Bermuda's national soccer team will be given one last run-out tonight before heading down to San Salvador for next week's crucial World Cup second round qualifying match against the Central American powerhouse.

The island squad take on the visiting Manchester City Youth Academy at the National Sports Centre (NSC) in what will be the climax to the second annual Shaun Goater Grassroots Festival.

While Bermuda's hopes of success tonight will rest heavily on the broad shoulders of former City star striker Goater and former Coventry City frontman Kyle Lightbourne, national coach Kenny Thompson again finds himself missing several key players.

Bermuda will be without the services of striker John Barry Nusum and defenders Kevin Richards and David Thomas - the latter two players through slight injuries.

Still, coach Thompson remained upbeat over his team's chances heading into tonight's important clash.

"Without a doubt we will play to win. It's important that we always play with the objective of winning matches and so we will be fielding as strong a line-up as we possibly can," he declared.

Both teams have agreed to unlimited substitutions, something that will enable Thompson to shuffle the deck in search of the right chemistry.

North Village stalwart Kentoine Jennings will wear the captain's armband.

Thompson added: "We are very optimistic that we can get a good result tonight . . . it's always good win and we have an excellent nucleus of young players in the team.

"I certainly want to see what our strongest eleven at this time can produce, keeping in mind we will be playing without John (Nusum), Kevin (Richards) and David (Thomas)."

Last year saw City defeat an Island Select 7-1 and a Goater-led North Village 6-0 at the NSC. Tonight's clash kicks off at 7.30 p.m.

Bermuda's footballers will head down to El Salvador alone after ambitious attempts to corral a charter plane full of fans failed due to lack of support.

Bermuda Football Association were hoping to get 150 fans to accompany the team on the first leg of their World Cup qualifying match against the Central Americans, which would have both added a "12th man" at the stadium and also avoided an arduous 14-hour, two-change plane journey.

But lack of interest has put paid to the plan, leaving Thompson's men to run out at the hostile Estadio Cuscatlan a week on Sunday without support - and to travel on scheduled air services.

"It is disappointing," said BFA general secretary David Sabir, who had excitably announced the $800 charter - to be run in conjunction with C Travel - in the middle of last month, describing the trip as "a wonderful opportunity for people who want to support Bermuda to get behind their team".

"We have had to cancel the charter because we weren't getting the numbers. Maybe you could say it was over-ambitious but we genuinely thought we could get the support for the team for this massive game.

"I'd like to think we are still going down to El Salvador with the nation's support behind us."

The team will head down to San Salvador on Thursday, with stops in New York and Miami on the way. They will return the following Wednesday after a stop-over in New York.