Bermuda rarely go into an international competition of any sort as overwhelming favourites, but that will be the case this week when the national football team begin their Digicel Caribbean Cup campaign in the US Virgin Islands.

A 20-man squad who will take on the hosts and the Dominican Republic in the first round of qualifying was finally unveiled yesterday after a delay of almost a week, as a change in the competition?s dates created several last-minute headaches that coach Kyle Lightbourne and his assistant Paul Scope could have done without.

But with the British Virgin Islands having dropped out on Friday because they were unable to raise a team, and given that both the US Virgin Islands (198) and the Dominican Republic (188) have inferior FIFA rankings to Bermuda (163), anything other than two resounding victories will be seen as a disappointing outcome.

New England Revolution forward Khano Smith ? who has been warming the bench for the Boston MLS club so far this season ? will meet the team en route to St. Thomas in Miami today, as will the US-based Tyrell Burgess and Nigel Burgess.

Smith and Virginia Beach Mariners striker John Barry Nusum are to partner each other up front in the opening match against the hosts on Wednesday night, while Scope has also confirmed that captain Kentoine Jennings and Stanton Lewis will be the centre back pairing.

Scope added that both he and Lightbourne were ?fairly sure? of their starting eleven and formation for the first game, but will make a final decision after assessing the players at their one and only training session tomorrow.

?This is undoubtedly the strongest squad Kyle and I have ever put together,? Scope insisted yesterday, despite having to do without the likes of US college players Devrae Tankard, Taurean Manders and Logan Alexander who would have been selected if they hadn?t had prior commitments with their college teams.

?If everybody plays to their potential then we should win both games and go through to the next round at the top of the group. I know we?re short of match practice, but in the course of the last two weeks I?ve been very impressed with the atmosphere at training and how sharp everybody looks.

?It?s been around two years since we?ve been involved in competitive matches, so the players are chomping at the bit really and looking forward to getting down there.

?Unfortunately, because there are now only two games instead of three and we?re still taking a 20-man squad, there are going to be some who don?t get a minute. I hope that won?t be too much of a problem though and that the lads who are not involved still view it as a positive experience.

?Khano and John Barry Nusum will start against the US Virgin Islands on Wednesday, and while that looks to be a pretty exciting pairing on paper, they?ll be treated just like every other player if it doesn?t work out and we?ll change things around against the Dominican Republic.

?We?re pretty confident they?ll be a handful though, and certainly Khano in particular has been fantastic in the past against Caribbean-standard opposition.?

The top two finishers in the group go through to a second round-robin qualifying stage also involving any two out of Jamaica, Haiti, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

While as it stands this four-team second stage will be played in November, who is to host the matches has yet to be decided by the Caribbean Football Union ? with Scope suggesting yesterday that Bermuda have as good a chance as any of doing so.

The top two finishers in this group then go through to the eight-team Caribbean Cup finals in Trinidad this coming January.

The best three Caribbean Cup finishers will then progress to compete in the prestigious Gold Cup, involving the top teams in the Americas such as Brazil and Argentina.