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No easy matches, but Bermuda Football Team could win Digicel group

Bermuda will resume their quest for Digicel Cup glory this week in the second group stage, with a place in the finals in Trinidad at stake.

After comfortably coming through a relatively easy group in round one, it's going to be a much tougher assignment this time around.

Here James Whittaker talks to Bermuda assistant national coach Paul Scope about the key areas that will determines the success or failure of the challenge.

Opposition

It's anyone's group. On the basis of the FIFA rankings Bermuda are the third seed.

St. Vincent, ranked 85, are the top seed and Bahamas, ranked 134, are the outsiders.

The Bajans are slightly ahead of Bermuda in the rankings and have home advantage.

Bermuda start against St. Vincent, who beat Jamaica in the opening round, and who Scope rates as the favourites.

"They've got pretty much the same team as last time we played them (a 3-3 draw in round one of Digicel '04) so they've been playing together for a while."

The scheduling, said Scope, works in Bermuda's favour with Barbados up last in what could be a make or break game.

"Our second game against Bahamas is a must-win for us, then we will go into the final match against Barbados knowing exactly what we have to do to go through."

Bermuda's key players

Everybody knows about Khano Smith. The New England Revolution striker is the undisputed star of the Bermuda team. And his stock is growing internationally after the Revs highlighted him as one of their most important players - choosing to protect him in the MLS expansion draft.

He'll operate further forward for Bermuda than he does for his club side but will still be encouraged to play a roaming role and drift out wide.

John Barry Nusum will be the main target man. His U.S. pro career may not have reached the same heights as Khano by playing in the indoor league as well as the A League, but he is prolific for Bermuda and his ability to hold the ball up and out-muscle opponents, as he did so effectively against Dominican Republic, will be crucial to the success of the side.

Kwame Steede, in excellent form for Devonshire Cougars, will be relied upon to continue his superb goalscoring streak from midfield. He already has three in the competition.

Darius Cox, who was one of the success stories of round one, will also be key at the centre of defence.

The confidence factor

Bermuda has not won a game coming from behind at half-time, since FIFA started keeping records of their matches in 1985 - that's more than 60 competitive matches.

So, scoring first and scoring early would seem to be imperative.

Scope believes that failure in the past could be down to a lack of belief, which stems from a shortage of games and a shortage of pro footballers.

But he said he had every confidence that the current crop was a team of warriors, who could break the mould if necessary.

"One thing I think Kyle and I have at least started to do is to sort out who are the winners, who are the battlers, who are the players that can come from behind if necessary.

"We've picked a skillful team but every one of them is a battler and I like that about this lot. There are no soft players in this squad.

"I'd like to think this is a squad that has the heart to break that trend and win, coming from behind. Obviously we'd prefer not to have to do that, though."

The ones to watch

Khano Smith is one of a handful of top pros in the four-team group.

But Barbados have got the players at the 'name' teams.

Paul Ifill has played 42 times for English Premier League side Sheffield United, though he has yet to feature for them this season.

The English born midfielder is the undisputed star of the Bajan side and cracked in four goals in round one.

Mark McCammon, who also plays in the English leagues for Doncaster Rovers, scored three in the first round. Both players have injury concerns, though, and their inclusion or otherwise could make or break the Bajan challenge.

St Vincent have several players on the professional circuit in Trinidad including Shandel Samuel, a 23-year-old striker who banged in five in the first round and Kendal Velox, an attacking midfielder, who Scope rates as the danger man of that team.

St Vincent also has defender Ezra Hendrikson playing in the MLS for Columbus Crew.

Bahamas has no-one playing in the major professional leagues but does have four U.S. based college stars.

Personnel

Bermuda has practically the same squad as went to round one, with only three changes.

Shaki Crockwell has been rewarded for his great start with Boulevard and comes in for the injured Keishen Bean.

Blenn Bean and Logan Alexander add competition for places at left back.

Kentoine Jennings will miss the opening game through suspension and Stanton Lewis is likely to move to centre back, with Alexander coming in at left full-back.

BDA Sun predicted starting XI: Timmy Figureido, Kevin Richards, Darius Cox, Stanton Lewis, Logan Alexander, Kwame Steede, Domico Coddington, Devaughn DeGraff, Stephen Astwood, Khano Smith, John Barry Nusum.

The tactics

Flexibility has been the watchword for Bermuda in the run-up to this phase of the Digicel and Scope believes they have a formation for every situation.

"We've been working on seamlessly shifting through the systems. We've got three, possibly four formations we can go to at any time.

"It depends on what we need to do at that particular time."

He was reluctant to give too much away ahead of Sunday's opener but said this Bermuda squad would have the capacity to 'change up' as and when required.

Khano Smith, who has played almost as a left wing-back for New England will be retained as a striker, with Bermuda hoping to get the best of his attacking talents.

The job

For anyone who doesn't already know, Bermuda needs to finish in the top two of this group to qualify for the Digicel Cup in Trinidad in January.

If they finish third they will go into a triangular tournament with the two other third placed teams for the final spot in Trinidad.

Eight teams will compete for the Digicel Cup in Trinidad in January. There are also four spots up for the grabs at the competition (increased from three) for the CONCACAF Gold Cup which brings in heavyweights like Mexico and U.S.

Already through to the finals are hosts Trinidad and Cuba and Martinique, who qualified last week.

Haiti are in the third-place elimination group.

Guyana, Antigua, Dominican Republic and Guadeloupe will contest the other qualifying group.

The shock factor

The results so far - with Jamaica going out and Martinique beating Haiti - suggest anything can happen. Bermuda must be on their guard.

Scope admits they have to beat Bahamas and can't afford to go into that game with a superiority complex.

Similarly, a 37-place gap in the FIFA rankings with St. Vincent should not be cause for too much quaking in the boots. Bermuda can beat any of these teams, as the story of the competition has shown.

Preparation

Bermuda comes into this game relatively well prepared.

Khano and John Barry have not been overused in the U.S. pro leagues and were both coming into form towards the end of their seasons.

They'll be fit and fresh for Bermuda. The domestic based players are now two months into the season and should be in much better shape physically than they were for round one.

The downside is that Bermuda has had few opportunities to play together in the run up to this competition.

Barbados has played three matches since the Digicel, including two this week against Trinidadian club sides. They lost 2-1 to Joe Public on Tuesday, which has led some in Barbados to question their defence after they also gave up two goals to a weak Grenada side.

St. Vincent has had two matches this month, a draw with Antigua and a victory over Grenada (since the Digicel round one).