Bermuda make glorious start at Under-15 World Cup in Azerbaijan
Bermuda have made a fantastic start to the Under-15 World Cup in Azerbaijan with two wins from their opening three group matches.
Bermuda began their campaign with a 5-0 win over British Virgin Islands, with goals from Adam Barritt, Darien Lambert, Chaz Edmead, Stephen Astwood Jr and De’Ari Trott giving the young Gombey Warriors a fantastic start to the competition.
They were then unlucky in their second game, losing 1-0 to Georgia having played the second half a player short after Asa Trew-Smith was sent off in the 20th minute. It was only in the last minute that Bermuda conceded, with Danieli Gurtskaia breaking hearts.
But the Bermuda team bounced back in some style in their second match in a day on Sunday, beating São Tomé and Príncipe 5-1.
Legend Robinson was the Bermuda hero, firing a hat-trick, with goals in the seventeenth, 24th and 36th minutes. Lambert added to his goal against BVI with the other two goals in the sixth and 22nd minutes.
Robinson was thrilled to have played a starring role in his side’s win.
“It’s a honour to score a hat-trick for my country and it’s a moment I’ve been dreaming about since a very young age,” Robinson said.
“It’s nice to see my hard work coming to fruition and I’m proud to be a part of this team. I would like to thank the coaches for giving me this opportunity and my mother and family for supporting my football journey. I will continue to give my all for this country.”
Coach Aaron Denkins is proud of how his young side has taken to the competition.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for the team to be experiencing a high level of games and to be competitive,” Denkins said.
“The atmosphere in the team village is amazing with so many countries represented. The results are encouraging and the team is learning with each game.”
Bermuda are in a six-team group at the Under-15 World Cup and after two days of competition sit second in the group with six points — three points behind leaders Poland, whom they play along with Namibia
The new-look tournament features 189 Fifa member associations and the competition features an 8v8 format with two 20-minute halves. Nearly 1,000 matches will be played in a week, with tournament infrastructure enabling 20 simultaneous fixtures to be played across multiple pitches, each of which will stage up to ten matches daily.
