As many as ten World-Cup bound players will grace the national stadium carpet tonight as top-class regional football returns to Bermuda.

Major League Soccer?s New England Revolution take on LD Alajuelense, known as La Liga, in the Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-final first leg in what should be a highly-skilled, highly-competitive encounter.

The Revolution, who boast US internationals Taylor Twellman, Clint Dempsey, Pat Noonan and Matt Reis as well as Trinidadian Avery John, take on the Costa Rican champions and 2004 Champions Cup champions who can name as many as eight Germany 2006-bound internationals in their side including skipper Wilmer Lopez.

And Revs coach Steve Nicol, who sent assistant Paul Mariner down to Costa Rica to scout La Liga, believes passing will be the key to victory in tonight?s first leg clash.

?I though we spread the ball around well on Saturday against Bermuda and we will need to do that again if we are to get a result,? said Nicol, whose side were beaten by the same opposition in the 2003 competition when both legs were played in the Central American nation.

?The pitch is very quick and hopefully that can work to our advantage. We are going to be playing the same team that started on Saturday and we will be looking for them to knock the ball around a lot.

?We have had a few injuries which has made us juggle things about but I think the guys are going to be ready for this.

?They are at an advantage because they are in the middle of their season and have plenty more games under their belts but we are getting what we want out of this trip to Bermuda so we are much better prepared than we would have been if we had stayed in Boston.?

La Liga, who arrived on the Island on Monday night, are the most decorated team in Costa Rican history with 24 league titles under their belts but are going through somewhat of a transition phase at the moment and have a new coach in Rolando Villalobos, the former national assistant.

They are in a three-way tie for first in their section of the league but have only scored eight goals so far this campaign despite the presence of national team stars Carlos Hernandez, Luis Marin, Carlos Castro and Lopez.

?From what we can tell from what Paul saw, they are a good solid side, pass it around well and have a few key players,? continued Nicol, who expects around seven changes from the side that beat them 5-3 on aggregate last time around and have won the tournament twice before.

?We just looked to see the style they play and who their key men are. We?ve picked up some bits of information that we can pass on to our guys about their set pieces and some other information.

?We are under no illusions ? this is going to be a tough game but we are hoping the ?home? advantage of the pitch we have played on and maybe also the crowd at our backs will give us the edge.?

The second leg will be played in Alajuela on March 8 while, unlike other regional tournaments, the away goals rule does not apply.

The encounter will be the first Champions Cup game held here since Dandy Town Hornets defeated the Brooklyn Italians 3 - 1 in the opening-leg of the North Zone First Round in 1991.

Meanwhile the Jamaican Under 23s also arrived on Monday night and will take on Kyle Lightbourne?s national side tomorrow before taking on the Revs on Saturday ? both those matches kick off at 8p.m. while tonight?s Concacaf contest begins at 7 p.m.