Bermuda are the new boys on the block in the World Cup and Sunday's performance in San Salvador proved it.

El Salvador came hard at Bermuda from the outset and that was to be expected.

But unexpected was the fact that coach Gary Darrell sat back while his team was being totally outplayed and did not make his first substitution until four goals had been scored. And when he did so there was no Philip Clarke, the man who caused so much trouble here for the Salvadoreans with his pace and direct approach.

Unconscionable also is that Darrell did not think El Salvador could "get much better'' than when Bermuda won 1-0 here on October 18.

Come on Gary. That country has only reached two World Cup finals. How could our national coach not expect them to play better and then prepare for it.

The last match at National Stadium against Jamaica exposed a few problems and the 4-1 loss to the Salvadoreans confirmed them.

Then comes the situation with Neil Paynter. Darrell told our reporter that he would prefer Dennis Brown to Paynter even if he is fully fit. NOT.

Well, Paynter was not fully fit and it showed as he favoured the left leg throughout the match and that clearly affected his distribution.

Albert Smith did his international prospects no good, Paul Cann played his second straight ineffective match and Voorhees Astwood endured a nightmare at left-back.

There were several areas where Bermuda fell down on Sunday but those three were the most glaring and Darrell needs to address them.

With the squad he has at his disposal, Darrell has no real options for Astwood, which underlines the error made months ago when Albert Caisey was left out of the squad.

Astwood was fortunate not to be sent off as he delivered no less than two horrendous tackles, one of which he was rightly booked for.

Though the team on a whole can be held at fault Astwood himself should have prevented the last two goals.

Goal number three was clearly the most embarrassing as the defence was at sixes and sevens when a ball was played on the blind side.

Two El Salvador players initially gave chase with Jorge Gonzalez eventually settling on the ball and Leroy Stevens marking the other player.

At this juncture Astwood was marking little Mauricio Cienfuegos but when the cross came in he for some reason decided to mark the far post and left the midfielder with an open header from eight yards. Poor Dwayne Adams was given no chance. Just the presence of a Bermuda player would not have allowed Cienfuegos to thrust himself at the ball as he did.

Goal number four was hard luck as it took a deflection but Astwood started on the post for the corner, which is his normal duty as a flank defender. But when the volley took a deflection off Stevens he was five yards off the post and Adams who started the other way was left with no cover.

Having watched the videotape by now, Darrell could not have missed those obvious indiscretions on Astwood's part.

Albert Smith, seen as a replacement for an equally ineffective Shawn Smith, may have played his last match in this qualifying round. The Boulevard captain was far too slow against a side that was hungry and wanted the ball all the time. That is until they had a four-goal cushion and ALLOWED Bermuda to play.

Paul Cann is not a good defensive player and since Bermuda have spent a majority of the past two matches defending he has been at a loss. So much so that the better part of his game, attacking, has also suffered.

Cann is a valuable asset to any team, but on the strength of his recent performances, the best thing for him to do is watch from the sidelines while David Bascome assumes his role.

Neither of the two are good defensively but at least Bascome is a better distributor and that is mostly where Cann has failed.

The midfield is clearly a chief concern. Why else would top striker Shawn Goater be repeatedly required to drop back.

Darrell's decision to drop the five-man defence is a smart one because if we are going to be disorganised it might as well be with just four at the back so that the extra player can assist the weakest area.

The midfield needs teeth. The inclusion of Neil Paynter and Kentoine Jennings there will give us that. They can be the ball winners with Goater and Bascome nearby and Elliott Jennings and Kyle Lightbourne up front.

Goater needs a free role to be most effective. Playing exclusively up front, he runs the risk of not being in the game. Bermuda's best player must be in the game, and a high midfield role where he rarely ventures into our defensive third will suit him best.

We can only thank the heavens for Dwayne Adams. He was the difference between the final result and perhaps a five or six-goal shellacking.

It would have been interesting to see how El Salvador would have reacted had Goater not missed that sitter when the game was scoreless.

It was one of the few crosses that skipper Meshach Wade has got right since the second round started. Goater ran behind the defence but could not believe the space he had and headed over with the goalkeeper stranded.

Minutes after that miss, the home team started their goal assault.

On a lighter note, after Goater finally scored the overseas Press changed his maiden name to Leonardo. He wants the folk in Rotherham to know he is scoring, hopefully they will be able to read between the lines.

It is unlikely that Darrell will ever go to this combination, but this shapes up as being Bermuda's best team for away matches bearing in mind that we do have to get forward but place emphasis on being able to defend and think well under pressure. That was not evident in San Salvador.

Gazette's Bermuda squad: Dwayne Adams; Neil Paynter, left back; Dennis Brown, sweeper, Leroy Stevens, marking centre-half, Kevin Grant, right-back; Kentoine Jennings, defensive midfield, Meshach Wade, left midfield, Shawn Goater, attacking midfield, David Bascome, right midfield; Elliott Jennings, striker, Kyle Lightbourne, forward. Subs: Paul Cann, Philip Clarke, Carlyle Crockwell, Voorhees Astwood, Shawn Smith.