Bermuda footballers have been warned to be prepared for a tougher match against Canada in tomorrow’s friendly international than the last encounters they experienced against the New England Revolution and Los Angeles Galaxy last month.

If this is the case then the locals will indeed be hard pressed to come away from the clash at the National Sports Centre, starting at 3 p.m., with much to celebrate other than gaining valuable experience against their mostly professional counterparts.

In both of the previous fixtures Bermuda came out on the losing end, doing down 3-1 against the Revolution and a few days later 4-0 against the Galaxy.

Nevertheless the coach is looking forward to the contest with enthusiasm, anxious to build on their last outings even though the odds appears to be weighing heavily against his own men.

“The Canadians will be more formidable opponents because many of their players are in season whereas the Galaxy and the Revolution were in a pre-season mode. I expect Canada to be a very tough opponents, but that is good for us, it’s good for our players to face the reality of international football to help our development,” Thompson said.

Like the February matches the coach said that playing against any opponent is a learning experience, especially when they bring different challenges to the table.

The Canadians will be fielding a strong side featuring many of their European-based professionals.

Both sides will be looking to prepare their players for future comeptitions, Canada aiming for the Concacaf Gold Cup and Bermuda planning for the preliminary round of the World Cup after recently announcing they had entered the event.

“I am looking for our players to be able to adapt very quickly to this type of opponent in terms of our technical ability with the ball and how we read the game as well. I think a big part is going to be the level of our mental strength, it’s going to be very difficult and we have to be very strong mentally to be able to compete for 90 minutes, “ said the coach.

“It will be draining physically and very taxing mentally, but these sort of situations are very good for our players to develop in. Even though there is no major international event in the near future the motivation in the game is for the players to improve as much as possible such that we can be in a very competitive state by the time the World Cup qualifying rounds start.

“We have just entered the World Cup and we also now have the funding to play many matches in a build-up to the World Cup, so I have an eye on the level of motivation for the players to learn as much as possible and as quickly as possible and for their performances to be on a high level.

“We want players who want to win, but we accept that we are in the infancy in our programme and winning will become more important as the preliminary rounds begin. We now have to take the necessary steps to ensure that we will be in the position to be very competitive by that time, but the desire of the players is very important and that’s what we are looking for now.”

Just what sort of starting line-up Bermuda fans will witness is not known going into the match-up with the coach until late yesterday not even having announced the eventual squad he will be taking to the Sports Centre.

But the belief is that the majority of the players who were involved in the two previous games will be called on once again to carry the Bermuda flag. Canada coach Stephen Hart was anxious to organise the friendly against Bermuda, saying it was his squad’s first “major get-together” since the team was edged 1-0 by Hungary last November. Players in North America, a relatively small number of their full contingent, were available for a football camp in Florida in January, but that didn’t measure up to the size and quality of the one they have held here for the past week.

“We are indeed fortunate to have the majority of our European-based players here and we are also thrilled to be able to go into a game situation and arrange this full international against Bermuda which we will certainly be taking very seriously,” said the coach.

He admitted that while his own status as interim coach offered its challenges the entire team management and squad were concentrating fully deriving the maximum benefit from the camp.

“There could be a challenge to get the players to play for an interim coach, but they are seasoned players, they know that I probably I will not be in position at the end of it and it’s difficult to ask them to come out and commit themselves.

“However, to be fair to them they have been tremendous professionals and we really do appreciate the way they have responded,” he added.