Khano Smith’s Major League Soccer team, the New England Revolution, will return to the Island early in the new year for a pre-season tour.

The Revs, who loss last month’s MLS Cup Final against Houston Dynamo on penalties, have made Bermuda their number one pre-season training destination over the past two years.

And that trend looks set to continue, possibly in February, 2007.

During their first tour to the Island in early 2005, Revs manager, former Liverpool star Steve Nicol, recruited former Dandy Town striker Smith.

It was Smith who set up the Eastern Conference side’s go-ahead goal in the second half of extra-time during last month’s cup final, televised live on national TV, only for Houston to equalise within seconds and force the match into a penalty shoot-out.

The Revs also toured Bermuda earlier this year when Smith was sidelined with a knee injury.

Yesterday, New England officials remained tight-lipped when contacted, as did local promoters Setplay who have been responsible for bringing in the Revs in the past.

But according to an article in the Boston Globe, the Revs will have pre-season training in Bermuda and Mexico before their regular-season opener on April 7, 2007 in Chicago.

The Revs, who equalled Los Angeles Galaxy’s record of three defeats in the MLS Cup Final, will play their home opener against Toronto FC in a double-header with the US women’s national team taking on opponents yet to be named at Gillette Stadium on April 14.

[bul] Local computer consultants CCS Group have agreed to sponsor Dandy Town’s Under-18 football team to the tune of $10,000 over the next three years, and not the club’s overall youth programme as was reported in Wednesday’s edition of The Royal Gazette.