Let's get it started

While some of you watch the Uper-say Owl-bay tomorrow, more important things are going on in the CONCACAF region, like the start of World Cup 2010 qualifying.  Bermuda host the Cayman Islands tomorrow afternoon, and the big worry on the Bermudan side is the loss of Khano Smith due to a groin injury.  But because the return leg in Georgetown isn't until late March, he could recover in time to reenter the starting lineup.  In the meantime, Bermuda's strategy will be to take the game to the Caymans through John Barry Nusum, but the proposed 4-5-1 formation doesn't seem to be consistent with Keith Tucker's objectives. 

With regard to the Caymans, they arrive in Hamilton with an almost exclusively domestic squad (one player in the Irish Premier League, and the other in the USA, but not playing soccer).  The players look at themselves as ambassadors for football in their country, but they must know the difficulty of their task.  In their recent tour of Jamaica, they played five matches against National Premier League sides, drawing one, losing four, and scoring only one goal.  That's not a good record, and while Bermuda is mostly a USL Division Two side the results are not encouraging for the qualifiers. 

When the draw was made, I predicted a Bermuda win.  I'm sticking with that prediction, even though the loss of Smith will reduce Bermuda's attacking power.