ANYONE doubting the scale of national coach Kenny Thompon’s task should have been convinced by Sunday’s crushing by Canada.While Bermuda might have accepted a 3-0 defeat before the game, in reality wasteful finishing and the woodwork stopped the Canucks from piling in many more.

And though Bermuda lie 116th in the FIFA world rankings with Canada just 13 places ahead of them there was a massive gulf in class.

Despite three back-to-back defeats Thompson, appointed as interim coach after Kyle Lightbourne was sacked, is optimistic and is keen to finish the job he has started.

But he is realistic about the work needed. He said players needed to be much fitter, with better ball control and better concentration.“The things that get us success on a Sunday afternoon are not the things that get us success at international level — it just the opposite.

“Overall we are in a good situation — we have a good nucleus of players prepared to go to another level. I think we can reach our objective of being one of the better teams of the Caribbean.”

A touch of nerves was evident on Sunday as the players came face to face with Premiership stars Tomasz Radzinski and Paul Stalteri and the talented Houston Dynamo winger Dwayne De Rosarion.

“I think coming up against some Premier League stars and MLS players there was a hesitancy — it’s normal among amateur players. You know you are playing against some of the best players in the world.”

Some players were afraid to over-commit because of the risk of fatigue against fitter players even though physical stamina was one of the deciding factors.

But the more matches Bermuda play the closer they will get to the required standard, said Thompson who believes it is possible for amateur players to reach the fitness levels of the pros.

BFA President Larry Mussenden believes Bermuda can reach around the 50th mark in the FIFA world rankings.

Thompson isn’t sure but agrees Bermuda need to first be one of the major players in the Caribbean region.

“It is going to take some work but I don’t think we are that far off. I think we can compete with Jamaica and Trinidad.”

It’s certainly an exciting time to take over with the extra funding to play more matches and have more training sessions, enthused Thompson.

But for the moment it might mean grinding out results rather than playing their opponents off the park, he conceded.

“We would like to play wonderful football but that needs perfect technique and a high-level of football intelligence and power and a strong mentality.

“People will question why we string five across the midfield — it’s not that we want to defend the whole game but during the time we don’t have the ball we want to be compact.”

Otherwise top teams will dish out the punishment which is what happened for spells on Sunday, said Thompson who hoped Bermuda could launch more counter attacks when they had settled into the system.

Too many times Bermuda were on the defensive because they had given the ball away cheaply and his coaching team will be hammering away at technique in the coming weeks.

He said so far Bermuda’s opponents had been too good, considering the new domestic programme was still in its infancy.

“Starting the programme from scratch and having to play the New England Revolution, the LA Galaxy and Canada is a little bit too much.

“Having said that, it’s still good for the players to get a dose of reality at this level. I would rather have this situation than win five or six nil against a weaker opponent and then think we could take on the best in the world.”

Appointed as interim coach, Thompson was asked to hold on until a technical director can be appointed who would then influence who the coach was.

But Thompson said he would love to continue in the hot-seat.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. I feel we can do a really, really good job given the time to build something. I would definitely love to do it on a longer-term basis.”

Thompson had a brief spell leading the national team before handing over to Kyle Lightbourne in October 2004.

“Eight months to build something is not a whole lot of time. We thought we had brought the team a long way in those eight months so there was a little bit of a disappointment we couldn’t continue with that work.

“One wonders what might have been if I had been allowed to continue. Now we have to concentrate on building for the future.”

Prior to the Canada game the team spent the night at Coco Reef hotel.

“It’s important the team are together to prepare for these matches. I would like to see a minimum of 48 hours together.

“It allows us to work in a little bit more detail than everyone coming in after work and trying to get the work done in two hours.

“The players really want to do it and are trying very, very hard. It’s easy for some to want success immediately but we have to be realistic. Canada were a different class. We are trying to get to that level.

“In this marathon Kavin Smith has started at Whale Bay and we are just leaving Somerset.”

Thompson remains optimistic