Bermuda have turned to their most successful ever coach to take charge of the Under-20 national team for next month's World Cup qualifiers.

It was in 1992 when Gary Darrell masterminded the nation's memorable World Cup qualifying run as the senior national team reached the second phase of the competition.

During those halcyon days he had a team packed full of professionals like Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne, David Bascome, Meshach Wade and Kentoine Jennings.

But it will be a very different calibre of player at Darrell's disposal for the first stage of the Under-20 qualifiers which are likely to be held in Guadeloupe.

The team held their first warm-up session earlier this week, although the veteran coach is already familiar with most of the players having helped coach them during this summer's Bermuda Hogges season.

Technical director, Derek Broadley, who persuaded Darrell to join the national academy coaching staff more than a year ago, said the former NASL pro's wealth of international experience would prove invaluable during the Under-20 qualifying campaign.

"Gary Darrell will be in charge of the Under-20 team," said Broadley. "He travelled to the US with the Bermuda Hogges team last season so he already knows most of the players. Obviously Gary has a wealth of experience and I'm sure the players will learn plenty from him."

Broadley added that Bermuda Hogges coach Scott Morton would act as Darrell's assistant.

Ipswich Town's Reggie Lambe could also be included in the travelling party with Broadley set to speak with the club's management about the midfielder's availability over the next few weeks.

"Reggie is available for this competition and we would be foolish not to consider him," Broadley said. "But it's a very delicate time in his career as he's on the fringe of their first team, so we will speak to Ipswich and see what his availability is like.

"I have to say Reggie's always been committed to be playing for the Bermuda national team."

The Under-20 squad is likely to be made up of a mishmash of national academy players from the ages of 17 to 20. Broadley would prefer the team to be primarily full of 20-year-olds but said there just was not a large enough talent pool at that age group to pick from.

"The thing people have to be mindful of is that we never go into competition with a full quota of suitable aged players. We're still functioning off the two-age group mechanism that was in place before we established the academy.

"Instead of going with a team full of Under-20s, we go with players aged from 17 through to 20. If you look at the Trinidads and the Cubas, because of their population, most of their players are in their 20th year.

"Having a team at each age group in the academy should hopefully help eradicate that issue. I'm not saying we will ever go with a team full of 20-year-olds, but at least we should be able to take 11 or 12 players of the proper age and supplement them with a few youngsters. It's a big issue for us."