Hamburg, Germany a much fitter bunch and optimistic about their chances against Canada later this month in the Pan Am qualifier in Jamaica.

Bermuda finished unbeaten in their five matches, winning the first three 2-1, 2-0 and 1-0 against club teams VFL Niendorf, Jenfeld and TSV Wedel before drawing 1-1 with both the Hamburg under 21s and Third Division team VFL 93 in the space of 24 hours of their final two matches.

On each occasion in the final two matches Bermuda were leading 1-0 in the closing minutes only to concede late equalisers. Of the seven goals scored during the tour both Raynel Lightbourne and Nathan Webb netted twice and Kevin Jennings, Ascento Russell and Nakia Smith one apiece.

"To be quite frank the opposition we played were all of First Division standard in Bermuda,'' said coach Mark Trott yesterday. "From the third to the last match the teams were of the upper echelon in our First Division and the last two in particular I would say even a little higher.

"The last team was a Third Division team which is equivalent to where Shawn Goater is right now. The tour was successful in the sense that the results were successful but more importantly the main goals were achieved in that the team blended together as a unit and that's one thing I don't have to worry about now, getting them to fight for each other.'' The tour had a disappointing start when Trott, in a disciplinary move, took the captaincy away from Meshach Wade and handed the responsibilty of leadership to Andrew Rahman. It stemmed from Wade's obligation to the Bermuda Regiment.

Rahman was one of three co-captains before the tour began alongwith PHC pair Dano Outerbridge and Ottis Steede.

"I took the unpleasant step of taking the captaincy away from Meshach.

Discipline has to be the utmost and the captain has to lead by example,'' explained Trott, who said he will make the decision later whether to retain Rahman as captain.

Despite having to adjust to the cold conditions, the players handled themselves well as a minimum of two training sessions a day helped with their conditioning.

"The fitness is extremely high and is of international standard, higher than any fitness level we have in the First Division right now,'' the coach disclosed. "That problem I will not have to worry about. Players did not get cramps in any of the matches.

"In the first game we played it was zero-degrees and the complaint from the players was that their feet were frozen and they had problems feeling the ball.

"On one or two occasions it was rainy and really blustery but from a training point of view most Bermudians will be very surprised to realise that all the training pitches in Germany are of a hard surface, not grass pitches but dirt pitches. That was a good experience in the sense that the players became a lot tougher.'' Trott said the team has improved in leaps and bounds since being in Germany.

"We played our final practice match before we left against St. George's at the National Stadium and we won that match 3-1. We were pretty good but where we are at now is almost 100 percent better than where we were then, definitely, as far as team cohesian.'' Bermuda plays Canada in the first of their two matches on November 30 (the date for the second match is still to be determined) and will resume preparation this week with sessions tomorrow and Friday evening at BAA and Devonshire Rec. The National Stadium is unavailable this week.

Burkhard Ziese, the BFA Technical Director of Coaching who accompanied the team on the trip to Germany, is hoping to get in about 11 sessions between now and the time the team leaves for Jamaica on November 26.

"It was, in my view, a very successful tour,'' said Ziese.

"It is a packed training camp and I personally would say that it served more than its purpose. It is now necessary not to pick up any red cards or injuries. We will make some adjustments here and there regarding the players.'' ANDREW RAHMAN -- Replaced Wade as captain.