a 5-0 defeat against top seeds Costa Rica in their Concacaf Under-20 Championship opener at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, yesterday.

Coach Ray Jones’s charges paid the price for some poor defending and were fortunate not to have conceded more goals thanks to some fine goalkeeping from Quinaceo Hunt, which spared them further blushes.

Ronaldo Araya made the initial breakthrough and when the midfielder added another shortly before the interval Bermuda were left facing a mountain to climb.

At the other end, Bermuda struggled to create chances and were limited to just four shots on target the entire match, which were easily dealt with by Kevin Chamorro, the Costa Rica goalkeeper, who came away with the clean sheet.

Bermuda were forced to chase the game after Araya chipped Hunt after the defence were slow to react to the threat.

Araya then struck again six minutes before the break to give his team a comfortable cushion at the half.

Bermuda were limited to only two shots during the opening stanza, both from Somerset Trojans striker D’Andre Wainwright, which Chamorro easily saved.

Hunt was by far Bermuda’s busiest player as he made six saves to keep the scoreline respectable at the break.

The PHC Zebras goalkeeper was tested again at the start of the second half before Costa Rica extended their lead through a strike from defender Walter Cortes that put the game beyond reach.

Frustration then took its toll on Bermuda when defender San Tze Burgess was booked for a foul on opposite number Sebastian Castro in the 52nd minute.

Bermuda enjoyed an encouraging attacking spell on the hour mark with captain Jahkari Furbert having a shot saved before defender Cory Booth’s effort was cleared away by midfielder Yecxy Jarquin.

The Central Americans continued to press and were rewarded with two late goals that put an exclamation mark on their dominant display.

Striker Andrés Gómez pounced to make it 4-0 before being replaced by substitute Jurguens Montenegro who netted in stoppage time to complete Bermuda’s misery.

Jones’s side return to action with another tough game against Haiti tomorrow before facing St Lucia on November 7 and closing out their group with a match against Barbados on November 9.

SCORERS

Costa Rica 5

Araya 19, 39

Cortes, 48

Gomez 71

Montenegro 90+1

Bermuda 0

TEAMS

Costa Rica (4-4-2): K Chamorro — S Castro, W Cortes, A Gamboa, D Mesen (capt) — O Galo, A Arias, R Araya (sub: J Abarca, 56 mins), Y Jarquin — A Gomez (sub: J Montenegro, 87), A Reyes. Substitutes not used: P Sequeira, F Faerron, C Martinez, G Fonseca, C Villegas, J Navarro, A Parkins

Bermuda (4-4-2): Q Hunt — S Burgess, C Booth, J Dublin, E Moore — J Furbert (capt), D Richardson, K Scott, W Spencer (sub: L Smith, 66 mins) — D Wainwright (sub: A Burgess, 58), T Williams. Substitutes not used: Y Williams, M Hardtman, L Smith, N Spence, A McDowall, J Sealey, R-Smith Jones, Booked: S Burgess.

Referee: M Nava (Mexico)