Jamaica 4 Bermuda 0

Bermuda’s hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup were extinguished by a powerful and ruthless Jamaica in Kingston last night.

After a promising opening in which goalkeeper Dale Eve had virtually nothing to do for the first quarter of the game, Bermuda conceded two goals in two minutes. The first came through a Danté Leverock headed own goal in the 23rd minute, with the second a tap-in from three yards from Bobby DeCordova-Reid after good work from winger Renaldo Cephas.

Jamaica scored a third before half-time through Shomar Nicholson, again after good work from Cephas, who gave Justin Donawa a difficult night at right back.

The second half continued in much the same fashion as the first but it took until the 77th minute for substitute Dujuan Richards to race through Bermuda’s midfield and defence before adding a fourth.

Shots continued to pepper Eve’s goal throughout, noticeably from Cephas, who plays in the top division in Russia, and Bermuda’s defensive frailties were not helped by the loss of Harry Twite, who had to go off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the 72nd minute.

In his absence, Jamaica continued to attack and despite an unsuccessful unorthodox attempt to save the fourth goal, but for Eve the defeat could have been far heavier.

Jamaica hit the woodwork on three occasions and Bermuda ended the game with just five shots at goal and two on target, while giving up 28 shots on their own net, 12 on target. They recorded just 25 per cent possession.

Despite the defeat, no one can deny the heart of Bermuda’s players with the Gombey Warriors showing no lack of passion and displaying plenty of fight but after conceding 14 goals in four games, the time is now ripe to question coach Michael Findlay’s tactics.

Findlay can point to the fact that Bermuda have qualified for this stage of the competition for the first time, an undoubted achievement for a country of just 60,000 people, but that has been assisted by three Concacaf nations — Mexico, Canada and the United States — being allocated automatic qualifying spots for the World Cup as hosts.

He will also point out that first-choice full backs Reese Jones Jr and Deniche Hill were unavailable from the start for this game, while Bermuda’s best player Nahki Wells did not travel with the squad after a death in the family.

But as the adage goes “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”, and Findlay set his Bermuda team up in exactly the same manner as when they were beaten 4-0 at home by Jamaica, 3-2 away to Curaçao and 3-0 by Trinidad & Tobago at Flora Duffy Stadium on Friday night.

For most of this game, as in the others, Bermuda were far too open in midfield and defence, with Jamaica cutting through the Gombey Warriors at will, much as they did last month. The long ball from Jamaica that caused Bermuda problems in September again proved difficult to handle, particularly in the first half, with the side’s attacking four players asked to press high up the pitch but not being backed up by the two midfielders.

Bermuda’s best performance in Findlay’s reign arguably came in the 5-3 home defeat by Honduras in the first leg of the Concacaf Gold Cup preliminary round in March, when he asked the national team to play noticeably different, employing a low block, soaking up pressure and causing a multitude of problems on the break.

It remains to be seen if the coach will consider employing a formation of that kind again as Bermuda attempt to avoid finishing the group with no points when they play Curaçao at home and away in Trinidad next month.

SCORERS

Jamaica: Leverock og 24, DeCordova-Reid 26, Nicholson 35, Richards 76

TEAMS

Jamaica (4-1-2-3) A Blake ― D Lembikisa (sub: I Fray, 80min), R King, E Pinnock, G Leigh ― I Hayden ― K Palmer (sub: J Russell, 61), B DeCordova-Reid (sub: K Anderson, 72) ― R Cephas (sub: T Campbell) K Dixon (sub, D Richards, 61), S Nicholson. Substitutes not used: T Chambers, J Waite, A Bell, M Holgate, D Lowe, I Fray, B Cadamarteri, R Burrell.

Bermuda (4-2-3-1) D Eve ― J Donawa, H Twite (sub: J Carpenter, 75), D Leverock, L Simmons (sub: D Hill, 66) ― K Martin, R Lee (sub: A Todd, 66) ― R Lambe, D Parfitt (sub: Z Lewis 72), K Crichlow ― E Russell (sub: D Jones Jr, 46). Substitutes not used: D Bell, C Fubler, J Butterfield-Steede, J Carpenter, D Hill, K Richardson, N Tucker, A Todd, W Clemons. Booked: Lambe, Hill.