Phenomenal Opening for Concacaf Tournament

Tue, Feb 21st 2017, 02:57 PM

The CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships got off to a thrilling start in near perfect conditions, setting the stage for what is predicted to be a phenomenal tournament in The Bahamas.

The tournament, which is being broadcast in more than 125 countries, will determine which two countries from the Caribbean, North and Central America will qualify for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017.

Tournament officials say soccer fans around the world are buzzing about the amazing stadium and high-energy tournament in The Bahamas.

“The first day has been amazing,” said Beach Soccer Worldwide Head of Competition Josep Ponset. “The sand is great as well as the stands.

“In terms of organization, The Bahamas did a really good job to put in place this great event. In terms of television, there are around 127 countries that are watching this great event so I think that’s a very good promotion for The Bahamas and for Nassau. This is well organized and we were very pleased with the amount of people that came out on a Monday night. We expect more people to come as the days go on and of course we eventually expect a full stadium. This will be phenomenal.”

To add to the excitement, Team Bahamas won its first match against Guyana in front of an excited home crowd. Bahamians cheered and waved their flags as the home team scored goal after goal in the final game of the night. Bahamas defeated Guyana 4 -1.

The tournament is being held at the newly constructed state-of-the-art stadium at the Malcolm Pack Beach Soccer Facility, which is attracting much positive attention locally and globally.

The first match saw Canada and Barbados trading leads. However, once Canada took the lead for a second time, there was no looking back. Canada won with six goals while Barbados scored four.

The second teams to face off in the sand were The United States and the US Virgin Islands. The United States scored eight goals to the US Virgin Islands’ one. Up next was Mexico against Guadeloupe. Mexico won by seven goals with a total of nine.

In the game featuring Trinidad and Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad was victorious with seven goals. Antigua and Barbuda finished with one goal.

The most exciting game of the night was arguably between Jamaica and Belize. Tied with five points each, the game went into overtime then into a penalty shoot-out. In the end, Belize outscored Jamaica to win the game six to five. Jamaican fans were also out in full force.

The final game, featuring The Bahamas and Guyana, was played under a cloudless sky, against the backdrop of screaming fans.

Team Bahamas faces Belize Tuesday night at 8pm. Fans are encouraged to wear yellow or gold. Aqua is the colour for Wednesday when the Bahamas takes on Jamaica at 8pm.

Nikia Deveaux

Senior Manager Communications

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism

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