Bermuda Football Association technical development director Maurice Lowe believes the island can be successful at the Concacaf Under-20 Championship Qualifier in St Kitts & Nevis this week.

The under-20s are battling for the sole qualifying spot up for grabs in group F alongside Jamaica, Grenada and Martinique, and Lowe reckons the island is capable of preogressing.

“We have just as much of an opportunity to do well in this competition as anyone else,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“Every team that we put together is the team we believe we can go into competition with, and I am very pleased with the group of players that we have been able to assemble. I believe in us, I believe in Bermuda, I believe in the staff and I believe in the players.

“We are going down there to try and qualify for the next round and that won’t be easy. The opponents are trying to do the same thing we are attempting to do, so it’s not a given.

“It’s not automatic and we have to go down there, perform well and perform to the best of our ability.”

Bermuda, who are being led by coach Cecoy Robinson, will kick off their campaign against Grenada tomorrow before playing Martinique on Monday and Jamaica on Wednesday.

Robinson’s players may be venturing into the unknown as the coaching staff’s attempts to scout the opposition have been hindered in the build-up to the tournament.

“It’s tricky whereby you look for footage on the opponents and similarly they will be doing the same thing to us in terms of scouting,” Lowe said.

“But in the youth competition it’s tricky as there aren’t as many competitions so it’s a little bit more difficult to get footage and do analysis on the opponents. So from that perspective we then have to focus on ourselves and what it is that we are doing for the competition.”

The Gombey Warriors are attempting to make their second appearance at the Concacaf Under-20 Championship, having previously featured at the event in Costa Rica in 2017, but Lowe feels no real comparisons can be made with that squad.

“It’s a case-by-case basis so us qualifying before has nothing to do with us going to this competition now,” Lowe said.

“We want to do our best and we want to qualify, but it’s a separate instance. Most of these players and even the staff were not involved the last time we went there, so that wouldn’t be their point of reference, although as an organisation that’s a standard that we’ve reached at one point.

“It’s not in our current strategic plan, but in a previous strategic plan we aimed to get to the final rounds of regional competitions, so that’s a marker or milestone that we constantly strive for and this is no different.

“We will be aiming for that but us qualifying for it previously doesn’t weigh heavily on this group, so there’s no pressure in that regard.”

The bulk of Bermuda’s 20-member squad is made up of overseas players such as defender Harry Twite, who made his debut for the senior national team during the Concacaf Nations League and was also at the Island Games in Guernsey last year.

Half of the team arrived in St Kitts on Wednesday with the rest due to touch down yesterday.

“The travel for teams is an ongoing challenge in terms of airlift and being able to get teams to the competition in an efficient manner,” Lowe said. “So we did have to split the group to get them to St Kitts, but soon the whole team will be back together.

“It’s not ideal. However, we plan for that so whatever our circumstances are we put in place a plan and/or contingencies so that we can meet whichever challenges come our way.

“That’s the same with every tournament, with every competition where every single one has challenges. We just keep planning and having contingencies to best prepare ourselves based on what’s in front of us.”