Bermuda 0 Guyana 1

Bermuda dominated Guyana only to end up on the losing end in the Concacaf Under-17 Men’s World Cup Qualifiers in Honduras this evening.

Matthew Stewart’s 66th-minute goal settled the group H encounter in which Bermuda had an upper hand.

Aaron Denkins’s side had 63 per cent ball possession, 20 shots with nine of them on target. Guyana had nine attempts and one of those was precise, which earned them victory.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow and the boys are disappointed, especially because we dominated the game and we played so well,” Denkins told The Royal Gazette.

“How we played and how we wanted to play tactically, technically it all worked out. But, football is a game of goals and mistakes. We didn’t score any goals and we made a key mistake.”

Since the group has been reduced to three teams, the Gombey Warriors are at the bottom. Bermuda’s hopes of qualifying could be over on Sunday if Guyana avoid defeat against Honduras.

“We expect Honduras to beat Guyana,” the Bermuda coach said.

“It’s just that we have to beat Honduras more than the score that they beat Guyana. So the best-case scenario for us would be 1-0 Honduras over Guyana, then we come in and beat Honduras by two goals and nail it through.”

Bermuda had a chance in the 25th minute as Mateus Amaral was given space to run into the Guyana penalty box, but his left-footed strike did not have enough force to trouble Nyall Kendall. On the half-hour mark, Zydon Lightbourne Furbert had his shot from a tight angle cleared off the line.

Three minutes before the break, Na’im Zuill’s well-executed free kick was tipped over for a corner by Kendall.

Guyana had the last chance of the first period with Mark Glasgow squaring the ball for Nyron Barrow, whose shot was too high.

In the 61st, Amaral had his effort blocked by Kendall as Bermuda searched for the opening goal.

Five minutes later, Stewart netted the sole goal of the encounter. Glasgow put the forward through and while Nuri Latham came off his line, he was beaten on the left side of the box.

Jeon Wolfe, who replaced the injured Lightbourne Furbert at half-time, had a chance to equalise for Bermuda in the 77th with a side-footed shot from the left side of the box, which was saved by Kendall.

With four days now before their last match, most of the Bermuda medical team’s attention is likely to be focused on getting Lightbourne Furbert and Roman Wilkinson ready for that encounter.

“Zydon came in with a slight ankle injury and some of the tackles that came in aggravated that to a level where he couldn’t continue,” Denkins said.

“Roman Wilkinson was unavailable due to injury. We have four days till the next game, so we’ll let the physiotherapists do what they can do in aiding recovery.”

SCORERS

Guyana: Stewart 66

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-4-2): N Latham—K Tucker, A Brangman-Johnson, A Weller, M Hill—T Steede (sub: S Davis, 82), Z Jennings (sub: K Albuoy, 70), D Wade, N Zuill—Z Lightbourne Furbert (sub: J Wolfe, 46), M Amaral. Substitutes not used: C Jackson, N Furbert, E Adderley, R Wilkinson, J Smith, S Waite, R DeSilva. Booked: Tucker

Guyana (4-4-2): N Kendall—M Cato, T Unver, J Morris, M Patrick—N Barrow (sub: J Nelson, 77), J Welcome, M Glasgow, J Tasher (sub: L Stephen, 46), — M De Freitas (sub: A Arthur, 81), M Stewart (sub: D Williams, 87). Substitutes not used: Z Brief, D Chester, F Larose, Q Lewis, T Smith, T Walcott. Booked: Stewart, Welcome

Referee: M Reid (Belize).