Bermuda will today get to know their first opponents in the long and complicated qualifying process for the 2002 World Cup.

In Tokyo at 6.00 a.m. Bermuda time, soccer's world governing body FIFA are scheduled to make the draw, which will initially pitch the Island's national team into a straight-knockout tie against Caribbean opponents.

With 35 countries vying for three places in the 2002 finals in Japan and South Korea, the North, Central American and Caribbean region (CONCACAF) has the most convoluted qualifying competition in the World Cup.

But before the draw has even been made, there is some good news for Bermuda -- they have avoided both Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago in the first phase.

The second phase involves a `Super 12', three groups of four teams playing home and away on a round-robin basis.

The top two countries in each group will progress to the final group of six, from which the top three will progress to the World Cup finals.

In the first phase, it is already known that Bermuda will play in Caribbean Group Two, in which the seeded country, based on results in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, is St. Vincent.

To simplify the process, eight-team Group Two can be compared to a cup competition which has reached the quarter-final stage. Victory in the first home-and-away tie would send Bermuda through to the semi-finals, while defeat would mean elimination.

Another win and Bermuda would advance to the Group Two final, with a place in the `Super 12' at stake. The losing team in the final will get a second chance to progress, in a play-off match against the runners-up in Central American Group A.

Cuba are the Group One seeds, while Trinidad & Tobago, who can call on the services of Manchester United's Dwight Yorke, will play in Group One.

"Our main object is to advance to the `Super 12' and then as far as we can,'' said Bermuda Football Association's technical director Clyde Best yesterday.

"It is good that we have avoided Cuba and Trinidad, because that gives us a better chance to progress, but whoever we get we've got to go along with it and be ready for a bit of a dogfight at the start.'' Best was yesterday still waiting on a decision from the BFA's Finance Committee on the go-ahead for funding of a proposed European tour.

He sees the tour of Germany and England as crucial preparation for his team if they are to succeed in the World Cup qualifiers.

"We're still hoping and working on it,'' said Best. "My contacts are ready to sort out games and accommodation as soon as the committee say yes.

"We need games and we need to get our players together as much as possible.

If we can do that, we genuinely have a chance to upset people in our region.

I've been saying from day one we need to expose players to international competition. If we don't do that, how can we expect them to succeed?'' Bermuda's possible opponents in Group Two will be drawn from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Surinam, Turks & Caicos Islands and US Virgin Islands.