The Bahamas avoids relegation on Joseph’s equalizer
Simba FrenchSend an emailMarch 29, 2023 114 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas senior men’s national soccer team was down 1-0 in the second half on the road against St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday and found the will power to pull off an equalizer. They needed a savior with less than 30 minutes left in the game. A goal came from none other than Team Captain Marcel Joseph in the 70th minute and the game ended in a 1-1 draw at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on Monday.
The tie means that The Bahamas finished third in League B Group C action of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Nations League. They finished with four points with a 1-4-1 win/loss/draw record in the group. St. Vincent and the Grenadines went winless in the group, finishing with an 0-4-2 record with two points, They were relegated to League C of CONCACAF.
Head Coach for The Bahamas Nesley Jean started the same 11 players who were featured in the game against Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.
“We stayed with the same starting 11 because of what we have seen in training and against Trinidad. We as coaches can see how the guys improve and how the team is improving so we wanted to give them another chance,” Jean said. “This game was a head-to-head game which no one wanted to lose so it became a scrappy game in which both teams had many chances and it was all about who had more fight in them to go through.”
Joseph got a ball on a thrown-in on the left wing just outside the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ 18-yard box. The Bahamas’ captain saw the substitute goalkeeper Josh Stowe was deep on the near post and left the back post vulnerable. Joseph took a shot at it and lobbed the ball for the back post and was able to beat an outstretched Stowe. He got a friendly bounce off the post and into the back of the net for The Bahamas’ first goal from open play in the tournament.
Joseph was done in the 71st minute. The Bahamas was able to hold off any comeback by the home squad and even had an opportunity to go ahead on a header from Omari Bain on a pass from Michael Massey but the shot went wide of the goal.
Early in the game, in the 12th minute, the home team had a chance to go up 1-0 on a cross but the Bahamian keeper Ian Lowe made a great save and then made another one. St. Vincent and the Grenadines came knocking on The Bahamas’ door again seven minutes later but Lowe came off his line to punch a cross away. It came off a St. Vincent and the Grenadines player’s head and was right on target, but center back Lesly St. Fleur stood on the goal line and prevented the early goal. Lowe caught a clearance and kept the score at 0-0.
Looking to attack more, The Bahamas found the back of the net in the 56th minute but Quinton Carey, who cleaned up starting goalkeeper Jadiel Chance’s rebound on a long-distance shot from Christopher Rahming with a well-placed shot, was whistled for offside. Carey’s celebration got cut short as the goal was rescinded with the score remaining 0-0.
In the 59th minute, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Oalex Anderson received a ball in The Bahamas’ 18-yard box but Bahamian center back Roen Davis clipped Anderson’s foot bringing him to the ground. The referee had no choice but to call a penalty. Kyle Edwards stepped up at the penalty spot against Lowe. Edwards put some pace on the ball and sent it low and to the right of Lowe who could not stop it although he dove to the right side. St. Vincent and the Grenadines went up 1-0 and it looked like they might have gotten their first win but Joseph had the last say.
The Bahamas returns home today. The 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League group stage will be played during the official FIFA (International Association Football Federation) match windows in September, October, and November 2023, followed by the CONCACAF Nations League Finals in March 2024 to determine the winner for the third edition of the CNL.
The official draw for the competition’s third edition is scheduled for Tuesday May 16, 2023.