The Bermuda Football Association (BFA) announced that Portland Hearts of Pine will return to Bermuda.
The USL League One club visited Bermuda last year for two preseason friendlies against Khano Smith’s Rhode Island FC and a Bermuda select. This year, they will play two matches against a Bermuda select comprising of Bermuda players based in the domestic leagues and overseas.
The Bermuda senior coaching staff continues to focus on identifying and evaluating all potential players for future selection to the senior men’s national team program, regardless of their location. Domestic-based players such as Dante’ Leverock, Zeiko Lewis, Enrique Russell, and Lejuan Simmons are examples of players who continue to be important pieces to the senior men’s national team program. Other local players, such as Jorj Dublin, Julian Carpenter, and Daniel Cook, are working to establish themselves in the squad.
The friendlies against American USL teams have proven to be fertile ground for new senior team players. Harry Twite, having tasted football with the senior squad two years ago, has gone on to establish himself as a regular in the Senior Men’s National team.
Coach Findlay added, “This minicamp and matches are valuable opportunities for us to meet several objectives within our program. This includes providing our established domestic-based players an opportunity to get valuable training and match time against quality opposition, and for those who are on our domestic target list, an opportunity to be evaluated within the environment. We get the chance to work closer with them and see them in a competitive match environment, such as the two matches against Portland Hearts of Pine”.
The Bermuda Select will play two matches against Portland. The first match will kick off at 7 pm on February 5th. The second will start at 2 pm on Sunday, February 8th. Both matches will take place at the Flora Duffy South Field Stadium. Come out and get a glimpse of the future as players look to establish themselves in the senior men’s team for the Nations League that will begin in September.
Coach Findlay concluded: “It provides our Bermuda football fans the opportunity to see our players compete against a professional level of competition”.
|
