It was confirmed yesterday that Bermuda will be sending a Under-23 team to Cuba this September to participate in qualifiers for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Island has been placed in Group C along with Cayman Island, Puerto Rico and tournament hosts Cuba and will open their Olympic qualifying bid against the powerful Cubans in Havana on September 9 before taking on Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico on September 11 and 13.

At present some of those who will go on to form the nucleus of the Under-23 Olympic squad are being put through their paces in preparation for next month’s Small Island Games — to be held on the Greek Island of Rhodes — under the watchful eye of interim national coach Kenny Thompson, who has pinned his hopes for success on youth with a view towards the future.

“I think this group has a lot of potential and is a very exciting group to be working with because many of the players have already played at various youth levels and so they come into the team with an idea of what international football is like. So the potential is there which is a good thing,” Thompson said.

“We are working from the premise at the moment that this is the national team with the focus on players aged 17 to 23. So this is what we are considering to be the national team at the moment while the focus is on young players.

“This is another step towards development of the national team. We are developing with a younger focus and then as we move forward we can add some of the more experienced players who we feel can make an impact.”

So far Thompson is encouraged by some of the things he has seen in practice in the lead up to next month’s commitment in Rhodes — but is chomping at the bit to assess the performances of his players on the international stage where inevitably some of their strengths and weaknesses will be exposed.

“We have been training very hard but now we just need the matches to accurately assess where we are. We have to work extremely hard on other aspects of them game because the level of the domestic game is too low to gauge the players more accurately,” he added.

“So as such we are now looking forward to playing in these matches so that we can see what the players do under the conditions of top international football — while also receiving the opportunity to further develop themselves.”

Thompson toured Cuba in 2002 with the Island’s Under-17 youth squad that advanced to the second round of Under-17 World Cup qualifiers

As such, he will be familiar with the warmer climate and attacking nature of the Cubans who could prove all the more formidable playing on home soil.

“Most times it’s a situation where we don’t know a whole lot about our opponents. But most of our focus is on our concept and not so much about worrying about the opponent,” the former national team midfielder said.

“But right now our focus is on the Island Games and not so much with Cuba which is something we will deal with moving forward later down the road.”