Both Canada and Bermuda will be claiming they emerged from last night's opening Pan American Games qualifying match in Kingston, Jamaica with the advantage in the two-leg contest.

But it now all comes down to tomorrow's deciding second leg at the same venue which must see one of the two teams eliminated.

"It all boils down to one match,'' said BFA general secretary David Sabir, who listened to the match on radio last evening and was encouraged by the result.

"It would have been nice to get that victory but Canada and Bermuda are still equal and if the coaches of Bermuda feel there is room for improvement then that lends itself to a ray of hope. I'm encouraged.'' Bermuda had the best of the first half chances while Canada came on stronger in the second half after making their first substitution at the restart and their second after 62 minutes.

A couple of important saves kept Bermuda in the match, the first after 70 minutes when, with the best shot of the match, Clive Woods' 30-yard dipping shot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by the full stretched Dwayne Adams, the Bermuda captain.

Seven minutes later Adams, rushing off his line, was beaten but thankfully Dano Outerbridge cleared the Canada shot off the line.

By this time Bermuda's two substitutions had been made, with Nakia Smith and Lamaul Crofton replacing the fading Keishon Smith (63 minutes) and Quincy Aberdeen (79 minutes).

The two Devonshire Colts players had linked up well in the first half in midfield but lost some of their zip after the restart as Canada made two changes to their own midfield.

In the second half Bermuda went close with a Meshach Wade header a few minutes after the restart and then Nakia Smith made an immediate impact soon after coming into the game for Keishon Smith.

Three players were booked in a four minute period early in the second half, two of them from Bermuda -- Kevin Jennings and Wade for a dangerous foul and obstruction.

Bermuda started the match with a five-man defence, full backs Blenn Bean on the left and Andrew Rahman on the right with sweeper Wade joined in the middle by Outerbridge and Donnie Charles. Often Raynel Lightbourne was the lone man in the Bermuda attack.

He will be a key player in that department tomorrow as Bermuda go for the victory that will carry them through to the second qualifying match against the winners of hosts Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

At press time the two Caribbean teams were playing their first match as part of a double-header at the Kingston National Stadium.

If the Bermuda-Canada match finishes in another draw tomorrow then sudden death will be used during two 15 minute periods of extra time. After that, if still tied, the match will be decided by penalties.

"We lost a point, we should have wrapped it up in the first half,'' said BFA Technical Director Burkhard Ziese afterwards.

Coach Mark Trott seemed happy with the result when he spoke afterwards. "I thought we started off very brightly, knocking the ball around and beating them to the punch. But towards the end (of the first half) we started to relax too much,'' said Trott.

"All in all it was a positive result for us. Sunday should be another good game. If we lift the level of our match and come out here and die for Bermuda on Sunday we should get a positive result after 90 minutes.'' Tomorrow's game will start at 5.00 p.m. Bermuda time. Bermuda: D.Adams; A.Rahman, M.Wade, D.Charles, D.Outerbridge, B.Bean; K.Smith (N.Smith 63 mins), Q.Aberdeen (L.Crofton 79 mins), K.Jennings, O.Steede, R.Lightbourne.

DOUBLE DELIGHT -- Raynel Lightbourne (left) and goalkeeper Dwayne (Streaker) Adams both performed well during Bermuda's 0-0 draw with Canada in the first leg of the Pan-Am Games qualifying tie in Jamaica last night.