Bermuda 1 Guyana 1

Bermuda put in a magnificent display to earn their first point in the Pan Am Challenge, recovering from a goal down to draw with Guyana at the National Sports Centre.

Coming off defeats against Paraguay and Mexico, Georgia Harris scored the first goal of the tournament for the home team just before the break. This was after Sarah Klautky had breached the Bermuda defence from a short corner to put the Caribbean side in the lead.

Bermuda, who play Brazil in their final round-robin match on Friday, remain at the bottom of the standings, but they are still in with a chance of reaching the third place play-off when the tournament concludes on Saturday. Guyana moved to second before they meet tournament favourites Mexico on Friday.

Harris was pleased with the amount of effort put in by her team, as the match ended with the home side on the attack.

“It was a hard-fought game, we fought to the very end,’’ Harris told The Royal Gazette.

“We haven't finished a game like that yet in this tournament, where literally in the last seconds, it was in our attacking D-Zone.

“Unfortunately, we couldn't put away our chances, but as a lot of people could see from the sidelines, we’re linking up a lot more.

“Our one-two passes are getting a lot better and our link up in the D-Zone is better, so our goal scoring opportunities are going to come. Hopefully, we put more goals on Friday.

“I’m happy that we got our first point of the tournament. I think three points would have been more deserved, but we put in a hard shift.

“We hope we can get those three points against Brazil on Friday, and play for a medal on Saturday.

The 29-year-old Harris, scorer of two goals when Bermuda qualified for the Central American and Caribbean Games on home turf two years ago, credited working together as a collective for her goal.

“While I may have scored the goal, it was a collective team effort,’’ she said. “What goes on behind the scenes no one sees, but we’re working extremely hard.

“Scoring for your country, I don’t think you can put that feeling that you get into words. The emotions that override you when the ball goes in, it’s something that not so many people can really explain, but I’m very proud.

“I’m so proud of my team-mates, the coaches and the management, hopefully, we can make Bermuda proud.”

Harris noted how Guyana, a side they defeated 1-0 to seal qualification for the CAC Games in 2022, had vastly improved.

“They’re a different team than what we played in 2022,’’ she added. “They’re physical, they’re fast off the ball, but I think we were able to shut them down pretty well.

“Their goal came off a short corner, so the fact that they didn’t score in open play speaks volumes of the work we’re doing defensively.

“The fact that we were able to score in regular play also shows that we’re capable, we don’t just rely on set pieces.”

Bermuda coach Kovin Moodley, while disappointed that they did not collect all three points, was pleased that they managed to exert some pressure on their opponents.

“I won’t say I’m fully happy because obviously we prepare to try to win a game,’’ he said.

“We just look at where we were, coming off two losses, we obviously needed to get some points on the board.

“We needed to score a goal to feel like we could do something in the tournament, and put teams under pressure.

“I think we put Guyana under a lot of pressure today, but again we started off with a bit of nerves. We felt the weight of the occasion, we went into the last two games feeling like we wanted to push for two wins.

“We just didn't start the way we wanted, but in sport, the game always settles. It’s a matter of who is able to manage and control the game the best.

“I felt like we created a lot of chances for ourselves, we were just not able to convert those chances.

“It was just frustrating to have so many opportunities and not being able to open the floodgates with goals.

“It was not a matter of fitness. It was a matter of execution and feeling settled enough to control the game.”

Gabriella Xavier, the Guyana captain, declared that come the end of the tournament on Saturday, they want to be the top team. Should the Guyanese do that, they would have secured automatic qualification for next year’s Pan American Cup, to be held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

“It wasn't the outcome we expected from this match,’’ Xavier said. “We made some unforced errors that kept us back a bit, nevertheless, we pushed forward.

“We have a fitter and better younger team at the moment. We can tell it’s the same with Bermuda, everybody has tried their best to improve over the years.

“The expectation is to come out on top of the tournament. I won’t say we are ecstatic about where we are now, we are in a better position than some of the other teams.

“We just want to focus on the next game against Mexico. We’re hope to win that and play in the final on Saturday.”