Bermuda head coach Michael Findlay is looking forward to taking on the Democratic Republic of Congo in an international friendly this month.

The Gombey Warriors will be taking on DR Congo, who are still in with a shout of playing at the World Cup, on March 25 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Findlay views the booking of the friendly as a reward for Bermuda’s historic achievement of making it to the final round of World Cup qualifying last year.

“The head coach, the staff, the BFA leadership, you could put accolades on all those individuals for the successes, but at the end of the day it is about the players,” Findlay said.

“The players are the ones who play for 90 minutes and they're the ones who have to go through the trials and tribulations and the challenges and the celebrations. It’s great they get an opportunity to play against recognised Premier League players and this DR Congo team has had a really good run in their qualifying.

“So, it’s something for the players to pat themselves on the back a little bit. They never gave up in the process. They always came to play and this is an opportunity for them to get even more experience and be seen in a very keen light.”

Among the players Bermuda are likely to face are Newcastle’s Yoane Wissa and former Manchester United player Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Findlay revealed there is likely to be a mix of regulars and locally based players when the squad is announced this week.

“We’re leaning to more of a balanced squad,” Findlay said. “We know it’s a very difficult game but we also have to look at our own situation and the situation of moving forward.

“So we’re also going to look at a few players that we want to get a chance to see in this process of evaluation and further identification and expansion of our squad because that’s a critical piece.

“Come September, when you have to pick the team that's going to begin that Nations League campaign and with the goal of qualifying directly to the Gold Cup in 2027, you want to have been able to have seen these players at least in camp and in a competitive match environment.

“This is the opportunity to do that. So you can expect some players that are what you would call regulars, some that were banging on the door to be part of the regular group and there might be a few players that have never been in with us.

“We want to look at them inside an international camp, not just from the playing point of view, but also from the training and the cultural environment point of view with the other players.”

Bermuda are ranked 169th in Fifa’s world rankings with DR Congo rated inside the top 50, so Findlay knows that his squad will face a tall order, especially at set pieces.

“If we can continue to challenge ourselves and the players at this level, it bodes well when you start to play in your own competitions, no matter if the result is positive or negative,” Findlay said.

“International football is a much different piece than it used to be and you don’t get as many times to effectively teach in competition because you can’t do that, but set pieces are a part of our programme that needs more focus, there’s no doubt.

“Early on, we were very successful in our dead-ball defending situations. We certainly were not very successful from an attacking point of view, but were quite solid.

“As the competition advanced and the quality of the opposition increased, you could see some of the cracks in our armour as it related to defending dead-ball situations. Certainly, that is something that we need to focus on and put some real effort in.

“You can mention any league in the world right now and football has taken on a very opportunistic angle and deadballs have become a very critical piece in the game. There’s a lot more focus on it and we’re no different.

“It’s the way we set up, the way we compete, the way we press, all of those elements have to come into an entire methodology because you don't want to give up deadballs because that's where the problems happen.

“It starts, first of all, on giving away poor free kicks, giving away possession, having to foul, where you foul, why you foul, so that's all part (11:41) of the education process.”