KENNY Thompson has expressed interest in regaining his job as coach of the national football team.

Breaking his silence since news broke this week that his official tenure as coach was over ? as his contract expired with the end of Bermuda's World Cup campaign ? Thompson said he was grateful for the widespread support he had received.

But he said he was disappointed that part of the community had been "focussing on the negative" rather than the progress made since Bermuda's World Cup exit against El Salvador two weeks ago.

Thompson is employed by the Bermuda Football Association (BFA) as youth development officer and took an additional part-time role as senior national team coach last November.

Though fans and fellow coaches have expressed shock at the BFA's decision to now advertise the national coach's job after the team's rousing effort against El Salvador, Thompson said it was no surprise to him.

"When you sign a contract, then it's important to stand by the agreements you make and I fully understand the position of all involved," Thompson said yesterday.

"When one comes to the end of a contract, then naturally everything is up in the air after that. From the BFA's standpoint, having said from the beginning that my contract would be until the end of the World Cup campaign, then they are not obliged to continue. I'm not obliged to continue either."

He added that he would be sitting down with BFA officials to discuss the way forward. Thompson said he was not in a position to confirm whether he would apply for the job until after those talks.

"But I will say I'm certainly interested," Thompson added. "I believe it's important that there is some continuity in the programme. Of course, if there are other individuals interested in the job, then the BFA should explore that."

Thompson has received many accolades for his work with the team, especially from the supporters who packed the National Sports Centre and gave the team a standing ovation after the draw with El Salvador.

Playing without injured professionals Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne, Bermuda played the whole of the second half with ten men and battled to a 2-2 draw which saw the Central Americans advance 4-3 on aggregate.

But some critical comments have also been directed at the coach, with suggestions that there was a dependence on older players and that the preparation tour of Panama and Nicaragua was unsuccessful and expensive.

"Certainly the support of many people in passing is much appreciated," Thompson said. "Also I found it disappointing that some groups in the community prefered to focus on negative things instead of the positive progress that has been made."

That progress included a high level of commitment from the squad, Thompson said. And regular matches against stronger sides had given the squad a dose of "reality", added the coach, to which the players had reacted positively.

"Nobody can accuse me of not being honest about the reality of football in Bermuda and how I assess our team," Thompson said.

"Our players certainly know where they stand when compared to other teams. The honest assessment by our coaches of their performance was the foundation of the great performance the players were able to achieve against El Salvador.

"They were able to fully understand how difficult the game can be and what was necessary to achieve a higher level of performance. They understood this to the extent that the players agreed to an alcohol ban."

The national squad players are now taking a break but will resume training on July 21, a month before they return to competitive action in a home-and-away Caribbean Cup qualifier against Aruba.