Bermuda’s chances of picking up their first points at the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 World Cup Qualifiers received a boost with three players due to make a return for the match against Puerto Rico on Thursday (6pm Bermuda time).

Daley Outerbridge, Riley Khan and Cayli Dowling missed the opening match against the United States on Tuesday. Outerbridge and Khan were unavailable due to suspension after receiving two yellow cards each during the first round at home in January, while Dowling picked up an injury in training.

Coach Gary Adams believes the availability of the attacking trio enhances Bermuda’s chances, with the return of Outerbridge particularly exciting as the striker scored four goals in the last round, including a hat-trick against Bonaire.

“Obviously, you get reminded of that information [suspensions] before the week starts,” Adams said.

“It’s heartbreaking because these are two of the most attacking-minded players and they’re also very athletic.

“We also had a player who took a small knock in training the other day. She’s one of our athletic utility attacking players, so before the game we were without three of our starters.

“The double-edged sword is that they couldn’t play against the United States, but now we will have three of our best attackers who are completely fresh and haven’t played a minute available for the game against Puerto Rico.

“The opportunity of maybe getting some points versus Puerto Rico is a lot more realistic than maybe trying to get a draw or win versus the US, so it could be a blessing in disguise.

“Cayli Dowling was injured but she’s definitely back as well. We will check on one player to see if she’s OK, but I know Daley and Riley are definitely ready and they are looking forward to it.”

After a tough encounter against the US, Adams pointed out that the players are up for the task against teams they believe are more on their level.

“This is probably one of the first teams in Bermuda who have even had the opportunity to play the US,” the coach said.

“So having that game was a privilege in itself. A lot of lessons were learnt, so I don’t need to motivate them for the next one.

“They understand because we talked about the task they had. It wasn’t about the result, it was just about representing the country, the result was always going to be what it was.

“I believe we’re playing teams that are realistically more around our level where we should be competing at. So we look forward to competing properly against the next two teams, where we believe we can compete properly.”