Bermuda 0 Curaçao 7

Reggie Lambe’s last home game in Bermuda colours did not end on a high as Curaçao kept their World Cup qualification hopes alive with a massive win at Flora Duffy Stadium on Thursday night.

Lambe, who was handed the captain’s armband in his home swan song, was on the field for 62 minutes. However, the veteran midfielder was powerless to stop Curaçao from picking up three points, which leaves them requiring just a draw away to Jamaica in their final group match on Tuesday to book a spot at the World Cup.

Captain Leandro Bacuna, Ar'jany Martha, Sontje Hansen, Jordi Paulina (twice), Juninho Bacuna and Roshon van Eijma were on target for Curaçao, with Bermuda still winless after conceding 21 goals in five games.

Bermuda head coach Michael Findlay is surely starting to feel the pressure with this result the worst of the campaign so far. But despite the heavy loss he remained keen to again point out the size of Bermuda’s task and praise the players for their efforts.

“We lost to a superior team,” Findlay told The Royal Gazette.

“We are playing at a new level as it relates to Bermuda and our programme. There were a couple of world-class goals in there that I don’t think anybody, I don’t care what team is playing, is going to stop.

“We gave away two penalties, which changed the complexion of the game. Those types of moments are game-changers, so that definitely affected us in a way that we found it hard to recover.

“But again, I’m not unhappy at all with the effort from the players and the commitment, drive and the interest that they have to be successful.

“We all know that this experience is cruel, quite frankly, but the nicest thing about football is that it has a tendency to give you an opportunity to rebound.”

Bermuda have tended to concede early at home of late and that pattern was followed here when Leandro Bacuna opened the scoring for Curaçao in the sixth minute from the penalty spot, which was awarded after the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee.

It took another 26 minutes before that advantage was extended when Juninho Bacuna hit the roof of the net from outside the box.

Paulina, a half-time substitute for Gervane Kastaneer, was impeded by Dale Eve as he charged at goal just after the interval. The forward dusted himself down to send the keeper the wrong way in the 48th minute.

Hansen weighed in with the fourth goal in the 59th minute as he pounced on a cross from Juninho Bacuna, with Eve injured conceding that goal and needing to be replaced by Detre Bell.

Paulina completed his brace in the 63rd minute after Bell initially stopped Livano Comenencia’s attempt, but the ball fell for the forward to fire into the top left corner.

Bermuda substitute Roger Lee gave away a free kick on the edge of the box from which Martha fired in the sixth with eight minutes left.

But there was still time for Van Eijma to strike from long range to complete the rout two minutes into stoppage time.

Lambe received loud cheers and a standing ovation from the 1,181 fans when he was replaced by NE-Jai Tucker just after the hour mark.

“It was an emotional time for me,” he said.

“But I think that for the most part we came up against a strong opposition and we knew how tough the game would be. There’s a lot of lessons that we can take from tonight and there’s a lot of things that we can improve on for the next game.

“So we’ll take those lessons and go into the next game and try to improve. I think I took a lot of lessons from this match, that I can now pass on to the youth and the next generation and the boys who are sticking around.”

Before the match, the 34-year-old, who recently got engaged, received a framed Bermuda shirt reflecting his number of caps and was also presented with gifts by David Burt, the Premier, and Owen Darrell, the Minister of Tourism, Transport, Culture and Sport.

“It’s a lovely tribute and it means a lot to me that we could be celebrated as the players,” the veteran forward said.

“I hope that each and every player can be celebrated. I hope Danavon Thompson and Logan Jimenez could also be celebrated today for making their first caps.”

SCORERS

Curaçao: Leandro Bacuna 6 pen, Juninho Bacuna 32, Paulina 48 pen, 63, Hansen 59, Martha 82, Van Eijma 90+1

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-2-3-1): D Eve (sub: D Bell, 61) — L Simmons, D Leverock, H Twite, L Jimenez—A Todd (sub: Lee, 60), K Martin—Z Lewis (sub: Smith-Jones, 77), R Lambe (sub: Tucker, 62), D Parfitt —E Russell (sub: Thompson, 73). Substitutes not used: E Blankendal, D Cook, J Donawa, J Dublin, B Morrisson, M Perott, R Robinson. Booked: Lewis, Leverock Jimenez, Lee, Thompson

Curaçao (4-3-3): E Room—S Sambo, R Van Eijma, A Obispo, S Floranus — L Bacuna (G Roemeratoe, 65), J Bacuna (sub: J Antonisse, 65), L Comenencia (sub: A Martha, 65) — S Hansen, G Kastaneer (sub: J Paulina, 46), K Gorre. Substitutes not used: T Bodak, T Doornbusch, K Felida, J Margaritha, T Noslin. Booked: Hansen

Referee: T Penso (United States).