BERMUDA'S next Under-17 squad who will attempt to qualify for the 2004 World Cup will hopefully go one better than the current team which bowed out after a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Cuba in the second leg in Havana last weekend.

Coach Kenny Thompson this week hailed the current team which made it to the second round in qualifying - going one better than the previous squad.

And now he hopes that the future Under-17 players will continue stepping up the ladder.

In fact work is already in progress on shaping the next Under-17 team.

Thompson said: "We have actually begun that process already and have an Under-14 team in training. In the summer we plan to intensify their training and have them play in various competitions to get them ready. Hopefully they will be able to go on tour as well. The exact outline of what we are going to do has not been decided yet - we will have to meet with the technical committee of the Bermuda Football Association to see what competitions we will enter."

This entire development of the future Under-17 team will have one target - getting ready for the qualification games for the 2004 World Cup.

Thompson said: "I am getting a chance to look at them now but a lot can happen between now and then. This (Under-14) group from what I have seen so far, are very technical - they are very comfortable with the ball and many have a good footballing insight. Between now and the qualification (for the 2004 World Cup) a lot can happen in terms from a physical standpoint. Often a player who is very coordinated now can go through a period of difficulties as a result of a growing and maturing process. So a lot can happen - we will have to see how they come through the maturing and growing process."

And then there is the problem of keeping those players focussed for a few years.

Thompson said that those Under-14 players who currently are among the best right now could possibly find themselves being overtaken by others who "may be overlooked at the moment".

He said: "There are a number of things you have to be careful about when making selections. I try not to base my selection on just the physical attributes of a young player - I will select a player if he is technical enough and has a good football mind. That's why we have so many players in training and why we have a first team and a second team - this is so a player can develop in comfort. Right now he may not be physically up to the standard. But when he matures he will grow and that is the player you want. It is only a matter of time before he gets strong. If we pay attention only to physical attributes then in the long run we will see those players struggle - they will not have the ball control. The players in this Under-17 team who had better technique and control were actually the smaller players some time ago.

"A player who is dominent now only because he is strong may find that he will struggle later on because everyone around him will eventually get as strong as he is. Plus that player may be lacking in technique. That is something we saw in Cuba (last weekend)."

Thompson said that playing the second leg in Cuba on Sunday showed that "from a defensive standpoint our team was superb".

He said: "We shut them out in the first match (0-0) which was not easy because Cuba were a high quality team. And we were within 18 minutes of doing the same thing in Cuba - so defensively we were sound.

"But defence is the easiest to organise because it does not take the technical skills of attack. In order to be very good your technique with the ball must be excellent. The passing, receiving and heading at a high level and the technique it takes to do that takes a longer time to develop than defending techniques. So the difference in our team compared to the Cubans was that they were more technical. Our technical deficiencies were exposed on their pitch. Our deficiencies were hidden on the National Sports Centre's pitch. On the poor pitch in Cuba they adapted better than us. Their technique proved to be better."

Thompson also wants to get the players on the same page when they are young.

"Getting them at an earlier age is important. At top football programmes in other parts of the world they are in a profesional environment at an earlier age. When they are seven and eight years old they are getting a high quality instruction in a good environment. That sets the tone for the level of their developement. By the time they are 17 or 18 years old they will have a high quality football education. This is why I stated recently that what has been achieved with this current Under-17 team was close to phenominal because they were only put together in April last year. I wish I had some video footage of the level they were at in April and the level they are at now. It is a world of difference. It is like night and day."

Thompson also said that it is better when "we can get them young and keep them together for a longer period of high intensity training".

"And not only in training but also playing in competitive matches. It is important for them to be exposed to competitions which will make extremely high demands on their footballing technique and decision making. The more they can play together and the earlier they can be exposed to this type of training the better it will be. Once they realise how difficult it will be, they realise that their level of preparation needs to be improved. And when we put together the 12-year-old group they will be together for an even longer period of time and that bodes well for the future."

He said that what the BFA want to do is "get this across to our affiliates in terms of instruction and organisation of the club programmes".

He said: "We want the boys who are six and seven years old and who are going to their clubs, to get a high level of instruction from the beginning so that by the time the best players are chosen for the national programme it will not be a complete change from what they are used to. The instruction must be consistent and right now our football instruction is so fragmented. Even in the club programmes the level is fragmented between one age level and another. We must get the clubs giving a more consistent programme - it is a big challenge for football in Bermuda.

The current Under-17 players had no idea of the high level of demands that would be made on them when they came into the programme last April, said Thompson.

"And they also had no idea of why we were making those demands. They do now. There was no reference point for them. The turning point for this group was the Bermuda International Tournament in the summer. The players for the first time found out how difficult it would be - especially when they played Canada and Jamaica. After that summer tournament, once they came back into training for the World Cup qualifiers their attitude to training had really improved."

The coach said that it will be important for the next group - the Under-14s now - to know how they must play and how they must carry themselves on and off the field.

He said: "I have talked with our current Under-17 team - I have told them that the Under-14 players are looking up to them. I have talked about developing a culture that would be passed on - passed from one group to the next. And then hopefully certain behaviours will become automatic. The boys coming into the next Under-17 programme will already know what will be required of them on and off the field."

Thompson also wants the standard and style of play - the playing philosophy - to be consistent.

"The Under-17 team before this current one set the ball rolling because they played in a certain way. And these Under-17 players saw the way they were playing. From the beginning I said that this current Under-17 team had more potential than the last team and the credit has to go to the last team for setting the precedent. And I believe the boys in training now in the Under-14 group have more potential that this current Under-17 team. They now have seen two groups who play in a certain way and they can go out and emulate that in their Saturday matches and will be in the frame of mind to play like that.

"We expect it to be a little easier for future group of players to play in a certain way. With the first group of Under-17 players, we had to dismantle everything they had learned and start again. It was a little easier with this Under-17 group and I expect it to be easier with the next group and so on. Credit must go to each previous group for making it easier on the next group. We must get a culture of being winners. We must develop a winner's mentality.

"The first Under-17 group came within minutes of making it to the second round of the World Cup qualifying . Then this current team made the second round - that is a step further. Hopefully the next group will go a little further and so on and so on. Hopefully we will get to the point where we expect to get out of the first and second rounds in every single World Cup campaign. But that is going to take time. We are building a culture and to do that certainly does not happen overnight."