to be mission impossible.

But team captain Dwayne Adams yesterday remained optimistic, believing their chances of overcoming a 2-0 deficit against their Central American opponents in Sunday's qualifying match second leg wasn't out of the question.

"From our squad's point of view, winning is definitely possible even though we go into the match two goals down,'' said Adams. "We are going into this away leg just as confident as we were when we played them at National Stadium on Saturday night.'' Costa Rica are certain to be a tough team to beat on home soil, particularly with the luxury of a two-goal advantage which will allow them to defend in numbers.

However, Adams said that the Bermuda team fully realised where their game broke down in Saturday's first leg and are now prepared to regroup, cover their lapses and "make every effort to be more competitive'' this time around.

One encouraging sign is the return of Dano Outerbridge in the heart of the defence. The PHC player was ruled out of Saturday's game, suspended after being sent off in the last match Bermuda played at the Pan-Am Games, which, coincidentally, was also against Costa Rica. His presence should enable the Under-23 side to make better use of Stanton Lewis in the middle of the field.

Lewis covered for Outerbridge on Saturday, but now will be less restricted in defence and allowed to assist the midfield during attacks.

"Stanton will definitely be helpful to the midfield. With his pace we can go forward in quick counters. He couldn't do that in the first game because he was forced to play marker,'' explained Adams.

"To beat Costa Rica we must improve on our finishing. We matched them on Saturday but broke down up front through lack of finishing. We just didn't put away our chances. Had we done so we could have been three goals up by the half.

"We worked the ball out of defence well, but just didn't stick to an organised build-up. We have got to become more organised and stay organised for longer periods. But having players out of position probably made this hard to pull off on Saturday.'' Adams reckoned there was not much to choose between the sides, but Costa Rica had one decisive advantage in that they were better prepared as a result of more match practice.

"They have been playing consistently since Pan-Am, while we have not, and that's clearly where their strength over us lies. Otherwise we are on the same level,'' insisted Adams.

Dwayne Adams