By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda national under-17 team were beaten 3-0 by regional powerhouse Haiti on Thursday, suffering their second straight loss in Group E of the Concacaf Qualifiers being held in Guatemala.
The young Benna Boys were poor defensively against Haiti, giving up three penalties across 82 minutes in the must-win encounter for the Antigua team. The Haiti players made no mistakes from the spot with Franco Celestin hitting past custodian Gavin Gonsalves in the 14th minute to pen the scoring. Emerson Laissé stretched Haiti’s lead in the 34th before completing his brace in the 82nd.
Antigua and Barbuda remain with a point after two matches and second from bottom on the four-team standings. They clash with bottom of the table St Vincent and the Grenadines on Sunday starting at 6:00pm.
Antigua and Barbuda lost 2-1 to Guatemala on Tuesday but gave a good account of themselves in unfriendly conditions.
Andrés García opened the scoring in the 24th minute for the home team with a right-footed finish in the box. Marvin Ávila extended the lead for the hosts in the 35th in what would be the match-winning goal.
Sakidi Meade cut the deficit in the 69th to finish an attacking build-up from the Antigua and Barbuda offense.
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