Interim Bermuda head coach John Barry Nusum has praised his team’s performance in a 3-0 defeat against World Cup opponents Cape Verde at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday.

The former Philadelphia KiXX forward is proud of the way his youthful squad executed their game plan against the African side, ranked 97 places above them in the Fifa rankings.

“I couldn't be prouder of the boys,” Nusum told The Royal Gazette.

“We essentially had an under- 23 team that were playing against a World Cup team in Cape Verde, so very proud of the boys. The boys fought hard and as far as their efforts, I couldn’t ask for more from them.”

Bermuda made it as difficult as possible for Cape Verde, the second smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup, to breach their defence while hoping to catch their opponents off guard on the counter-attack.

“We have to remember this is a World Cup team ranked nearly a hundred places higher than us, so we set up a defensive game plan and the boys executed it very well,” Nusum said.

“Cape Verde are a good team. They are solid, their movement was very good and I thought we dealt with their movement very well.

“We were very structured and that's part of what I want to build with this group. A structured team that defensively we're not shipping too many goals and we're always in matches, which is what we asked for today.”

The Blue Sharks dominated possession, had more shots on target than Bermuda and also hit the woodwork on three occasions.

Midfielder Xahvi DeRoza had Bermuda’s best chance when he darted down the left side and unleashed a powerful shot that brought off an excellent save from Cape Verde goalkeeper Márcio da Rosa.

The Gombey Warriors held their opponents at bay until Cape Verde winger Willy Semedo, who plays professionally in Cyprus, pounced on a wayward clearance to break the deadlock in the 33rd minute with a simple tap in.

“One of our players went to clear the ball and mistimed his clearance that bobbled in front of their player to tap in,” Nusum said.

“Just a slight miskick from one of our players ended up dropping to them, so it didn't take anything special from their side of it. It was unfortunate for us, but before that we were very steadfast in our defending.

“They had a couple of opportunities but nothing that was breaking through the middle of us. It was just headers getting on target, stuff like that and Milai [Bermuda goalkeeper Milai Perott] made some excellent saves as well.

“They definitely had some pressure on us and I think the good thing is we were able to soak up that and nullify a lot of what they wanted to do in the first half.”

Winger Garry Rodrigues, another who plays in Cyprus, headed home from a cross to double Cape Verde’s advantage four minutes after the restart.

“That was a blow to us just coming out and having that fire still in the match at 1-0,” Nusum said.

“To have that second goal go in right after the half time wasn't suitable, but the bounce back from it was very good.

“The guys galvanised to try and make sure another one doesn’t go in and truthfully we held them at bay as the last goal came in injury time.”

Forward Nuno Da Costa, who plays for Başakşehir in Turkey netted Cape Verde’s third goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time when he headed home from another cross to put the match beyond Bermuda’s reach.

“They scored the third goal in injury time, so the game was done at that point, but we were always in it where one goal gets 1-1 or 2-1,” Nusum said.

“I am very proud of what the boys showed and the vibes afterwards was we know we can play this style of defensive football.

“Now when it comes to playing teams that we’re in and around as far as rankings, we should be able to dominate those games knowing full well that we can defend for long periods of time and not let teams get three of four goals on us and kind of kill the game off. We should always be involved in games.”

Bermuda starting XI: M Perott — J Carpenter, D Cook, X DeRoza, N Tucker, B Morrison, D Hill, Z Lewis, L Outerbridge, A Burchall, S Dublin