attending the draw for the second qualifying round of the World Cup in New York on August 21 hoping to have Bermuda's opening game played at home on September 20.

Marshall, Allan Peacock and Dr. Gerard Bean will be armed with tentative dates for the home and away matches against their three opponents -- dates on which the Bermuda Football Association have agreed after consulting with national team manager Gary Darrell and the Tours Committee.

Bermuda is now awaiting the conclusion of the home-and-away tie between Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica to see who joins them in the next round along with Canada and El Salvador.

Jamaica shocked their opponents with a 2-1 away victory on July 5, and are now well poised for the second leg at home on August 16.

The result in Trinidad saw Jamaica avenge an earlier defeat in the prestigious Shell Caribbean Cup final, and Darrell feels that Jamaica now have everything to play for.

"Trinidad and Tobago have the class and ability to pull it off in Jamaica, but if Jamaica were able to beat them in their back yard Jamaica can also do it again at home.'' Meanwhile, the cost of Bermuda's involvement in the next round has been estimated at $209,000.

The BFA are anticipating $120,000 from gate receipts based on crowds of 4,000 and if this is accomplished there will be a shortfall of almost $90,000 remaining.

"We will have to seek sponsorship from the business community to make up for the shortfall, but the people of Bermuda will have to come out and support us as well. Going into a competition like this is an expensive exercise,'' said Marshall.

With soccer's popularity increasing as the Bermuda team's run in the World Cup continues, the BFA is advertising for a technical director.

Marshall said that the new post -- with an estimated salary of $40,000-$50,000 -- had been created with the idea of promoting the sport from primary school level through to the senior ranks.

"Bermuda soccer is presently enjoying upward mobility being in the forefront,'' said Marshall. "But there is a lot of work to be done.

"Currently our young players are not being taught properly and it is time for reassessment of the programme and the technical director would be in charge of this.'' "It's going to be an extremely difficult job that's going to take quite a bit of effort,'' said Marshall. "It's a newly-created post and we really want to see if we have a local person availble with the qualifications to start up the programme.'' The technical director's salary would be drawn from the government grant received by the BFA each year.

Carlton (Pepe) Dill held a similar appointment in the early 1980s when he was the director of coaching, but his contract was not renewed upon its completion and the post has remained unfilled ever since.