entry into the Olympics.

Bermuda Football Association (BFA) general secretary David Sabir said the association's intention of entering qualifying for the summer spectacle is part of the association's mandate to develop and upgrade the local standard.

"At a meeting of the executive committee (October 12) it was unanimously decided that the Bermuda Football Association will participate in the qualifying rounds of the Olympics of 1996 in Atlanta,'' said Sabir before referring to the current venture of preparing for next year's Pan American Games in Argentina.

"You'll be aware that the preparation tour -- the participation in the Pan American Games -- are all geared toward this hopefully successful campaign up until the Olympics and hopefully on to the World Cup in 1998.'' The Island last attempted to qualify a soccer team for the 1988 Olympic Games when, coached by Roddy Burchall and with Lorenzo Symonds as skipper, played Mexico in the qualifier in 1987. Bermuda shocked the Central Americans, winning the first leg 2-1 at BAA field before being thrashed on the return leg 6-0 in Toluca, Mexico and crashing out of the competition 7-2 on aggregate.

Meanwhile, the same year witnessed Bermuda similarly failing to reach the Pan American Games, twice coming up on the short end of 1-0 score-lines against Canada.

However, Sabir preferred to look forward to the possibilities that lie ahead rather than past failures. He noted how participation could go a long way toward building local soccer's base back to where it once was in the 1970s and '80s.

"Hopefully it will instill national pride back into our game,'' said Sabir, still awaiting word as to which group of countries Bermuda will be bracketed with.

"The intention is to give players interested in developing to the highest level an avenue to advance their games. Also, by participating in such competitions we will keep abreast of what's happening on the national level.'' As for Bermuda's chances of making it past the qualifying rounds Sabir noted the sizeable task ahead, but was not nearly ready to concede defeat.

"Any national association which undertakes to do basic preparation puts in for positive results,'' he said. "But you have to understand that football is not played in a vacuum and other countries are also preparing with ambitions of success and a lot of these have much greater budgets than we have.

"What we're doing is giving ourselves the best opportunity to compete and if we do nothing but perform up to our maximum potential we will have achieved a lot.'' Many of the group currently on a tour of Germany will play a major role in determining how far Bermuda goes in either competition with both the Olympics and Pan American Games being age group tournaments.

The latter is strictly for players under 23 years, while the Olympics allows each team reaching the final stages a maximum of three players over that age limit.

With regard the Olympics, qualifying matches must be played between January 1995 and April 30, 1996. Bermuda face Canada twice in Jamaica in Pan Am qualifying, the first time on November 30 and again on December 3, with the winner going on to face the runner-up nation from the Caribbean Football Union's qualifying competition.

LORENZO SYMONDS -- Skipper of 1988 squad that played Mexico.