Bermuda were yesterday drawn against Trinidad and Tobago in the 1998 World Cup qualifying competition.

The two teams are set to clash in the second round of the qualifying stages in CONCACAF's Caribbean zone.

Eight other Caribbean countries less well-known for their footballing prowess will have to negotiate an initial qualifying round just to make it to that stage. They are Aruba, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Grenada, Dominica and Antigua.

Four of them will progress to join Bermuda and Trinidad, Puerto Rico, St.

Vincent, Cayman Islands, Cuba, St. Lucia, Haiti, Surinam, Jamaica, Barbados and Netherlands Antilles in the second phase.

A long hard road lies ahead if any of the Caribbean zone teams are to clinch one of only three World Cup finals spots allocated to the CONCACAF region which also includes North and Central America.

Such powerhouse teams as Mexico and the United States are among the competition.

But while the draw in Paris yesterday settled the question of who would be playing who in the qualifying stages, back at home the Bermuda Football Association had little to say on the matter.

BFA general secretary David Sabir, who earlier this year said that Bermuda would not be mounting a World Cup campaign, refused to reveal the reason for the change of heart. Neither would he confirm Bermuda's entry in the draw.

The BFA's financial plight was among the reasons cited back in August when it was announced Bermuda would not be attempting to qualify for the 1998 competition. And there was no indication until this week that things had changed.

Sports Minister Tim Smith said yesterday that he was unaware Bermuda had entered the World Cup qualifying draw, but he said he had recently had talks with BFA executives about the possibility of reconsidering their decision not to compete. "I was under the impression that they would consider it,'' he said. "Whether they were going to follow it up I did not know.'' When asked if a lack of financing was the BFA's main concern during the discussions, Smith said: "Certainly when you talk about participation in world events like this you have to take into account finances and the level of preparedness.'' The Minister said that he did not try to influence the BFA in their decision.

"It was a decision for them to make, I wasn't going to lead them one way or the other.'' It is believed that CONCACAF may have played a major role in encouraging Bermuda to take up the World Cup challenge again.