THE omission of Shannon Burgess from the national training squad means that a new Bermuda captain will be named soon by coach Kenny Thompson.

Thompson admitted this week that injuries had kept the 32-year-old Burgess out of the squad of 25 he named three weeks ago to prepare for the relaunching of the senior national programme. But the coach did stress that Burgess's omission did not mean the end of his international career.

"I do know that for the last few years Shannon has been struggling with injury problems," said Thompson.

"In fact reading his comments recently, that is still a challenge for him, so that was our main consideration for his failure to be included. Although I haven't spoken to Shannon directly, I do know his (injury) history.

"No one is really ruled out. It's important that we look at it from a perspective that we only have a certain amount of players we can have in at one time. It's important that those players prove themselves in order to remain in the national team. And it's important for the players not in the current training squad to be ready should a call come."

Meshach Wade, who first took over the Bermuda captaincy during the qualifying matches for the 1994 World Cup, captained the Bermuda team last Christmas against the visiting Jamaicans when Burgess was again left out. Prior to that Burgess was the captain of the team, but apparently he isn't a part of the immediate plans and a search has already begun for a replacement captain.

"We've discussed a few names, that's all I can say at this time," said Thompson.

Wade is one of three players ? goalkeeper Dwayne Adams and defender Kentoine Jennings are the others ? surviving from that Bermuda team of 10 years ago and the trio will provide experience in the vital areas on the pitch for the host of newcomers to the team.

Thompson confirmed this week that they had been some additions to the squad with Dandy Town's Carlos Smith accepting an invitation. Also added are Jamaul Boyles of North Village and Randy Swan of Dandy Town, while work commitments have ruled out some players.

"I've placed them on 'excused absence' as they have communicated to me that they are very interested and want to be a part of the national team but their work commitments won't, at this time, allow them to train at all," said Thompson.

"In the future should their work schedule change then we can look to get those players involved. And then there are a couple of players in the training squad who are also currently injured. They are still a part of my plans, certainly, but obviously injured players can't perform on the field."

Another player available for Bermuda is striker John Barry Nusum who has been playing professionally in the United States. He has just returned to the Island and trained with the squad for the first time this week.

With the Premier Division teams now enjoying a mid-season break, players have been able to step up their training with the national team, which is good news for the coaching staff.

"I've been pleased with the response from the players, the output they have given and the commitment they are making," said the head coach.

"We stepped it up this week and increased the training sessions as a result of the break. Up until this point we have only been able to play a match on a Wednesday and then have low intensity training on the Saturday because players have a match on the Sunday."

Thompson said he intends to use all of the fit and available players in the squad during the two Bermuda matches, expecting that some good competition will come from the Barbados team.

"Looking at some information I have about Barbados, they had a victory over Jamaica and draws with Finland and Martinique and I expect them to be very challenging opponents which is what we need," said Thompson.

"I want the players to experience international football at a high level and I certainly don't want to go into the World Cup matches with a false sense of security of maybe having been successful against a lower quality opponent. So Barbados, I'm sure, will provide us with a very stiff test and I'm sure the team will benefit from the experience."

Being the opinionated observers that they are, Bermudian football fans are not afraid to voice their opinions of the team to the coach on the street.

"That's no different from the challenges of any national team coach throughout the world," said the coach.

"Everywhere I go there is someone with an opinion of what the national team should look like. I don't mind that ? that's part of the job.

"But at the end of the day, yes it is important that, based on the vision of the Bermuda Football Association and the vision of the current technical staff, we select and try to develop players to meet those objectives."