Richard Todd, the National Academy director, hopes that the Bermuda Under-20 side can learn from their mistakes when they face Australia today in their opening game of the National Training Centre Invitational in California.

Bermuda, who suffered a disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign in the Dominican Republic, failing to advance to the Caribbean finals, have been invited to an all-expenses paid trip to the home of US football in Carson, where they will also play the hosts and Chile.

Despite making a flying start in the Dominican, defeating group favourites Guadeloupe 4-3 in their first game, Bermuda slumped to damaging 2-0 defeat against the hosts, having Chae Brangman and Calin Mabury sent off for violent conduct during a dismal second half.

Any repeat of that type of undisciplined behaviour could hurt the Island’s reputation, said Todd, who has stressed the importance of the players not only keeping cool heads but also proving they can punch above their weight against a higher calibre of opposition.

“The World Cup qualifiers were definitely a missed opportunity for us,” Todd said. “We did really well to win that first match, scoring four goals although we knew we had to tighten up defensively.

“But we really missed a chance [to secure qualification] in the second game against the Dominican Republic. It seemed like we were chasing the game and it didn’t help that we had used all of our substitutes when Quintonio Lema had to go off injured,

“Then of course there were the red cards, so there’s definitely some lessons to be learned by our players. It shows that there’s still plenty of work for us to do in order to be successful.”

With the Dennis Brown, the under-20 coach, unavailable for the tournament because of work commitments, Don Vickers, the former Wolves and X-Roads coach, will deputise while Khano Smith, the former Bermuda captain, will serve as his assistant.

Smith, who played in the MLS for New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls, is based in Boston where he works as an Academy coach at the Revolution.

The 20-man squad, which left the Island on Saturday, has been boosted by the inclusion of over-age players Tre Ming, Zeiko Lewis, Jalen Harvey, Jair Minors and Willie Clemons.

It is hoped that an impressive showing at the Invitational could secure Bermuda further invites to top-level tournaments in the US.

Included in Australia’s squad is Daniel De Silva, the Perth Glory midfielder, who signed for Roma for an undisclosed fee last month with a view to joining the Serie A side at the start of the 2015-16 season.

Bermuda take on the US on Wednesday and Chile on Friday.