a bid to wipe away the memories of their recent failings on both the international and domestic scenes.

Canada, who qualified for the Mexico World Cup in 1986 and lost on penalties to Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 1984 Olympics, did not qualify for the Seoul or Barcelona Olympics and went out quietly to Guatemala in qualifying for the 1990 World Cup.

Domestically, the six-team Canadian Soccer League lost its flagship franchise, Vancouver 86ers, a week ago when the 86ers grew tired of the frailties of the league's other franchises and joined the US-based American Professional Soccer League.

So it is with those failures in mind that Canada begin the road to the 1994 World Cup on Sunday in Jamaica. And new head man Bob Lenarduzzi, who succeeded 1986 World Cup boss Tony Waiters in February, has called on six European-based players for assistance.

Goalkeeper Craig Forrest and defender Frank Yallop of English League Premier League team Ipswich Town, defenders John Limniatis (Panetolikos, Greece), Randy Samuel (Fortuna Sittard, Holland) and Colin Miller (Hamilton Academical, Scotland) and striker Alex Bunbury who is on trials with Wimbledon of the Premier flight, have all joined the team.

Forrest was in goal last week as the Canadians played to a scoreless draw with the United States in a friendly and will play in Canada's first two group games. Samuel, one of five players in the squad who competed for Canada at the 1986 World Cup, will play in Canada's first three matches.

"Beyond that, it depends on our results and the results of their club teams whether they'll play the rest of the matches,'' Lenarduzzi said. The other four are expected to be available for every match. They join a squad that is comprised mainly of players from the Canadian Soccer League, and includes a handful who made their living in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the United States. The MISL folded earlier this year.

The team was pulled together on October 5, a day after the CSL Cup final saw Winnipeg Fury upset the favoured 86ers in the final. Most prominent of the veteran CSL players are 1986 World Cup veterans Dale Mitchell, Carl Valentine, Mike Sweeney and David Norman.

"I knew when I took the job that we wouldn't have a lot of time to prepare,'' said Lenarduzzi, a former defender who with 45 appearances for Canada is the country's second most capped player.

"But we seem to be coming together nicely in the short time we've been together. We got a good result against the United States, and we'll find out Sunday how far we've come.'' Lenarduzzi's squad has far more talent than the side that played in the World Cup. In Mexico, Canada ran itself ragged in a bid to keep their matches competitive -- and did so, losing 1-0 to France and 2-0 to both the Soviet Union and Hungary.

In players like Bunbury and nippy front players Paul Peschisolido (Toronto, CSL) and Domenic Mobilio (Vancouver, CSL), Canada finally have some offensive spark.

"But that doesn't mean we can ever go away from our style of disciplined defending,'' Lenarduzzi said. "We still can't afford to stand toe-to-toe, not at this level. But we will be a little more adventuresome in attack.

"It will depend on the conditions of the park we're playing on. If we find we can play the ball through the middle of the park we'll do that. If that's not on we'll play the ball straight to the front men and go from there. At the back we can't afford to give away goals and we can't afford to take unnecessary risks.'' Lenarduzzi reckons El Salvador are the class of the group but does not underestimate Jamaica or Bermuda.

"We'll go into Jamaica on Sunday, and there will be a crowd of 35,000 all wired up to support them,'' he said. "We'll have to take the sting out of their sails by not giving anything up early on when they'll be full of running.'' Lenarduzzi has seen tapes of Bermuda's successes against Haiti in the preliminary round of qualifying. "They're similiar to Jamaica in the sense that they have very good individual skills,'' he said.

"But, if anything, they lack organisation.'' Canada play Bermuda in Vancouver on November 15 and then back in Bermuda on December 6.