Danté Leverock, the Bermuda captain, says his side “fear no one” and fancy their chances against the region’s elite.

The Robin Hood defender said the experience and exposure of playing in the Concacaf Gold Cup and Nations League has done the team’s confidence the world of good.

“Playing in the Gold Cup and then the Nations League, playing against Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico, helped to build our mentality,” Leverock said. “We look forward to playing top countries in the region now. We fear no one and will always fancy our changes no matter who we play.”

Bermuda will once again have the opportunity to test themselves against their regional rivals in the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers and Gold Cup Preliminary Rounds.

Kyle Lightbourne’s side have been drawn alongside Canada, Aruba, Cayman Islands and Suriname in group B of the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers taking place in March, and were last night drawn against Barbados in the first round of matches in the preliminary round of the Gold Cup, taking place in July.

“We are very excited to start the World Cup campaign and test ourselves,” Leverock added.

“It’s World Cup so every game will be tough. Each country will be hoping to win matches and get through to the next round.

“Obviously Canada is a big game, quality players, so will be a great test for us,” Leverock said. “Also we are looking forward to playing Aruba as they beat us few years ago, which we were very disappointed with.

“I have faith in the squad. We have been together for a long time and will give everything to try and progress to the next round. I look forward to playing with my countrymen representing Bermuda again.”

Bermuda were originally scheduled to travel to Canada for their World Cup qualifier opener on October 8, before facing Aruba at home on October 13, Suriname away on November 13 and a final group match against Cayman Islands at home on November 17.

However, Fifa and Concacaf have since decided that international matches scheduled for the original dates in October and November were too early considering the Covid-19 pandemic.

Instead, Bermuda will have to wait six months to start their qualifying campaign, which will see each team play every other team in their group once, playing a total of four matches; two home and two away. At the end of the first round the six group winners will advance.

Teams will then play home and away in a direct elimination format, with the three winners progressing to the final round.

The final round will see those three teams join the Concacaf member Associations top-five ranked teams consisting of Mexico, United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras.

The eight teams will play each other home and away, with the top-three finishing teams qualifying directly to the World Cup.

The fourth-placed team will qualify for the Intercontinental Play-off, scheduled to be played in June 2022.