Bermuda's 2-0 defeat by Canada last night.

Professionals Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne and David Bascome all missed last night's friendly international and other important players like Devarr Boyles were ruled out through injury.

"It's difficult when you don't have five or six of your best players and it really shows when you play a team of this quality,'' said technical director Best.

"In the first half, we gave them too much respect and we didn't get tight on them. And the first goal was disappointing -- I thought the goalkeeper might have had it. But this sort of game is all part of the learning experience.

"They didn't kill us, but I was getting a bit worried in the first half. He paid tribute to teenage striker Stephen Astwood from PHC, making his Bermuda debut.

"It was hard for Stephen playing in his first international at 18 years-old, but he did quite well. And when Rohaan (Simons) came on, they seemed to pair up pretty well.

"It's difficult to throw players together and expect them to do well and this is virtually a new team.'' Two national team players, the absent Bascome and Meshach Wade, who did play last night, play in the National Professional Soccer league for Harrisburg Heat and Best hinted that indoor soccer was not ideal preparation for playing on grass.

"That's entirely different from the outdoor game,'' said Best.

Canada's German coach Holger Osieck was dismissive about Bermuda, claiming they were "not a good team'' and weaker than Trinidad, with whom Canada had drawn 0-0 on Saturday. Osieck added: "I was not pleased with the performance.

We did not really get into the game and it was not what I think of in terms of football. In the second half, we were poor, to be frank. We lost our cohesion and our passing beacme sloppy.''