A football feast will start this weekend with numerous teams arriving from the United States.

But that feast was almost spoiled yesterday when coaches for Bermuda?s three national teams in the inaugural Clyde Best Invitational Youth Tournament threatened to pull out after being angered that the local players would not be put up in hotels for the Saturday and Sunday tourney at the National Sports Centre.

At the last minute Colonial Insurance came in and put up the funds for the teams to stay together.

And Hall of Fame player Clyde Best said yesterday that while he was happy that everything had been sorted out he was not impressed by the actions of the coaches.

?From what I understand, our coaches were unhappy that the kids coming in from abroad were staying at hotels while are our kids were not. Well those teams who are coming in from the United States are all paying for it themselves.

?Our coaches have to understand that the game is not about us, it is about the kids. Now if the BFA wanted to pay and put our kids up in hotels obviously that would have been OK by us. But we have nothing to do with where the kids are staying.

?People have to understand that this is all about giving our kids the best possible opportunity to play against top class opposition. It tells you where we are as a country. Here we have a group of people that formed a foundation (the Bermuda Football Foundation) that have gone out and tried to help our local soccer and you get people who try to go against it so to speak. It doesn?t make sense to me. People like Richard Calderon (secretary of the BFF) have worked so hard to get this tournament together. It is dismaying and it puzzles me why people act like this.?

A number of teams from New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut will be playing this weekend at the National Sports Centre?s main field as well as the two fields on the north side.

Games start at 9.00 a.m. and go on all day.

There will be three divisions ? Under-13, Under-14 and Under-15. Bermuda?s coaches for the Under-13 side will be Dennis Brown and Troy Lewis, while Ray Jones and Mark Wade will coach the Under-14 side and Scott Morton and Maurice Lowe will be in charge of the Under-15 side.

Richard Calderon, who also played for Bermuda?s national side years ago, said: ?I just wish I had a chance like this when I was young ? playing against top foreign opposition.

?Our Under-13, Under-14 and Under-15 teams have been training hard for a while now ahead of this tournament. And they are going to be up against some excellent opposition ? these teams coming down here can go anywhere but they decided to come to Bermuda this year after they saw our fields and also what the tournament was going to be about. They are going to provide some tough opposition for our guys but that is what we need. I doubt any of our players, especially in the Under-13 and Under-14 divisions, have played against foreign teams. It is going to be a real treat for them.?

And then next week Bermuda?s senior national side will be in action when the New England Revolution and the LA Galaxy from Major League Soccer come and tour Bermuda before their season starts up.

The two teams are being brought in by Set Play of which Best is also a founding member. ?You are going to see some very good players ? the game in the US has really risen over the years and we are hoping that a lot of people will come out to watch. We need that support if we are going to keep bringing in tours like this because it is expensive,? said Best a former West Ham striker and also a Sports columnist.

Bermuda will take on the Revs on Tuesday night and then play the Galaxy on Friday night at the National Sports Centre. The Revs and Galaxy will play each other on Thursday night at the NSC. Kick off for all matches will be 7.30 p.m. with tickets costing $20 ($15 for kids). They can be bought at the gate.