Bermuda's chances of succeeding in the World Cup qualifying tie with Haiti.

He was the coach who took the senior team to Mexico five years ago to defend a 2-1 lead from the first leg of their 1987 Olympic qualifying tie with the Mexicans. Burchall, the 1991-92 Referee of the Year, was also in Haiti a year ago with fellow referees Rex Osborne and Esten Curtis to officiate in an under-19 match between Haiti and St. Lucia, which the home team won convincingly.

Employing a five-man defence to protect Bermuda's one-goal lead in Haiti is one of the options available to manager Gary Darrell, especially if Neil Paynter and Dennis Brown are available.

Burchall employed that same formation and watched as the Mexicans took just 65 seconds to wipe out Bermuda's one-goal lead on their way to a convincing 6-0 win as six professionals were brought in to strengthen their team.

Burchall says he "wouldn't want to second-guess'' Darrell in regards to formation and team selection for the second leg, but insists that his own decision to employ a five-man defence was the right one against a better drilled and more skillful Mexican outfit. He also points out that the situation between the two teams is different, with Bermuda more on par with the Haitians.

"Mexico had just finished fourth in the World Cup and they had quite a team,'' Burchall said yesterday. "They were embarrassed by the fact that we beat them here.'' A fanatical crowd of 20,000, high altitude and being up against professionals put Bermuda at a disadvantage against Mexico. On the plus side for this World Cup tie Bermuda are boosted by their own professionals.

They will need that, too, says Burchall who experienced first-hand how intimidating a Haitian crowd can be as 25,000 spurred their youth team to a convincing win over St. Lucia.

"The crowd is football mad,'' said Burchall. "We had a full house and this wasn't even the senior team. Every vantage point was taken. The pitch was fenced in.

"At the National Stadium you sit high on the eastern end and look down on the field but down there the crowd is much closer to the players. The surface was a good surface and the facility was nice, very adequate.'' Burchall, who watched Bermuda's 1-0 win on Sunday -- their first World Cup triumph after losses to the United States and Canada in 1968 -- and was impressed mostly with Kentoine Jennings in midfield, is confident Bermuda can get a good result in Haiti. "We faced problems they won't face, though these football-mad countries give the home team a lift,'' he said. "They are noisy but if Bermuda score you would hear a pin drop.

"It's all down to the lift they (Haiti) get from the crowd and how intimidating to the Bermuda players they are. I think the team is well prepared and we have the advantage of having young pros in our team. We can compete with them and if we're not intimidated we will come back with a good result.'' Jennings will do a similiar job in midfield that Lance Brown did for Bermuda in Mexico when he put himself about and got booked for arguing early in the second half. Brown was the one player not intimidated and was even booed off the field at the end.

"Kentoine played marvellously and was just powerful in everything he did,'' Burchall said of the young professional. "Generally the team played with a lot of heart and that's what pleased me.'' Manager Darrell has hinted changes could be made for the second leg on May 24 when the winners of the tie will meet Antigua in the next round. "We'll have more players available, the likes of Neil Paynter, Paul Cann, Damon Wade and Devarr Boyles and the other fellas that are abroad,'' he said after Sunday's win.

"We don't want to make wholesale changes but it would be nice knowing these people are available.'' Darrell knows what to expect in Haiti, having been there twice with the national team and again with Tampa Bay Rowdies while playing as a pro in the North American Soccer League. "We've never been there with anything at stake really, but I'm sure they're going to be very supportive of their team though I think we can deal with that,'' he said.

"There is a little less pressure, there is more pressure on our players to perform at home. We expect an awful lot from a team that is only able to give us a couple of hours' training a week.'' SEE YA -- This Haitian defender found how difficult it is to contain Sammy Swan on Sunday. Swan had s strong game before succumbing to a shoulder injury in the second half.