Khano Smith is highly doubtful to take any part in Bermuda's crucial World Cup warm-up fixtures with Puerto Rico at the National Sports Centre (NSC) later this month.

The 26-year old Major League Soccer (MLS) star is still recovering from last month's hernia surgery in Germany and looks set to sit out Bermuda's upcoming assignment against Caribbean Football Union (CFU) rivals Puerto Rico at the NSC.

Smith said: "I'm not definitely ruling myself out . . . . but it's not looking good as I just had surgery on Christmas Eve. I'm supposed to take two weeks to recover and I am not going to push myself for friendly matches."

Bermuda will take on the Puerto Ricans January 16 and 18 at the NSC buoyed by last month's 4-2 demolition of St. Kitts and Nevis at the same venue. It was a result that gave new coach Keith Tucker a bit of encouragement and one that also earned the senior national squad a first win on home turf in three years.

Smith is now confident his team-mates can again deliver the goods in his absence against the Puerto Ricans.

He said: "Obviously we want to win because nobody goes into games thinking they are going to lose. The result may not be a priority but I'm sure Keith (Tucker) will want to win the match.

"The players just have to buy into whatever system Keith puts in place and play football the way he wants them to play. So it's a matter of fine tuning things and executing whatever the coach wants done and then going from there."

Smith also cautioned his Bermuda team-mates not to take a Puerto Rican side, positioned 49 places below Bermuda in Fifa's official world rankings, for granted.

He said: "The Fifa rankings are just based on how many matches you play and so Puerto Rico probably don't play as many matches as some of the other teams. I think the Fifa rankings do provide some sort of assessment, but they are not definite.

"I'm sure Puerto Rico will have some decent players, but you just never know and so you never take anybody for granted. We didn't take Montserrat for granted when they were the worst team in the world because matches are won on the field — not on Fifa rankings."

As for Tucker's new role at the senior national level, Smith said: "I think Keith has a lot to offer and hopefully the guys will buy into his vision to take Bermuda as far as we can possibly go in the World Cup qualifiers.

"I think we've always had potential in Bermuda. But now it's all about getting everyone to buy into a system, and I'm sure the guys are excited to be playing international football again."