Despite a 2-4 loss to Belmopan Bandits, San Pedro Pirates F.C advance to semifinals as #1 seed

For the last match in the regular series of the Premiere League of Belize (PLB) 2019 Closing Season, the San Pedro Pirates traveled to Belmopan City, Cayo District to go up against Belmopan Bandits on Thursday, April 18th. Despite the 2-4 loss against Belmopan Bandits, the island team is headed to the PLB Semifinals as the #1 team with 26 points overall.
The match began promptly at 8PM from the Isidoro Beaton Stadium in Belmopan City. Determined to take the home victory, Belmopan Bandits Jerry Palacio’s nailed a goal for his team two minutes into the match. A few minutes later, the Belmopan Bandits’ Ian Gaynair found another opportunity to score a second goal for his team. The home team maintained control of the ball and nailed the third goal at minute 17, courtesy of Trimayne Harris. At minute 30, Belmopan Bandits George Welcome nailed another goal for his team. The island team had to step up their defense, as they could not allow any more goals. Offensively, it wasn’t till minute 42 that Pirates Devin Burgess made it to the net and scored a goal for his team. One minute after, the Pirates were able to net a second goal courtesy of Luis Mencia. The first half ended with Belmopan Bandits leading 4-2.
After the break, both teams were back with strong defenses, not allowing any more goals to enter. At the end of game time, the Belmopan Bandits claimed a 4-2 victory.
The top four teams that advanced to the PLB 2019 Closing Season semifinals are San Pedro Pirates, who captured the first place position with 26 points, followed by Belmopan Bandits with 25 points in the second place position, Verdes F.C took the third place position with 24 points, and Belize Defense Force (BDF) F.C who came in fourth place with 22 points. In the semifinals, there will be two rounds (home and away), where the 1st place team, San Pedro Pirates will face the 4th place team, BDF F.C. The 2nd place team, Belmopan Bandits will go against the 3rd place team, Verdes F.C.
To date, this has been the San Pedro Pirates F.C’s best season. In their first season in the PLB for 2017 Opening Season, the Pirates made it to the semifinals in the fourth place position with 20 points. In the closing series, the island team had a rocky season and were not able to make it to the semifinals, ending in sixth place position with only 15 points. In the PLB’s 2018 Opening Season, the San Pedro Pirates managed to make it to the semifinals in third place with 22 points. However, they were defeated by their opponent in the semifinals. This makes it third time San Pedro Pirates managed to make to a PLB Semifinals and the first time as a first-place team, with 26 points overall. Many of the Pirates’ fans have strong hopes for the team this season. They believe that the Pirates will come out victorious in the semifinals and advance to PLB finals for the first time, to claim the PLB 2019 Closing Season championship.
For the first round of the semifinals, San Pedro Pirates F.C will be traveling to Belize City to face their opponent BDF F.C on Sunday, May 28th. The match is scheduled to start at 4PM at the MCC Grounds. Anyone interested in accompanying the Pirates as a fan can contact 608-6396.