By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE men’s national soccer team has spent the last two weeks engaged in rigorous practice sessions over at the Roscow AL Davies Soccer Field, leading up to the selection of a 20-member contingent set to represent the country in the second round of CONCACAF matches for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification. 

The national team will make their commute to Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis today to begin the first of two matches in Group B action scheduled for this Saturday and next Tuesday. The Bahamas will face Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday at the SKNFA Technical Centre in what was supposed to be a home game but due to renovations at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, the venue changed.

The contingent will then face the host country next week Tuesday at the same facility.

Assistant coach Kevin Davies outlined the coaching staff’s expectations of the national team heading into their first match against Trinidad and Tobago. 

“We expect our athletes to perform at a very high level. We have been working now for the past two weeks. We started training earlier in the year and we had our final camp and selection this past week so we are expecting a high quality performance. Our guys are starting to gel and we have a good group of young players and veteran players,” he said.

The Bahamas is competing in Group B along with  Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Grenada. The top two teams in the group will advance to the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification.

The national team will certainly face an arduous task as they are the lowest ranked team in Group B according to the latest FIFA men’s world ranking for CONCACAF. 

Coach Davies said confidence can be a game changer for Team Bahamas in the tough group.

“It is a tough group. At this level, all games are tough and there are no easy games. You always have to be confident, if you are not confident you have already lost the battle. You have to go in confident and I feel like the group of guys we have are very talented. As long as we can get them to play at a high level, we will be fine,” he said.

The five teams will all play single round robin matches with two games at home and two on the road. 

Currently, The Bahamas might be at a slight disadvantage as the ongoing repairs at the Thomas A Robinson stadium are expected to continue until January of next year and it leaves them without a true “home court advantage”.

However, with Trinidad and Tobago ranked at no.98 overall and St Kitts and Nevis slotted at no.147, coach Davies suspects that the fans of the host team will be cheering for The Bahamas to defeat Trinidad and Tobago. 

“It is what it is. Once you get between the lines you still have to play. I believe the St Kitts fans will be pulling for us against Trinidad because they believe that they can beat us. They would want us to win against Trinidad and, if they win against Trinidad and beat us, then they will be in a good position. I believe they will be pulling for us in the first game but, in the second game, definitely not,” he said.

The group, which features a mix of veteran and young players, will kick off their first match at 5:30pm on Saturday. 

Fans can keep up with the action at www.fifa.com