Coach Mark Trott will be the hero or the fall guy at the end of Bermuda's deciding Pan American Games second leg qualifying match tonight (7.00 p.m.) at Jamaica's National Stadium.

The Under-23 coach, just a couple of months in charge, knows that the coach will get the blame if the team fails to qualify for next the trip next March to Argentina, while he will share the praise with the players if they do.

Trott has a proud nine-game unbeaten record in that time, including three on this present trip to Jamaica, which follows the Germany tour, but it will mean nothing to his critics if the team does not accomplish what it set out to do at the start of the season.

"Really it all comes down to one game that we must win,'' said Trott yesterday. "I might be undefeated as a coach, but at the end of the day the credit goes to the players.'' Qualifying will bring a $75,000 bonus for one of the teams from the Central Organising Committee of the Pan Am Games, a sum Trinidad and Tobago have already pocketed, having qualified at the weekend at Jamaica's expense.

That will give Jamaica and Bermuda a tremendous incentive to succeed, but for Jamaica there are extra problems which balance out the advantage they have of playing at home. To fail at home twice in the space of a week would not go down well with the proud Jamaicans who expect success from the team now that Brazilian Rene Simoes has been taken on a technical director.

Failure against Trinidad and Tobago brought the sack for four national coaches and further changes would be expected if they lose again.

"There is an incentive for both teams to do well,'' Trott acknowledged. "To a certain extent there is more pressure on Jamaica. Both teams have to win, but Jamaica have to win, if you know what I mean.

"If we put pressure on them and get one or two goals you could see a lot of them (fans) walking out of the stadium or supporting us -- their fans are like that.'' Trott is optimistic he will have a full squad to choose from when the team is finalised early today. Nakia Smith was carried off in the 66th minute after taking a knock on the left knee, while Kevin Jennings was also carried off on Tuesday night but managed to return.

"I spoke to (physio) Kevin Anderson and he said as far as he was concerned both were cleared to be involved tomorrow,'' the coach said with relief.

"Both got pretty hard knocks, but fortunately they didn't swell, just more a bit sore. Both were having fine matches on Tuesday night until they got hurt.

"It seemed to be a bit by design, the tackle on Kevin was pretty vicious and Nakia was making a powerful run out of midfield. One more touch and he would have been through.'' It was obvious from as early as the 10th second of the game that the Jamaicans were going to be physical. The overlapping Andrew Rahman was struck in his side by the opposing full-back and went down groaning in pain, while the most the Jamaican got was a talking to by the referee.

However, there is a skillful side to the Jamaicans too, as was evident in the second half when they nearly produced a late winner.

"I respect Jamaica, they are a decent team,'' said Trott. "But at the end of the day they played their best and I don't think they can play any better.

"In our situation I think we can still go up. For our level to drop like it did in the second half shows that we can do better.'' Trott has not ruled out making changes to either the team or the formation, which has seen Raynel Lightbourne operating virtually alone in the attack. The five man defence in front of goalkeeper and captain Dwayne (Streaker) Adams has been steady and will likely remain unchanged.

"In the back of my mind there are one or two things we can do differently,'' Trott admitted. "One of the advantages we do have is I can feel comfortable changing the formation.

"There are one or two people who I'm thinking about, like Kwame Tucker and Lamaul Crofton, who present a different package for the Jamaicans to deal with. And then we didn't even play Quincy (Aberdeen) on Tuesday.'' Added Trott: "Most likely any changes will be from midfield forward. The defence has played rock solid, really.'' Two players all the more determined to succeed are Adams and Meshach Wade, members of Bermuda's World Cup team which met the Jamaicans here in the qualifying campaign two years ago. On that occasion Jamaica won 3-2 as Adams was kept busy in the Bermuda goal.

He has regained his World Cup form and much will depend on his experience if Bermuda is to succeed where they failed in 1992.

"Streaker proved in the whole tournament he's the best of the goalkeepers,'' Trott assessed. "Some of the saves he made last night and on Sunday I don't think the other 'keepers would have made. He's been a tremendous asset.'' Meshach Wade Lamaul Crofton