Home|Sports|The Bahamas falls to El SalvadorSports
Team suffers first loss of CAC Sea and Beach Games
Simba FrenchSend an emailNovember 25, 2022 176 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas senior men’s national beach soccer team suffered its first loss in the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Sea and Beach Games on Thursday as they were shut out, 3-0, by the table leaders, El Salvador.
After taking down Mexico for the first time in its history, The Bahamas had Wednesday as a rest day to regroup and prepare for a tough match against El Salvador, who were also unbeaten coming into the match on Thursday. The Bahamas had a 2-0 win/loss record.
Playing at the Beach Soccer Stadium in Santa Marta, Colombia, The Bahamas had their fair chances to make it a close game but could not find the back of the net.
El Salvador scored their first goal in the first third on a well-placed bicycle kick that Bahamian goalkeeper Michael Butler could do nothing with. Both teams tried to find the back of the net for the rest of the period, but the first third ended with El Salvador up 1-0.
There were no goals scored in the second third and it set up an intriguing final third. It was El Salvador who found the back of the net twice in that period to secure the three points for the win.
The loss for The Bahamas puts them in second with one more game left to play. That game will be today when they take on Venezuela, which has a 1-2 record after dropping their game yesterday against the host nation. The Bahamas-Venezuela match is set for 2:30 p.m. today and will be live streamed on Centro Caribe Sports Channel via YouTube.
El Salvador leads the table with 10 points and a perfect 4-0 record, as one of their matches was won in a penalty shootout.
If The Bahamas wins today, they will have a rematch with El Salvador in the gold medal match. If they lose they will play for the bronze medal. Both will be on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Bahamian side took down Mexico 2-1 in a comeback victory. Finding the back of the net for The Bahamas in that game were captain Lesly St. Fleur and Jaime Thompson. The Bahamas got a 4-3 victory over the host nation on Monday in their opening game. Scoring for The Bahamas in that game on Monday were Dwayne Forbes, Jean Francois, Gary Joseph and Thompson.
The Bahamas’ beach soccer win streak ended at five games with the loss to El Salvador on Thursday.
This is the inaugural year for the CAC Sea and Beach Games, and there are 650 athletes from 26 countries participating. Also being contested are beach wrestling, open water swimming, surfing, beach volleyball, beach rugby, handball, skateboarding and tennis.