Bermuda?s women?s soccer team will get a taste of international action this weekend, a huge part of their Island Games preparation.

Coach Vance Brown currently has 30 ladies in training for the Shetland tournament and three games against a touring US college side will give them all a chance to show the coach what they?ve got ahead of next month?s cut-off date to whittle the squad down to 20.

Brown will test out his side against the New York Hota Under 19 team and Brown is looking forward to seeing what his girls have got.

?It should be good for us,? said Brown, who can?t wait to get to Shetland for their first Island Games in July.

?The visitors will be very competitive. They all train and play together regularly and will be fit and skilful.

?They should provide good opposition for us.?

As well as this weekend?s game, Brown?s side will also take on some junior male sides in the final weeks before they depart for their five games in Scotland.

They will take on Under 13 and Under 15 sides from BAA and North Village, a level which Brown believes is just right for his side.

?That is the right age for us to play against,? he continued.

?The Under 13s are normally perfect and the Under 15s very competitive. The boys start playing a lot earlier than girls so they have all the positioning and basic skills before the female players.

?Those games should be good for us.?

But Brown is the first to admit that the Shetland adventure will be full of surprises for his side.

?We really don?t know much about any of the teams,? he added.

?We are not worried about not being able to compete, but we haven?t seen any footage of the teams before so we don?t know what to expect from any of them.

?It is just a case of going down there and trying to gauge as soon as possible how good the opposition are.

?Obviously we are going down there to win a medal although we can?t really say any more than that until we have seen some of the other teams play.

?This is important for Bermuda to raise awareness of the women?s games and inspire a new generation to take up the sport.?

This is just the second overseas tournament for Bermuda, the women last competing in 2000 in a CONCACAF tournament in which they beat the Bahamas but then lost to Haiti and Jamaica.

The touring New York Hota side take on the Bermuda national side three times and also play a Select side and a Bermuda schools side between Saturday and Monday.