Guatemala 2 Bermuda 0

Bermuda’s women’s team was eliminated from the Concacaf Under-20 Championship at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo last night.

Second half goals from captain Elisa Texaj and Daniela Xiquin in the space of two minutes were enough to propel Guatemala safely through to the quarter-finals.

It was a victory they thoroughly deserved as they dominated proceedings throughout with forwards Dina Polanco, Celsa Cruz and Texaj wreaking havoc in the attacking third.

Bermuda were fortunate not to have been blown away as their opponents struck the woodwork three times, while goalkeeper Zakhari Tuner pulled off a string of saves to keep the scoreline respectable.

The Guatemalans also defended superbly as they limited Bermuda, who struggled to maintain possession and lacked creativity, to just one shot on goal for the entire match.

Bermuda advanced to the round of 16 after winning Group A of the qualifiers last fall in Curaçao and went in to the match keen to extend their run in the competition.

They threatened first with a long ball played into open space that saw a last ditch tackle from a defender denying Katelyn Medeiros a free run at goal.

The Guatemalans took over from here and went agonisingly close when Keyla Romero’s shot from seven-yards rattled the crossbar, with Turner stranded off her line.

Play was halted for several minutes as Bermuda’s Trinae Edwards and Guatemala’s Sandra Ovando received treatment after clashing heads while challenging for possession.

But the game continued in the same vein when play eventually resumed with Guatemala going close again when Polanco curled a left footed shot from 20 yards onto the bar. Cruz pounced on the loose rebound but Turner was equal to the task as she rushed off her line to block the attempt from point blank range.

Polanco then whipped in an inviting cross from the right side which team-mates Romero and Maria Tarrago were unable to get a boot onto while standing right in front of goal.

Cruz also squandered a glorious opportunity when she did well to create space for herself in the box only to curl her right footed shot from eight yards out wide of the far post.

After soaking up enormous pressure, Bermuda managed to get forward and cause some concern. First Medeiros had a shot in the box blocked during a quick raid down the left side. Guatemala goalkeeper Fabiola Montenegro then did well to gather K’Xiyae Gibbons’s free-kick at the second attempt with Edwards ready to pounce as the teams went into the break on level terms.

Texaj finally broke Bermuda’s resistance with a clinical finish near the hour mark. The forward controlled a diagonal cross before firing a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner past the outstretched Turner.

The Guatemalans then struck again before the dust had settled to virtually secure victory after a string headers.

Cruz headed Bermuda defender Samara Darrell’s headed clearance from a corner back towards goal, where Xiquin then got her head to the ball to score past Turner at the near post to put the game further beyond reach.

The Central Americans pressed on in search of more goals but were unable to find a way past Turner, by far Bermuda’s best player on the pitch, who pulled off back-to-back saves.

First she saved Texaj’s effort from close range before tipping Ovando’s shot from 20-yards onto the crossbar.

SCORERS

Guatemala: Texaj 56, Xiquin 58

TEAMS

Guatemala: F Montenegro – J Myvett, N Priego, J Castellanos, D Xiquin, E Texaj, C Cruz, D Polanco, M Tarrago, S Ovando, K Romero.

Bermuda: Z Turner – K Goodchild, Z Anderson, S Darrell, K Gibbons, J Simmons, T Edwards, K Medeiros, C Dowling, E Cabral, Z Webb.

Referee: M Pastrana (Honduras)