A hardy group of at least a couple of hundred Americans flew down from Boston to watch their side's draw with a defensive Costa Rican outfit on Wednesday ? a short air flight was clearly not much of an obstacle to stop them watching top-class football.

Yet only about 1,000 Bermudians bothered to make the much shorter and cheaper journey to the National Sports Centre to watch a match that featured as many as 12 players heading for the World Cup this summer.

Set Play deserve a massive slap on the back for continuing to bring in tours of this quality, bailing out the cash-strapped BFA by providing opposition for Kyle Lightbourne's men and giving Bermuda a rare glimpse of some genuine world-class talent.

But one wonders how long Clyde Best et al will keep throwing money at these tours when the Bermudian public don't appear grateful in the slightest.

Maybe 1,200 were there for Bermuda against the second best team in America, albeit without the injured Khano Smith, and a few more ? the balance covered by New England fans ? for the Concacaf Champions Cup tie with LD Alajuelense.

Now in the end, the tie was somewhat spoilt by the incredibly negative and defensive attitude of a Costa Rican side who clearly viewed 0-0 as their goal and appeared to have little interest in altering that scoreline for the final 70 minutes or so of the encounter.

But either the Bermudian footballing public have balls as crystal as Beckham's are golden, or they just chose to turn their back on encounter which featured two teams of individuals who are probably more successful in football than all but a handful of Bermudians past and probably matched only by Khano, Shaun Goater and John Barry Nusum now.

Although Bermuda has been treated to visits from regional national sides and some of England's top Premier clubs over the years, it is hard to recall a time when two more talented sides played against each other on these shores.

The best guess came from national assistant Paul Scope, who believes that two quality sides battling it out in Bermuda hasn't happened at this level since Johnny Metgod's Nottingham Forest took on a Newcastle side with a teenage Paul Gascoigne in their ranks.

To genuinely appreciate the skill of the players, particularly US forwards Clint Dempsey and Pat Noonan who are almost guaranteed goals in Germany this summer, you have to play close attention to what they can do with the ball.

No offence to Domico Coddington, Keith Jennings and Damon Ming but a close examination of Noonan's magical footwork is a truly astonishing thing to behold close up.

Refereeing New England against Bermuda's Under 20s last week, it was a joy to watch the genuine wizardry of Noonan and his cohorts at such close quarters and I found myself on more than one occasion blurting out fan-style gasps of amazement and wonder ? particularly when Shalrie Joseph let rip with a thundering drive from 40 yards.

Watching top quality footballers work their magic on one of the finest football pitches in the world is a rare joy and one that I will always remember ? it's just a shame more lovers of the Beautiful Game don't make the effort to do the same.

It would speak volumes for this island's interest in the sport if Jamaican fans outnumber the home ones tomorrow night.