Injuries picked up during the recently-concluded Dudley Eve Trophy have now officially deprived Bermuda of their two first-choice centre backs ahead of the squad’s crucial Digicel Cup play-off games against Haiti.

Unveiling the 18-man squad yesterday morning ahead of their departure for Trinidad today, national coaches Kyle Lightbourne and Paul Scope confirmed that inspirational skipper Kentoine Jennings and Boulevard’s Stanton Lewis would not be boarding the plane for the Caribbean.

Lewis is understood to be the more seriously injured of the two with likely ligament damage to his knee, while Jennings’ pulled hamstring has not recovered sufficiently for the management team to be confident he can make it through both games against the Haitians on Sunday and next Tuesday.

In response to this setback, Somerset Trojans’ highly-regarded utility player Meschach Wade has been recalled to the squad as defensive cover and could well take Jennings’ place at the heart of a untried back four.

The upcoming qualification games were originally scheduled to be held on local soil in early December before visa problems meant neither Haiti nor the Dominican Republic were able to travel through the US.

And with the play-off games moved to January as a response by the Caribbean Football Union, both Lightbourne and Scope were left dealing with the tricky dilemma of whether to ask their national team players not to take part in the Dudley Eve — where a batch of games in quick succession almost inevitably lead to injuries.

In the end, they decided that the value of significant match practice outweighed the injury risks — though that call has now cost them the services of two important senior players.

“We knew what the risks were and the decision was not an easy one,” said Scope yesterday.

“But because we didn’t have any practice matches for the national team in the lead-up to the Haiti games, both Kyle and I felt it would be better for the players to play some games and get themselves as match-fit as possible.

“You can do as much training as you like and still not get yourself 100 percent match fit. Yes, we’re missing two important players but I’d much rather go into the Haiti games with a group of players that have been playing regularly.

“In Kentoine’s case, even if we’d asked other players to give the Dudley Eve a miss, we would probably have asked him to play for North Village anyway as without those games he wouldn’t have played in a competitive match for over five weeks, which would have been far from ideal.

“But as it stands, we’re taking 18 fit guys down there and we’re more than happy with the defensive options we’ve got available. Meschach has been in great form for Trojans this season. He’s obviously a class act and a hugely inspirational presence, so he fits very comfortably into the hole left by Kentoine.”

Elsewhere, with first-choice goalkeeper Timmy Figureido suspended for the first game, having been sent off in the previous round’s 1-1 draw against Barbados, the management have decided to leave the Trojans stalwart at home.

Nigel Burgess and Jason Williams are the two ‘keepers who will travel to Trinidad, with Figureido likely to claim back the number one jersey should Bermuda progress through to the finals.

“Leaving Timmy out was a hard one because he is our first-choice ‘keeper,” Scope said.

“But we’re only allowed a squad of 18 and we cannot afford the luxury of taking three goalkeepers. And with Timmy suspended for the opening game, on balance we decided we needed another outfield player.

“If we get through to the finals, we’ve confirmed with the CFU that we’ll be able to pick a new squad of around 20 players, in which case Timmy and a few other of the guys on standby like Kentoine — should his injury continue to progress — Tyrell Burgess and Sammy DeGraff may well get a chance to fly down.”

While concerns still persist about Bermuda’s solidity at the back, in forward areas the squad have a very threatening look to it — with pacy wingers Domico Coddington and Hayes player Damon Ming both included in the same squad for the first time in this particular Digicel Cup campaign.

With Devonshire Cougars’ Kwame Steede and Jelani Scott likely to occupy the central midfield berths behind an exciting front two of US-based pros Khano Smith and John Barry Nusum, playing both Coddington and Ming on the flanks is an option that will be uppermost in the minds of both coaches as they select the starting eleven for Sunday.

“We’re certainly excited about the players we’ve got at our disposal in midfield and up front,” Scope said.

“Damon and Domico are both capable of causing any team problems with their pace and ability to run at people in wide areas. Playing both of them would certainly be the bold, attacking move and we’ll decide when we get down there whether that’s the way we want to go.

“But Kyle and I have absolutely no doubts that we’ve got plenty of goal-scoring threat and hopefully we can really take it to Haiti over the two games.”

Bermuda are the underdogs going into the play-offs, against a team generally considered to be one the powerhouses of Caribbean football.

Like Lightbourne’s men, they progressed comfortably through the first stage in September, beating St. Vincent 4-0 and St. Lucia 7-1 before losing 2-0 to Jamaica in Kingston.

However, a bizarre drop in form saw them lose two out of their three games in the second phase, to both Cuba and Martinique respectively, before a come-from-behind draw against Surinam saw them squeak into the play-offs in third place.