Bermuda?s national side will be back in regular training at the start of next month ready for a busy year of international action.

National coach Kyle Lightbourne, who briefly flirted with a Cup Match return this summer, will be gathering together a large squad in the first week of October and is hoping to have two fixtures played by the end of the year.

Lightbourne?s team, who are 157th in the FIFA world rankings, are looking to improve on that with matches against regional opposition ranked just above them ? the likes of Antigua, St. Lucia and Grenada ? ahead of next year?s competitive games in the Digicel Cup and youth World Cup qualifiers.

?We are going to get the squad back together for training the first week of October,? said Lightbourne, whose thoughts are now firmly focused back on the Beautiful Game.

?The guys have all been doing their pre-season with their clubs and we wanted to let them get the Charity Cup and Martonmere out the way before we got them back together.

?We are going to put together a pretty big training squad so we can have intra-squad games and they will all work together over the next few months.?

With Under 20 and Under 17 World Cup qualifiers scheduled for next year and no competitive senior matches on the calendar until the Digicel opening round in the autumn, Lightbourne is going to put the emphasis on the Island?s rising young stars.

?The squad will be a mix of youth and experience but certainly there are going to be a good few of the up and coming players involved,? said Lightbourne, who continues to be assisted by number two Paul Scope.

?We began the process of bringing the young players in ahead of the Man City Academy game in the summer and there were plenty of teenagers in that side and the one that we took down to Trinidad before that.

?That is how we are going to continue as we move forward. The younger lads can learn from the more experienced ones and hopefully they can do well when the youth sides take part in their qualifying competitions as well.?

When asked if the new emphasis on youth was part of a long-term strategy ahead of the next set of World Cup qualifiers in 2008, Lightbourne brought up the perennial problem of Bermuda?s international football programme ? the one that consistently holds the Island back despite impressive one-off achievements on the World Cup qualifying stage.

?Of course we have a long-term plan, but it all comes down to money,? said Lightbourne, with more than just a hint of frustration in his voice.

?There are plenty of things that we want to do when it comes to internationals but there are always going to be limited finances, that is the reality in which we are working.

?As well as regular games, it would be great to have squad training camps overseas but they are going to cost $40,000 a time and it is hard to justify anything like that with no games on the horizon.

?We have plenty of good ideas and we just hope we get a chance to implement some of them.

?We are very keen to get these two games in before the end of the year but it is going to be a question of money.?

The national side would also hope to benefit from the experience gained courtesy of fixtures resulting from commercial tours, as they did last season when Santos and New England Revolution toured the Island ? that, however, is out of the Bermuda Football Association and Lightbourne?s hands.

The other benefit Lightbourne is looking for in the coming year is the motivation provided by the success of the national cricket team.

Despite the relative setback of an ugly Cup Match, the cricketing world has been euphoric since Clay Smith?s men qualified for both the World Cup and the ICC Intercontinental Cup finals in Namibia next month ? and Lightbourne wants some of that success to rub off on his charges.

?I?m hoping it can work as a motivating factor,? said Lightbourne, who took former England captain Michael Atherton?s wicket when competing for the national youth side in years gone by.

?If you look at the commitment the cricketers have shown, you can say why they have had success.

?It was quite a few months ago that they were asked to make significant commitments of time and effort to help achieve a long-term goal.

?A number of them did that and they have reaped the rewards in recent weeks.

?I would like to see a similar commitment from our footballers, although the rewards are not as obvious nor as immediate, the cricketers have shown what hard work can produce.

?I would like to see a core group of footballers make similar sacrifices and hopefully achieve their own successes.?