A Closer Look at the Weekend in Sports

Good evening, and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday. I’m Paul Lopez. Tonight, we kick off with a recap of Friday night’s football showdown between the Belize Senior Men’s National Football Team and Costa Rica at the packed FFB Stadium. Fans turned out in droves, filling the stadium to the brim, and a lively group of cheerleaders kept the energy buzzing. But Team Belize needed more than cheers and a sea of supporters to face a team aiming for their fifteenth consecutive Gold Cup appearance.

 

Four minutes into this one Belize had an early opportunity in front of the goal, but goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira was there to grab the ball. At the seventh minute, midfielder Carlos Mora passes off to Alonso Martinez inside the penalty area. He finds Manfred Ugalde in front of the goal and he gently sends the ball into the net. That is one for Costa Rica. At the thirty-fourth minute, Kenneth Vargas went down hard inside the penalty box. The referee awarded Costa Rica a penalty kick. Ugalde took the shot and outplaced goalkeeper Isaac Castillo. Only four minutes later, the ball found Martinez outside the penalty box. He passed it off to Ugalde, back to Martinez and then Vargas in front of the goal. He was right on target for Costa Rica’s third goal of the match. The first half closed with a score of three goals to zero.

 

Sixty-one minutes into the game, Belize was awarded a free kick towards goal just outside the penalty area. Angelo Capello took the shot and was unable to get to pass the defensive wall. Costa Rica’s fourth goal came by way of a Jeyland Mitchell header off a corner kick at the sixty-fourth minute. Their fifth goal, only five minutes later, also came by way of a header off a corner kick. This one is by Alvaro Zamora. Here is one moment where it looked like Belize had a good break. Jahiem Mena fired towards the goal. Goalkeeper Sequeria fumbled the ball and then recovered. Costa Rica added two more goals to their tally, finishing the match with seven, while Belize couldn’t get on the scoreboard. Team Belize is already in Costa Rica for the second leg of the match, set for Tuesday night.

 

Switching gears to another sport close to Belizean hearts – basketball. Elite or semi-pro basketball has been on hold since the highly controversial 2024 season. Fans have been eagerly asking when the Belize Elite Basketball League will start its 2025 season. Well, tonight we can confirm that the BEBL won’t be returning this year. Instead, there’s a new league in town – the Belize Premier Basketball League. According to Jacob Leslie, President of the Belize Basketball Federation, the BPBL is set to tip-off in the first week of May.

 

Jacob Leslie, President, B.B.F.

“The Belize Elite Basketball League organizers and owners have shared with the federation that they are not able to participate or host a competition this year. They want to properly organize so they are preparing to have their season in 2026. You have another league, the Belize Premier Basketball League who being proposed by Mr. Gordon who is well known with the Hurricanes. They made a proposal to host a tournament which should take place in May. In the future if the BEBL ever returns it looks like there will be two leagues. One will run from January to May and then you can have players participate in a secondary league post June, July up until he end of the year.”

The federation has officially sanctioned the bylaws of the new BPBL.

 

And to wrap up tonight’s coverage, we bring you highlights from the Inaugural Rumble in the Tropics Cycling showdown, organized by the Belize Tourism Board. Seventy riders, including four from Mexico, took off from the starting line at the Xaibel Service Station just outside Dangriga Town, heading towards Belize City. The biggest station prize of the day valued at fifteen hundred dollars was placed at mile twenty-seven on the Hummingbird Highway on top of an arduous incline known as the gap.   Hollis Baptist captured that prize with a comfortable lead.  Another big station prize was situated at the entrance to Armenia Village following another arduous climb. Giovanni Lovell broke away from a group of four lead riders and sprinted to the top of the incline to claim the station prize.

 

A pack of ten lead riders surged into Belize City, crossing the Chetumal Bridge with Derrick Chavarria leading the charge. Before they could reach the finish line in front of the Belize City Civic Center, the riders had to complete three laps between the Flag Monument Roundabout and the Cemetery Road Roundabout. When all was and done, after a hundred miles or racing, Anthony Mahler/Digi Alliance Rider Goran Gabourel rode across the finish line in first place to secure the five thousand dollars prize.

 

Goran Gabourel, Winner, Rumble in the Tropics

“Dah mih wah really hard race, tough race, I think the minister mih want kill us today. I really have to big up my team, we ride perfectly, tactically today and anyone of us could have win it. I just have to thank those guys to give me the opportunity to show what I got.”

 

Well folks that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.