Kentoine Jennings will be back to bolster the Bermuda defence in their third and final match of the Florida tour against Columbus Crew today.

A groin strain sidelined the experienced North Village central defender for the matches against the University of South Florida and Miami Fusion and he has been unable to train since the second day of the tour.

But rest and physiotherapy have left Jennings feeling fit enough to play against the Crew at the plush facilites at Altamonte Springs today.

Technical director Clyde Best said yesterday: "Kentoine had some treatment this morning and he feels ready to give it a go. It will be good to see him play again.'' The return of Jennings is just what senior team coach Robert Calderon needed after the early return home of fellow central defenders Shannon Burgess and Clifford Roberts because of work commitments.

The team will also be without the only senior goalkeeper on the tour Dwayne (Streaker) Adams, who has had to fly home early to North Carolina.

Adams' absence will give an opportunity to Jay Smith or Nigel Burgess to make the step up from the under-23 squad.

Bermuda, although without their four professional players who will be back for next month's first World Cup qualifier against the British Virgin Islands, gave another MLS side, Fusion, a tough game in Sunday's 1-0 defeat.

And Best said the Crew game would give them the chance to build on that impressive performance.

Meanwhile, Bermuda's under-23 side went down 1-0 on Monday night to the University of Central Florida in Orlando -- their third straight defeat on tour.

The winner came from a penalty five minutes from time and coach Dennis Brown questioned the legitimacy of the goal.

"In the move that led to the penalty their guy was a good five yards offside, so we were pretty unlucky,'' said Brown. "That's the way it can go away from home.'' Bizarre refereeing decisions have been a feature of the tour, with bad calls costing the tourists dear.

In their previous match, a 2-1 defeat to an even later goal against the University of Tampa, the Olympic team showed a high level of commitment and Brown saw further improvement in the latest match.

"I thought we played even better than the game in Tampa,'' said Brown. "They were a strong physical side and applied a lot of pressure when in possession.

"It was a total team performance from us and we did not let our level of play drop. But the players are learning that once you get scoring chances at this level, you have to put them away. That was the one thing we could really improve on.'' The under-23s are preparing for tough-looking Olympic qualifers against Panama and Cuba in Panama City in April -- and Brown said they would go into those games well prepared thanks to the Florida tour.

"This training exercise was a necessity for us in order for the players to know what it takes to play in the Olympics. I feel that the opposition we have played over here will be about on a par with the teams we will play in the qualifying matches.'' Best said he had been impressed with the battling qualities of the youngsters.

"What has impressed me about these lads is that they work tremendously hard and they did that again,'' said Best. "They created enough chances to win the game but just didn't take them.'' The tour party will fly home tomorrow.