Bermuda Football Association president Neville Tyrrell will miss the Island's first World Cup match on Sunday, after being invited to be a FIFA commissioner at another game in the Caribbean.

The commissioner's job entails being an official observer for soccer's world governing body and Tyrrell said he considered his appointment to the Barbados v Grenada match an honour.

But he expressed regret at not being able to see Bermuda take on the British Virgin Islands in Tortola -- the Island's first World Cup tie for more than seven years.

"I have to go to the match a day or two before to make sure all the organisation is in place for things like the field, the match officials and the teams -- the things which are normally taken for granted,'' said Tyrrell.

The BFA chief said he had served as a commissioner before, including once in Panama and once at a previous Gold Cup.

"It's an honour, most definitely. Very few people get the opportunity to do it,'' he added.

Tyrrell was not happy about missing the Bermuda match, but he felt it was an unfortunate necessity.

"Of course, I regret it,'' he said. "It's just one of those things. When you get called, you get called.

"I'm not the only president appointed to a match this weekend. There are two or three others who will be missing their home countries' games.'' Meanwhile, Tyrrell confirmed that the BFA were considering extending technical director Clyde Best's contract for the duration of the World Cup campaign.

Best's three-year contract will expire at the end of March and the BFA have already announced it will not be renewed.

But if Bermuda defeat the BVI over two legs, the loss of Best would leave the team without a technical director for further matches including a second round qualifying tie in April against Antigua or Guyana.

Tyrrell said there were no plans at this time to appoint a successor to Best and said of the option to extend Best's contract: "That is under consideration.'' Best and national coach Robert Calderon will today name their squad for Sunday. Best explained he had left it as late as possible to announce the squad -- the team flies out tomorrow -- because six members of his initial squad were playing in last night's Friendship Trophy semi-final between PHC and Somerset and he wanted to check on their fitness.

Bermuda's Caribbean Zone Two tie will be one of the first qualifers played in the World Cup 2002 competition.

A clash between Trinidad and Tobago and the Netherlands Antilles on Saturday will kick off the first of up to 800 qualifying matches to fill the 29 remaining slots for the World Cup finals.

On the same day, 90 minutes later at 5.30 p.m. Bermuda time, Honduras will take on Nicaragua in another CONCACAF qualifier.

The two matches mark the beginning of a long road, which will see 195 national associations trying to join co-hosts Japan and South Korea and defending champions France in the finals in over two years' time.

The 10 CONMEBOL associations in South America will be the next to launch themselves into action with the first of 90 preliminary round matches set to begin on March 28.

African nations in CAF will start their qualifying phase in April with a series of 25 home and away cup ties that will reduce the 50 participating associations to 25.

Europe will join the fray in late summer with nine groups from UEFA opening their accounts. No fixtures have been announced yet for Asia or Oceania.

The 700-800 qualifying matches are expected to far surpass the 643 games that attracted 15 million spectators to watch the preliminary rounds ahead of the 1998 finals in France.