TWO years ago Bermuda drew with St. Vincent 3-3 in the Digicel Cup.But on Sunday Bermuda's players and coaches may be facing a stronger St. Vincent team because over the past two years St. Vincent have risen to 85 in the FIFA world rankings. In fact they are the highest-ranked team of the four playing in Barbados in the second round of the Digicel Cup. Barbados are ranked 100 while Bermuda's current ranking is 122 and the Bahamas is 146.

Bermuda's national coach Kyle Lightbourne said he expected St. Vincent to be stronger than they were two years ago. "We are going to have to be on top of our game to beat them. They are a stronger team now," said Lightbourne yesterday. The team departs for Barbados this morning and arrives late this afternoon.

Assistant national coach Paul Scope also echoed Lightbourne's comments about St. Vincent.

"They have been a good team for at least two years now. Before the last Digicel Cup I went down a week earlier to Trinidad to watch St. Vincent play in their World Cup qualifying and they were in Trinidad's group and had done well. That day they needed to beat Trinidad and in end Trinidad scored two late goals and qualified for Germany."

Of the 3-3 draw Bermuda played to against St. Vincent in 2004, Scope said: "If we our honest with ourselves we were 3-1 behind and getting outplayed and then this torrential rain storm hit and they took off their best player to save him for the next game. We just dug in and it was a good fighting display by us to draw 3-3. But they definitely are a good side and topped the group. They were close to qualifying for the Gold Cup last time. They have been together for three or four years and most are pros playing in the Trinidad league and a few other places. They will be a tough unit. From what we have seen over the last two years they will be the strongest team in Barbados."

While Scope was unhappy with the scheduling and arrangements recently when Bermuda's Under-20 team travelled to Haiti for World Cup qualifying, he said this second round of the Digicel Cup the scheduling "has been in our favour".

He said: "We play St. Vincent first and we know them better than anyone else. There will not be any surprises and then we get to see Barbados and Bahamas that night after our match. We haven't seen much of Bahamas and although we have played the Under-20 Barbados team I only think there will be three or four players from that team in the senior side.

"The timing of this round is good for us. All of our college players have just finished their season and they should be in good nick. Khano (Smith) just finished his season (with the New England Revolution) and it wasn't a hard season for him because he hasn't played a lot of minutes. And John Barry (Nusum) also didn't play as much as he would have liked with Virginia Beach — he went there late from his indoor season and never got into the team until later in the season but for us that is fine because that means he is not burnt out but it also means he was playing regularly towards the end of the season.

"We saw enough of John Barry's form in St. Thomas (in the first round) where he was awesome — especially during the second game against the Dominican Republic where it got a bit rough. He is strong and he grew twice his size without fouling anyone! He just showed them that we were not going to get kicked off the park.

"Khano right now is in a lot better form than when we were down in St. Thomas where he was understandably a little rusty. We have a pretty strong squad. A couple of the guys are not available but you are never going to get everyone available — Kyle and I are quite happy with the squad."

Scope did say that Bermuda will not be taking the Bahamas lightly. "We can't underestimate the Bahamas because as soon as you do that that is the game you lose. We are preparing for the Bahamas as a must-win because anything less than a win means we probably will not qualify (for the finals). And then we play Barbados in the last game and we will know what we have to do. This time the schedule has worked in our favour.

"It is a funny group, we could win every game and we could lose every game. They are all going to be tight."

Lightbourne said Bermuda will be able to train on Barbados' national stadium pitch on Saturday before taking on St. Vincent on Sunday.

Bermuda then play the Bahamas on Tuesday evening and host nation Barbados on Thursday.

Lightbourne and Scope have had the squad — minus the overseas players — training at the National Sports Centre in the lead-up to the second round and also played a practise match against Boulevard on Monday evening.

But in terms of preparation, St. Vincent and Barbados seem to have had the upper hand as they have been playing against other national teams and foreign club sides over the past month.

"St. Vincent and the other islands have the big benefit of being able to play friendlies against other sides down there since they are so close. A 40-minute flight will get you to another island — they can play a match and be back home on the same day. It is not a big cost to them," said Lightbourne.

Scope added: "They can all island-hop which makes it so much easier. It costs so much for us the leave Bermuda or to bring someone in."

"It is tougher for us," said Lightbourne adding, "I know Barbados have had a couple of stiff practise matches. We would like to have that but that is where the finances come in. But it makes no sense complaining about it — we just have to get on with the job. Everything will all depend on what happens on the day."

While it will be hot in Barbados, at least the Bermuda players will not have to undergo the torrid conditions their Under-20 team were forced to endure in Haiti recently during World Cup qualifying.

"All the games are at night and that will help heat wise," said Lightbourne.

The Bermuda coach will also be giving a chance to Shaki Crockwell — Boulevard's striker.

"He is a strong player and up and coming. He has done well for Boulevard this season. He is a physical player — he has a lot of strength and is a good finisher and let's hope he uses it," said Lightbourne.

General Secretary of the St. Vincent Football Association, Earl Bennett, said this week that they have made a "concerted effort" to improve their football. And it is working out so far.

"We are very pleased with our FIFA ranking (of 85). We are doing fairly well," said Bennett. In fact St. Vincent have jumped a massive 44 places over a relatively short space of time.

"We are close to Trinidad who are only ranked five places above us," said Bennett.

"What we have done to lead-up (to the matches against Bermuda) is we played Martinique in October and also we hosted Antigua and Grenada on November 4-5.

"We have played a few games recently. We have made a concerted effort to get as many practise games as we can. That is our policy — to give the players as many practise games as possible."

Bennett said that the big rise in rankings to 85 was "well-thought out plan"

"We said that we wanted to aim for 100 and then get below 75," he said.

Barbados have also been tuning up for this Digicel second round with games against a Trinidad professional side Joe Public. The first on Sunday ended in a scoreless draw while the Trinidad side won 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Just over a week ago Barbados drew 2-2 with Grenada.

Caribbean test for Bermuda