Grenada arrive in Bermuda tomorrow for two friendly football matches that will serve a serious purpose for both teams.

With World Cup Qualifiers fast approaching, the need for coaches from both countries to figure out which players give them the best chance to win is growing ever more important.

However, while Bermuda face Bahamas in the first round of the qualifiers this month, Grenada have slightly more breathing room. Higher in the world rankings, they don’t enter the competition until the second round, when they face Puerto Rico.

Still, with a regional tournament to come in April and another friendly against Guyana later this month, Lester Smith, the Grenada Football Association technical director, is looking forward to two good games on Friday and Sunday that he hopes will provide a stern test for his 24-man squad.

“The entire squad will be local-based players, and then we are going to look to see what we are getting out of them,” Smith said. “A lot of youth players will be involved also, so this preparation has a lot to do with how we shape ourselves as a team, and also to give all local players the opportunity to make the final cut.”

Smith obviously wants to know which players perform well together, and hopes to discover if Grenada have the necessary talent at their disposal to play the type of game they want.

Grenada’s squad have been together since February 14, and because their domestic season does not start until May, the players have had time to work together for long periods, attending several weekend camps in the weeks before arriving in Bermuda.

Being out of season does provide its own challenges though, and for Smith it has been something of a double-edged sword.

“There is a fortunate side and an unfortunate side to being out of season,” he said. “The fortunate one is that players are not with their clubs at this time, the unfortunate one is that the season hasn’t started, so some of them might be out of shape and we have to get them into shape. Even when we called the 24-man squad we had a couple of players who literally dropped themselves out because they just couldn’t cope with the level of training. We have a short-term objective, we need to get players ready for the Bermuda matches, of course we’re working towards the World Cup, so, if you’re out of shape then you’re not going to make the cut.”

Bermuda play Grenada on Friday night at 8.30pm, and again on Sunday at 3pm. The matches will take place at the National Sports Centre, and tickets are available online at www.ptix,bm or at the Bermuda Football Association offices in Hamilton.