about releasing Bermudian striker Shaun Goater -- `it's not as though Bermuda are going to win the World Cup' -- seems to have ruffled a few feathers.

But it shouldn't have. Such remarks are more often made tongue in cheek.

An old campaigner like Royle knows all too well that the World Cup isn't just about winners.

He might have said the same about Scotland, Wales and Ireland or any number of countries who, when all is said and done, don't have a hope in hell of lifting the Sir Stanley Rous trophy.

Realistically, there are probably less than half a dozen nations who do.

No, the attraction and mystique of the World Cup, much like England's FA Cup, lies in its potential for David and Goliath upsets along the way.

While the competition climaxes with the top 32 teams, the two year qualifying series embarked upon by almost 200 countries often provides more excitement, intrigue, controversy and colour than the actual finals.

It's a tournament that has been known to change the mood of an entire nation.

Jamaica's fairytale run in the last World Cup is the most recent example, Cameroon's glorious performances four years earlier, another.

And there isn't a player in the world who doesn't yearn to be a part of this Greatest Show on Earth.

On Sunday, that show comes to National Stadium where two of the competition's minnows, Bermuda and British Virgin Islands, meet in their first round qualifier, second leg.

Bermuda, of course, are practically assured of victory, having thumped their Caribbean opponents 5-1 two weeks' ago. But the question on local soccer fans' minds right now is not: `Can Bermuda make the finals?' but `How far can we go?' The first goal is to reach the so-called `Super 12', a second qualifying series for a dozen teams considered the cream of CONCACAF -- the Caribbean, North and Central American zone under whose umbrella Bermuda fall.

That in itself would represent a monumental achievement for Clyde Best and his squad. But first they need to finish off BVI this Sunday, survive a tricky tie against Antigua in the next round and then defeat a third Caribbean team.

Such is Best's confidence this weekend, he's decided not to call on his top players, professionals Goater, Kyle Lightbourne and David Bascome.

That decision is understandable considering all three are currently involved in play-off matches which could shape they and their clubs' future. But it's a pity for local fans who rarely get chance to see these players perform on home soil, particularly in international competition.

Instead spectators will get to see a diluted, although hopefully committed team, whose players -- in the absence of Goater and company -- have a golden opportunity to stake their claim for a future place on the World Cup stage.

Goals breed confidence and the worst thing Bermuda can do this Sunday is rest on their laurels.

With the BFA having postponed the domestic schedule, it would be nice to think that as many as 5,000 fans will come out. And it would be even nicer if the team could respond with a better show than they put on in BVI.

Another bagful of goals would give Bermuda a glorious boost.

Your're right, Joe, Bermuda won't win the World Cup. But a successful run into the `Super 12' might help cultivate a community spirit, the likes of which hasn't been seen since our last campaign eight years ago.

-- ADRIAN ROBSON