As the Bermudian media and general public heralded the ?courage and fighting spirit? of the national football team in the aftermath of their narrow defeat away to El Salvador last week, the reaction within the Central American country by contrast was one of utter embarrassment and dismay.

Headlines such as ?Shame!? and ?Disaster!? screamed out from the pages of the nation?s newspapers while many incensed radio and television commentators launched bitter, vitriolic attacks against national coach Juan Ramon Paredes.

Public confidence in the manager has indeed fallen to its lowest ebb since he took over in November, 2002, having just led local club side, Alianza, to the league title in El Salvador.

Most football observers in the country are highly critical of his decision to spurn some of the country?s more experienced internationals and persevere with what the majority label an over-ambitious youth policy.

Confusion surrounds for example the omission of high-profile defender Jorge Rodriguez, a player for the Dallas Burn in the Major Soccer League.

?The reaction in El Salvador has been very, very negative,? confirmed Carlos Vides, sports writer for the El Grafico newspaper.

?People have been completely shocked by the result and in general the feeling is one of real anger at the team and the coach. When the Bermuda goal went in last week, the whole stadium went silent and everybody was asking ?how can this possibly happen??

?Some of the criticism on the radio has been particularly vicious.?

Pressed on what specifically he felt went wrong on the pitch, Vides pointed to the impotence of the young El Salvadorian front-line, the lack of penetrative width generated from a ?restrictive? 3-4-3 formation and a dangerous sense of complacency against a team from a country the size of Bermuda.

?There were many things that were not right,? he said.

?First of all it was the relative inexperience of the team in general. This is a very young team and two players who played last week had absolutely no international experience and there are at least three or four more experienced players who many in the media feel should be included.?

?I think the team definitely underestimated Bermuda as well,? he continued.

?When El Salvador scored first, they were completely in control of the game. When Bermuda?s goal went in though, they looked totally shocked and were simply not mentally prepared for the possibility of Bermuda fighting back.?

Vides also highlighted the general impression in the El Salvadorian press that Bermuda?s central defenders Kentoine Jennings and Shannon Burgess were vulnerable in the air from crosses ? an avenue of attack that many felt was wrongly neglected.

?El Salvador were far too focused in playing up the middle of the pitch and failed to stretch Bermuda wide,? he argued.

?Both Jennings and Burgess looked in difficulty whenever they had to deal with decent crosses, but the formation we were playing meant that this was something we did not exploit enough.?

Asked for his views on the national coach, Vides refused to pull his punches.

?His record has been poor and he has never been particularly popular,? he said.

?El Salvador played five friendlies before the first game with Bermuda and the results have been one win, two draws and two defeats. For the public, that is not good enough and his decision to pick only young players is not working.?

Paredes has always vigorously defended his policy of blooding the nation?s footballing youth, claiming that it is they who really take pride in donning the national team shirt while accusing many of the senior players of being concerned more with money and their own self-interests.

The El Salvadorian press takes a somewhat different view, however, arguing that he feels intimidated by many of the senior players because of his inability to command their respect.

?We feel he picks the young players because he is able to control them and they do not undermine his authority,? Vides said.

With the pressure reaching boiling point at home, the Central Americans will arrive in Bermuda at lunchtime today without two of their starting defenders.

Marvin Gonzalez has been ruled out with flu and Erik Prado is suffering with a broken finger while forwards Alex Erazo and Manuel Martinez have also been left at home having failed to impress the manager last week. However, the visitors will be boosted by the news that their first-choice goalkeeper Juan Jose Gomez is fit again after missing the first leg through injury and will replace Santos Rivera between the posts.

And despite the mountain of criticism and disappointment that has dogged the El Salvadorians since last Sunday, Vides is predicting that the team will successfully overcome what has been a painful ordeal.

?There is definitely more pressure on the El Salvadorians than the Bermudians this time round, but I believe they will handle it,? he said.

?They may be a young team, but they are fairly mature and have been playing together continually since 2002. It may well be close, but I expect them to pull through.?