Bermuda coach Michael Findlay has revealed the disappointment experienced by the squad after the scoreline of their game against Trinidad & Tobago was communicated wrongly around the world.

The Gombey Warriors drew 2-2 in Port of Spain to pick up their first point in the final group stage of World Cup qualifying, but officials initially broadcast the result as a 2-1 defeat, with the wrong scoreline appearing on Concacaf and Fifa websites before being rectified several hours later.

Bermuda’s players and coach received commiseration messages after the game from friends and family, and were disappointed that their deserved point did not initially get the credit it merited.

“We were incredibly frustrated with the situation,” Findlay said.

“It’s not a great place to be, especially after you’ve set some short-term targets, achieved them, but everybody is telling you that it never actually happened.

“I’m really disappointed because it affected the players. This has been a very difficult process and it was frustrating for me to see the players have to go through getting messages about a loss.

“But sometimes, like footballers, off-field match officials make mistakes and technology goes wrong. I’m thankful that it is now solved and everybody is keenly aware that we got a point last night.”

Bermuda produced the best performance of Findlay’s tenure against Trinidad, dominating the play through technical attacking football, especially in the second half. While the coach emphasised the superb all-round display, he was keen to highlight 21-year-old debutant goalkeeper Milai Perott and midfielder Ne-Jai Tucker.

“Milai is a young keeper and took his opportunity,” Findlay said. “He had an outstanding performance on a debut as a 21-year-old. We’re really happy with what he does, his application, his personality, his commitment, his professionalism, and we look forward to him continuing with us and hopefully continued success at his club back in the UK.

“I thought Ne-Jai was the player of the game by a long shot. We’ve been working with him on where we feel he’s best and one of the things we noticed is that he can be much more influential higher up the pitch.

“He likes the ball and he doesn’t just create things with it. He dictates tempo, which we want to do given that we are trying to be a football-first team.

“We're also working with him out of possession, as we need players who can be effective when we have the ball but also when we don’t, especially at the level we’re playing at because the transitional moments are so dramatic and can be so damaging.

“We’ve been asking him to do that and he showed not just his ability but the potential to be a very key figure for us.”

The result against Trinidad ensured that Bermuda did not finish the group with no points and Findlay is taking the positives from the past three months of action.

“I have a very optimistic view about Bermudian football and I see great potential but also great challenges,” Findlay said.

“Curaçao qualified last night and are the smallest nation in history in terms of people and landmass to make it to the World Cup. Well, Bermuda were the only Concacaf team in the final stage smaller than Curaçao and that’s a huge achievement.

“What we learnt is that no matter what your size and what your population, those things are possible. So what do we do next? Well, it’s sitting down and making sure that all of our players understand the enormous sacrifice and hard work it takes to get that opportunity.

“Our goal is to be qualifying for a World Cup as a small nation. I’ve been working in the Concacaf region for many years. I know the environment well and I know we need to have our players living a high-performance lifestyle all the time.

“We have seen how important the physicality of the game is at this level. You see the speed, you see the intensity and we need to replicate that wherever possible — whether that’s at their clubs, training on their own or supplementary training when they come into our environment.”

Bermuda’s next two international windows in March and June 2026 will feature friendlies before competitive fixtures resume with the Concacaf Nations League in September, and Findlay is already planning.

“We need to look at getting credible opposition to continue to test us in March and June,” Findlay said. “That’s what the plan will be — we’ll sit down with the BFA and continue the journey.

“Football associations are the ones that are always pointed at when there are problems, but when they do good things, build programming and advance the game on both sides of the gender divide, they don’t get many accolades.”

Findlay has less than a year left on his contract, with his deal expiring in August 2026. The coach says there have been no discussions yet about extending his stay in Bermuda, but expects talks in the near future.

“Football associations usually tie their contracts to cycles, so that comes with the end of the World Cup dream,” he said.

“That isn’t a priority right now. We’ve got work to do and when it’s relevant to do so, I’m sure we’ll sit down with the president, the executive and discuss moving forward. It will be the topic of the day when it’s the topic of the day — right now, it’s not the topic of the day.”