BFA president Neville Tyrrell believes this week's tour of Florida by Bermuda's Olympic and senior national soccer teams could help restore the pride and enthusiasm that marked the Island's successful 1993 World Cup campaign.

Tyrrell said he hoped the trip, in which the under-23 squad and the senior squad will play six games in the space of four days, some against Major League Soccer clubs, would inspire both the players and fans in the build-up to this year's international commitments.

"The fact that the Olympic and senior national teams are going off to Florida, it's a very significant aspect in terms of our build-up for the two major competitions, there's no doubt about that,'' said the BFA chief.

"To get them off at the same time gives the coaching staff an opportunity to look at all of the players. There are players in both squads who could feature in both teams and having them together and getting them used to playing under different conditions will be of immense value.'' Organising a tour of this nature has long been a dream of technical director Clyde Best who, since taking on the job close to three years ago, has repeatedly stressed the importance of pre-tournament matches home and away against quality opposition.

"It's a good opportunity. They are playing against some very good quality teams -- the MLS teams and the US under-20s -- so the competition is going to be at a high level and the intensity will be there on a consistent basis,'' added Tyrrell.

The two squads -- in all a party of over 40 players and officials -- leave today with the under-23s taking on the New York Metro Stars in the first match on Thursday. On Friday, the senior team play the University of Central Florida while the under-23s meet the US under-20 team. And on Saturday Bermuda play Tampa Mutiny while the under-23s face the University of Tampa. The tour ends with the senior team playing Miami Fusion on Sunday.

While the governing body have managed to come up with the necessary cash for this trip, Tyrrell said sizeable sponsorship would be required for future tours.

"Like everything else money is required for every initiative that we undertake and we've asked the technical staff to give us an understanding as to what it is they want us to do. Of course, every technical staff have their wish list, and we have to try and match that with money.

"We just don't have money sitting in the bank waiting to do these things ... we are not in that fortunate position yet, but I do think it is something that we are working towards.

"I think the day will come when the technical staff will have the luxury of saying `we would like the team to do a tour' and everything will be there to accommodate them.

"We have a programme that will take us right through the World Cup, depending on how far the team goes. We know that it will be more difficult each step of the way and the team will need increased match practice.

"If one major sponsor came on board to fund the entire exercise, of course we would like that. But at the same time it would also be good if more than one sponsor came along and helped spread the load.'' Tyrrell pointed out that the Bermuda under-15 team, who recently trounced Cayman Islands 5-0 in the first round, second leg match of the Caribbean Championships at National Stadium, remained high on the BFA's priority list.

"They are a big part of our development programme. Once we rejoined the Caribbean Football Union we said that we would play in as many competitions as possible and they brought out this under-15 tournament which leads up to the Under-15 World Championships and this is something that we have great interest in,'' said Tyrrell.

"Our home leg against Caymans showed that we can compete at this level and I would imagine that this team will go from strength to strength.

"The BFA see this year as being one of our busiest with so much international activity. It means that we have to have the players, coaching staff, spectators and Bermuda in general supporting our commitments.

"There are already signs that this support will be there for us to go forward together and I believe the future looks bright for Bermuda at international level.'' Neville Tyrrell: optimistic about Bermuda's international future.