Bermuda can shade it against Cayman in World Cup qualifier
I must start by congratulating Antonio Pierce for reaching the Super Bowl with his New York Giants. It's a tremendous achievement and shows just what a talented Island Bermuda is.
It's great to see a Bermudian perform on the international stage and Antonio has reached the pinnacle of his sport - it doesn't get any bigger than the Super Bowl does it?
To be honest I'm not a massive NFL fan and have never followed it too closely. But I assure you that I'll be tuned in on February 3 when the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots to support him.
Last week may have seen Bermuda's national team lose twice against Puerto Rico but I saw enough positives to suggest we should be favourites when we meet the Cayman Islands in next month's World Cup qualifiers.
Yes, there were things that concerned me about our performances, but I thought we more then held our own in the first-half of both games. In the first game our downfall was not coping with the wind in the second-period and Puerto Rico were more professional in terms of their performance.
As I said in last week's column we needed to be more direct and squeeze Puerto Rico higher up the pitch. In the second match we were more direct in patches and caused Puerto Rico's defence some real problems.
Once again I felt the college boys made a difference to our tempo and I thought our defence looked tighter than it did against St. Kitts. Omar Shakir reads the game well and knows how to use his physique.
Kevin Richards also impressed at centre-back. Kevin's like a rash in the sense he never gives the striker a moment - he's all over him! His striker always knows he's in a game and that's what you want from your defenders.
I think Bermuda's defence against Puerto Rico was pretty much the PHC back-line and therefore it's no coincidence they played well. They're used to playing together and PHC are currently top of the league, with a good defensive record. Their coaches Kyle Lightbourne and Jack Castle should take some credit for that.
Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have historically been at a similar level. But as far as I'm aware they don't have any players playing in foreign leagues and don't have a professional team like us.
I know they've quite a high profile technical director Carl Brown, who was Rene Simoes' assistant when Jamaica qualified for the 1998 World Cup, but I still think we should shade it.
We should have Khano Smith and John Barry Nusum involved by then and they'll both be tremendous additions. I believe the key area of the team for us will be our midfield - that's where we need to get the balance right. A good midfield needs aggression, composure and creativity and Keith Tucker will need to find the best balance from the players at his disposal.