Puerto Rico 6 Bermuda 0

Puerto Rico advanced to the Concacaf Under-20 Championship at Bermuda’s expense in the Dominican Republic last night.

Dave Sarachan’s team came away with an emphatic victory to finish top of group C and clinch the sole qualifying spot up for grabs on goal difference over St Vincent & the Grenadines and Bermuda.

“Unfortunately we didn’t get the result we were looking for,” Cecoy Robinson, the Bermuda coach, told The Royal Gazette. “But I am extremely proud of each and every last one of them.

“The sacrifice and commitment that these young men had to put themselves through to be in a position to fall just short must be commendable. I think they did their country, family and friends proud.”

The scoreline was a true reflection of a match that a technically and tactically superior Puerto Rico dominated throughout at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez with their fluent movement on and off the ball.

Bermuda’s opponents were in full control, leading 3-0 at the break on first-half tallies from forwards Jeremy De Leon and Daniel Cruz Jr (two).

De Leon opened the scoring after controlling Rivera’s pass over the top and firing into the far bottom corner. The goal was allowed to stand despite replays showing the forward standing in an offside position.

Cruz then struck twice with two headers inside two minutes just before the break to virtually end the match as a contest.

The game continued to flow in the same vein when play resumed with the Puerto Ricans dominating possession and threatening to pull farther away.

Their unrelenting pressure eventually told when De Leon scored his second of the match from close range after the Bermuda defence failed to deal with a short pass from the left side.

Wilfred Rivera, the Puerto Rico captain, converted his team’s fifth from the penalty spot after Bermuda defender Nathan Furbert was ruled to have sent De Leon tumbling in the area, despite replays showing that it was probably the best tackle of the match.

Substitute Joshua Joseph then turned a low cross into his own net at the far post when he failed to get his feet right under no pressure.

Sincere Hall came the closest to scoring for Bermuda after forcing Puerto Rico goalkeeper Sebastian Cutler to make a diving save at the near post.

The heavy loss relegated Bermuda to third on goal difference in the four-team group with two wins from their three matches.

SCORERS

Puerto Rico: De Leon 5, 62, Cruz 40, 42, Rivera 69, Joseph og 75

TEAMS

Puerto Rico (4-4-2): S Cutler — I Silva (sub: A De La Torre, 86min), C Quiñones (sub: A Colón, 89min), P Alejandro, P Oferral — B Flores, D Cruz (sub: D Mateo, 74), W Rivera (sub: E Melendez, 86), D Rossi — J de Leon (sub: S Nevado, 74), L Antonetti. Substitutes not used: K Figueroa, C Marcucci, J Cruz, F Menendez. Booked: Nevado.

Bermuda (4-2-2): M Perott — K Mills (sub: J Joseph, 61), A Trott, C McDowall, N Furbert — J Richardson (sub: L Lewis, 76), J Jennings (sub: S Jones, 62), R Robinson, M Moreno (sub: J Warner, 76) — D Hill, S Hall. Substitutes not used: C Fubler, A Simons, S Simmons, C Lugo Elibox. Booked: McDowall, Hall.

Referee: G Martínez (El Salvador).