Bermuda's national soccer squad will play two friendly away international matches against St. Maarten next month.

Bermuda Football Association general secretary David Sabir confirmed yesterday that plans had been finalised for Bermuda to tour St. Maarten for matches on April 18 and April 20.

"We are obviously happy to say that our discussion in the Caribbean region recently about getting some activity for our senior national team seems to be bearing fruit,'' Sabir said. "We see this development as being just the first of many invitations in the region for our squad in regards to getting opposition.'' The BFA have been working feverishly to get additional matches for the squad, keeping their commitment to find opposition on a regular basis in order to keep the senior players interested in training. And they continue to search for additional opponents.

Even with this tour on the calendar, there are still ongoing attempts to persuade other CONCACAF countries to play against Bermuda on a home or away basis, depending on whether National Stadium will be closed for renovations in the near future.

Jamaica, who recently defeated Bermuda in Kingston in a two-leg Shell/Umbro Cup qualifier last month, are reported to be keenly interested about visiting Bermuda for two matches -- but negotiations are still taking place between the two associations.

"They indicated that they would like to come and play us before the end of the year,'' said Sabir. "We are very optimistic that we will receive some notification from the remaining invites, whether or not they will be able to take up our offers and play in Bermuda or away.'' The news about St. Maarten came after the BFA had learned that the United States' World Cup squad were unable to accept an offer to come here to play in the near future.

"They indicated that they are unable to accept our invitation to come because of their already heavy calendar of events. We are still optimistic though that sometime in the future we will be able to have them come and play here,'' said Sabir.

The BFA now regard the St. Maarten trip as their second big step in their return to international soccer after a four-year lay-off. The Jamaica trip was the first initial step.

According to Sabir, St. Maarten will be hosting a tournament later in the year to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their association and a good performance by Bermuda next month could lead to an invitation being extended for national coach Clyde Best and his squad to return to the Caribbean for that event.

Bermuda's squad resumes heavy training on Tuesday evening with members who didn't go to Jamaica being asked to come back and challenge for places in the St. Maarten squad.

Training squad: Leroy Stevens, Neil Robinson, Dwight Warren, Troy Hall, Mark Ray, Shannon Burgess, Jamel Samuels, Tim Figureido, Vorhees Astwood, Earl Richardson, Sean Smith, Kentoine Jennings, Irving Burgess, Lionel Furbert, Darren Simons, Reggie Tucker, Carlos Smith, Clifford Roberts, Ascento Russell, Dwayne Adams, Michael Hansey, Nakia Smith, Dano Outerbridge, Elliott Jennings, Otis Steede, Keith Jennings, Neil Paynter.