North Village's title hopes have been hit by a schedule change which will cost them two influential players -- but coach Kenny Thompson has no complaints.

Midfielder Jamaul Boyles and defender Kofi Dill will be in the national under-23 team which will fly out to Panama on Sunday for two Olympic qualifying matches next week.

That will rule the pair out of Village's final league match against Boulevard on Sunday, in which a victory would give the Red Devils the league title if PHC were to fail to beat Wolves.

Bermuda Football Association this week brought forward the last round of league matches -- originally scheduled for April 9 -- by a week to Sunday.

PHC president Chris Furbert was annoyed by the change which will rule out the Zebras' under-23 striker Steve Astwood and has contacted the BFA to voice his concerns.

Thompson felt his squad was strong enough to deal with the consequences of the schedule change.

"I am prepared to go with whatever the association wants to go with at this time,'' said Thompson yesterday.

"We will miss Jamaul and Kofi -- but we have been without Kofi for most of the season as he is away in college. I'm sure we have enough depth to deal with it. I do understand the concerns of other clubs, however.'' In yesterday's Royal Gazette , Furbert said he would have been happier if the PHC/Wolves game could have been held on Saturday night, thereby freeing Astwood to play.

BFA secretary David Sabir confirmed yesterday that he had spoken with the PHC president about his concerns and that there were no plans to reschedule again.

Thompson felt the club-versus-country problems which have risen to prominence this year, particularly with the national team's difficulty in securing the release of Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne from their English clubs for World Cup matches, required action on a global level.

He supported the idea of soccer's world governing body FIFA to enforce a global calendar which would set separate times for club and international soccer.

But at a "Football Expo'' conference in France earlier this month, attended by dignitaries such as Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Charlton, Thompson questioned how a calendar could be applied in countries like Bermuda.

"I asked them how they could deal with countries like Bermuda and Antigua where we have both cricket and football, often played on the same grounds, but they had no answer,'' said Thompson, the national under-15 team coach, who was there to represent the BFA.

It was to accommodate a cricket match at the Recreation Ground in St. John's that Antigua switched the first leg of their World Cup second-round qualifier against Bermuda from April 2 to April 16 -- a move which sparked the league rescheduling.

Thompson met both Beckenbauer and Charlton and said it had been an honour.

"It's not just as players that I admire them, it's for what they have done since they finished playing,'' said Thompson.

"Beckenbauer was the World Cup winning captain in 1974 and he went on to be the World Cup winning coach in 1990 and he has always impressed me.''