Kyle Lightbourne believes Bermuda must relish being the favourites in their quest to secure qualification to the Concacaf Gold Cup in 2021.

Having suffered relegation from League A of the Nations League, and thus missing out on automatic qualification to the biennial competition, Bermuda will have to play in round two of the qualifiers, where they will face the winner of a first-round match between Bahamas or French Guiana in March.

That will involve a shift in status for Bermuda, having been the underdogs for much of their first Gold Cup appearance this summer against teams such as Haiti and Costa Rica, as well as throughout their Nations League group B campaign, where they faced Panama and Mexico.

With greater expectations comes added pressure and head coach Lightbourne has warned his side that they must remain professional in their approach, whoever their opponents turn out to be.

“We will be looked at as the favourites whoever we face and we just have to make certain we do everything correctly,” Lightbourne said.

“That means preparing for the games in the right way, taking each game on its own merit and not looking too far ahead. We have to get the job done and we have to remain professional about it.

“We have gained invaluable experience over the past year so going to places like French Guiana or the Bahamas won’t faze any of the players.

“However, saying that, we can’t take anyone for granted and so we will have to be at our best to beat them.

“We’re hopeful of doing what we need to do to get back to the Gold Cup once again and continue our growth.

“That’s the only thing that matters at the moment, making it back to the Gold Cup and continuing our progression.”

French Guiana will be expected to make it past Bahamas and while challenging his players to relish the favourites tag, Lightbourne is well aware of the threat the South American nation could pose, having beaten Bermuda 3-0 at home in the Caribbean Cup back in 2016.

“Facing a team like French Guiana will keep us honest,” Lightbourne added. “We’ve played them within the last three years and we know what they’re capable of.

“No disrespect to Bahamas at all, but I’m pretty confident it is going to be French Guiana that we end up playing. Bahamas will give them a good game, but I think they will come unstuck against French Guiana.

“If that is the case, we have to do the business away first of all and then get them back to Bermuda and finish them off.

“We just have to do what we need to do to make it the Gold Cup again.”

Had Bermuda held on for a 1-1 draw away to Mexico in their final group match in League A of the Nations League last month, they would have automatically qualified for the biennial competition along with Canada, Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Surinam and the United States.

However, they conceded a last-gasp goal to condemn them to League B.

Although Lightbourne does not view featuring in the League B as discredit to his side, he does believe their performances prove their credentials to have a place among the top tier.

“It’s not a disgrace at all for us to be in League B, but being there means we have to finish top of our group to get back to League A,” he said.

“That’s how I see us now and where we should be. Being in League B, we should be aiming to be top of the group table.

“Whoever comes up against us now knows they are in for a tough match because of how far we’ve progressed as a team.”