All hands will be needed on deck now that the men's national soccer team has advanced to the World Cup qualifying draw at the end of the month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Although several key players were missing from the two games played against the Turks and Caicos Islands, Team Bahamas still captured two impressive wins, shutting out their opponents both times. The two games were played at the Roscow A.L. Davies Field and at the National Stadium in the Turks and Caicos. An aggregated score of 10-0 placed The Bahamas in the qualifying draw scheduled to be done July 30, in Rio de Janeiro.

A total of 24 countries will be divided into six groups, consisting of four teams each. The injured players will have a lot of time to recuperate since group play will not be held until later this year.  National Head Coach Kevin Davies said: "The players who are injured should not have any effect on the next round. Their injuries weren't serious like broken bones or anything like that so we expect them back. They should be back with us shortly, working out. Nesley Jean, Happy Hall and Gavin Christie were all hurt but nothing serious.

"The only thing ahead for us now is waiting to see who we will be playing. We have now until then to continue to train, working out on some things that created some issues in the two games against Turks.  We definitely have to work on finishing plays, the ability to score goals. We threw away a lot of chances that were clear goals or scores. We just didn't put them away and obviously, that is definitely something that we will have to work on.

Defensively, we were fine but we just need to sharpen up on what we do as a team moving forward because obviously the teams will be a lot stronger in the next round. Our concentration and level of play will step up going forward."

Other countries playing in the preliminary round were Montserrat, Belize, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, the Dominican Republic, Aruba and St. Lucia. Joining The Bahamas national team in the draw were the U.S. Virgin Islands, defeating British Virgin Islands 4-1, and the Dominican Republic which got by Anguilla, 6-0, in both legs. At the end of the two games played between Aruba and St. Lucia the aggregate score was 6-6, however St. Lucia prevailed with a 5-4 tie breaking win off penalty shots.
 The final game with Montserrat and Belize will be played on Sunday. Belize won the first game, 5-2.
The Bahamas has the most goals of all the countries playing in the preliminary round so far. The men's national team was given a week off from training and is expected to return to the field on Monday.

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