Bermuda 3 Costa Rica 3

Xahvi DeRoza scored twice as Bermuda put on a magnificent display to draw with Costa Rica in the Concacaf Under-20 Qualifiers on Monday.

DeRoza struck in the 47th and 60th minutes, while Jace Donawa recovered from missing a first-half penalty to score a spectacular goal in the 76th. Costa Rica had taken the lead in the fourteenth minute through Yamil Leal. They were then twice forced to come from behind, with Adriel Perez and substitute Andres Morera ensuring that the home team remained unbeaten.

“I think the boys are excited for the result,” Cecoy Robinson, the Bermuda coach, told The Royal Gazette.

“As the same time I think they’re disappointed at not getting the three points because we had it in our hands, but I couldn’t ask for anything more. They should be proud of the effort and the fight that they put in, they did themselves and Bermuda proud.

“There was just a little lapse in concentration and we made a mistake. We gave away a penalty, we save the penalty, but then the ensuing corner still goes in. There are moments where we just needed to do better, but credit to the boys. They dug deep and got a result.”

The result means Bermuda, who drew with Trinidad & Tobago and defeated Sint Maarten, sit third in group E with five points and a game left to play against Barbados on Wednesday. Costa Rica, with a goal difference of +15, occupy top position with seven points, the same as Trinidad, with those two teams playing each other on Wednesday.

In order to go through to the Concacaf Championship, the qualification pathway for the Fifa Men’s Under-20 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Bermuda must rack up a huge number of goals and hope the Trinidad and Costa Rica game finishes in a draw to end up as group winners.

“We need to get three points against Barbados then we just have to wait and see where the chips fall,” the Bermuda coach said.

“If we win and then Costa Rica and Trinidad draw, everybody’s going to get the same amount of points and it comes down to goal difference.

“We just have to concentrate on ourselves and we’ll see what’s left for us after we do our job. We’ve got to get our three points first and if we do that, we put the pressure on the other two teams and we can go from there.”

On a windy day in Alajuela, Costa Rica took the lead when Leal was given enough space to take a shot on the edge of the box.

A minute after scoring, Leal put Gabriel Sibaja through, with his powerful shot smothered by Daniel Powell. The Bermuda goalkeeper was called into action two minutes later to deal with a crack at goal from David Garro.

A late challenge on DeRoza by Yerlan Sosa resulted in a Bermuda penalty in the 21st minute but Donawa’s shot struck the crossbar. He then hit the woodwork again from a free kick in the 39th minute, which deflected off the upright. The Bermuda No 7 also had a dangerous set piece pushed behind for a corner by Costa Rica goalkeeper Ian O’Rourke.

Bermuda equalised three minutes after the break when DeRoza tucked the ball home after O’Rourke parried Donawa’s strike back into play and he scored his second on the hour following a mistimed back-pass by the Costa Rica defence.

Prior to DeRoza’s goals, Costa Rica’s defence’s had not been breached in their previous two matches.

“We did our homework because we always knew it was going to be difficult to score against Costa Rica,” the coach said.

“But we knew that we had the attacking quality and if we did get some chances, we would be able to score. We just needed to make sure that we executed it well. I thought we executed well when we needed to and we were able to get something out of the game, so it was good for us.”

Perez brought Costa Rica level when he pounced on a loose ball from a corner kick but Donawa restored Bermuda’s lead with a spectacular strike from a free kick delivered at a tight angle.

Bermuda goalkeeper Powell then saved a penalty in the 80th minute to deny Garro after he brought down the forward in the box. But from the resultant corner, Morera fired in the equaliser for Costa Rica.

Substitute goalkeeper David Martin, who replaced the injured Powell, then made a point-blank save in stoppage time to keep out Garro and secure a point for Bermuda.

SCORERS

Bermuda: DeRoza 47, 60, Donawa 76

Costa Rica: Leal 14, Perez 71, Morera 82

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-3-3): D Powell (sub: D Martin, 86) — N Grant, E Peets, L Jimenez, D Coddington (sub: B Borgesson, 67) — K Sharrieff, X DeRoza, K Fray — J Donawa, M Belboda, K Brunson. Substitutes not used: C Jackson, D Smith-Davis, J Morrison, M Tear-De Leon, D Stewart, Q Raynor, H Bean-Fox, I Gibbons. Booked: Belboda, Grant, Peets

Costa Rica (4-4-2): I O’rourke — M Cordero, A Rojas (sub: A Morera, 54), D Cranados, Y Sosa—Y Leal (sub: K Estrada, 72) D Garro, N Bennette, A Perez—G Sibaja (sub: D Palmer, 54), K Hernandez (sub: Badilla, 54). Substitutes not used: R Cubero, F Nunez, J Hernandez, O Leal, L Rodriguez, D Oviedo. Booked: Sosa, Garro, Cordero

Referee: F Mojica (Nicaragua).