Widely criticised in the Salvadorean press for an ?overly ambitious? youth policy at national team level, under-fire coach Juan Ramon Paredes last night remained defiant in the aftermath of his side?s aggregate victory over Bermuda at the National Sports Centre, labelling his young charges ? brave, wonderful boys who played like men for their country.?

Paredes acknowledged that public outrage at home following what many felt was a severely below-par performance from the Central Americans in the first leg had heaped ?a lot more problems? on the squad in general.

But he said he had always been confident that his players were mentally strong enough to deal with the intense media pressure.

?This is a very young team and they did very well in the circumstances,? he said.

?When the penalty was scored against us early in the game, we showed a lot of maturity in not getting upset and we did not panic. We were always being positive and thinking about the victory and despite the pressure, they did very well.?

Asked whether his team had been surprised over the two legs by the quality of the opposition ? particularly in the absence of a player of Shaun Goater?s quality ? Paredes was full of praise for the Bermudians.

?They surprised us at times,? he said.

?The games both at home and here were very physical and it was not easy at any stage ? a total war. I don?t think defensively we felt good at all, particularly in the air with their striker John Barry Nusum. He scored a very good goal and the local team caused us problems with their strength and determination.?

?But we were strong also,? he continued, ?and tried to keep the ball when we could and play with security. I?m very happy and proud of my players because we did not lose concentration.?

Asked whether he had made any tactical adjustments from the first leg, Paredes pointed to his greater use of the wings to stretch the Bermudian back-line.

?We played far too central at home,? he said, echoing the strongly-worded opinions of the majority of football commentators in El Salvador.

?Here we tried to get a little bit more width and make it hard for their full backs who we felt were weak. As the game went on we got a lot of ball down the right hand side and created a lot of chances where we should have scored.?

Paredes was quick, however, to pay tribute to the ?great spirit? of the Bermudian specatators who packed into the NSC last night, and to the quality of the playing surface.

?I must congratulate the crowd who I thought were great,? he said.

?They got right behind their team, and even when they were not doing well, they stuck with them through the bad times. It was a very good to see and an example to to all football crowds. I want to also say that it was really very nice to play on such a good pitch which really helped both teams to express their talents.?