BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 20, 2019– Early last week, the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) sent our National Beach Soccer Selection to represent Belize in the 2019 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship, which was being held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, from Monday, May 13, to Sunday, May 19.
Sixteen countries participated in the tournament, which was divided into 4 groups, playing a Group Stage single round-robin from Monday to Thursday, with the top 2 teams from each group advancing to the Final Stage from Friday to Sunday. Group A – Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Guatemala; Group B – Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands; Group C – USA, Bahamas, Antigua & Barbuda, Bonaire; Group D – El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Belize, Guyana.
Belize lost our first match against Guadeloupe on Tuesday by a score of 7 to 6, with our goals scored by Evan Mariano (7’), Raymond Ramos (25’), Wayne Ford (31’) and Marlon Mesa (23’, 30’ & 35’). On Wednesday, Belize fell, 7-1, to El Salvador; and on Thursday, our squad exited the tournament with a third Group Stage loss, 3-2, to Guyana.
Advancing to the Final Stage, which began on Friday, were: from Group A – Mexico and Guatemala; from Group B – Panama and Trinidad & Tobago; from Group C – Bahamas and USA; and from Group D – El Salvador and Guadeloupe.
And Concacaf.com reported yesterday that, “Mexico is the champion of the 2019 Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship after defeating the United States 6-2 in the Final on Sunday. It is the fourth time that Mexico has won the CBSC, adding to its CBSC conquests in 2008, 2010 and 2015.”
“Both Mexico and the U.S. have qualified for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay.”