Bermuda are hoping to capitalise on the late arrival today of their Junior World Cup opponents, St. Vincent, for tonight's opening match at Somerset.

After spending the night at Sonesta Beach Hotel, Bermuda's Under-17 players should be well prepared for this evening's first leg qualifier. But, in sharp contrast, St. Vincent have endured a tiring journey via the United States and are expected to arrive late this morning, having missed their original flight from St. Vincent on Monday.

The players will then have to step out on the pitch just some seven hours after arriving.

"We will just wait and see how they are affected. Nobody really knows how they will perform,'' said Bermuda's technical director Clyde Best. "For the moment, though, I am more concerned about our players performing and I am hoping that they get the solid support from the public that we need.'' Tired as they may be, Bermuda's opponents will have another chance to show their worth in Friday evening's second leg, also to be played at Somerset, starting at 7.00.

Unlike the St. Vincent players, officials assigned for the two matches did catch their plane on time from New York and arrived at noon yesterday. The trio are Americans Arturo Angeles, Tom Bobadilla and Edwin Resendes, all appointed by CONCACAF.

David Sabir, General Secretary of the BFA, was yesterday upbeat about the start of the qualifying series after having worked hard to get both legs played in Bermuda.

Original plans called for the matches to be played on a home and away basis, but after St. Vincent defeated Granada the tiny Caribbean country agreed to travel here for both legs.

"There is a psychological advantage when playing at home and we wanted to give our team the best opportunity to win the series against St. Vincent,'' said Sabir.

"We also wanted to give the Bermuda public an opportunity to come out and support out team and be a part of what promises to be an interesting encounter against our friends from the Caribbean.'' Best said that both he and coach Mark Trott, who will assist him on the sidelines, were satisfied that Bermuda's young players had worked hard and would give a good account of themselves in a competition where the stakes were high.

Bermuda squad: Kiman Simmons, Brendon Minors, Sergio Wilkinson, Paul Fox, Jason Hayward, Kingsley Mundy, Mackie Crane, Zane Hendrickson, Omar Ray, Nasir Wade, Kamen Tucker, Marlon Dill, Jared Peniston, Nadir Wade, Jabari Fubert, Tarik Jennings, Regeno Gomes.