Bermuda have named their squad for this week's Concacaf Nations League matches against Guadeloupe and Saint Lucia, and their most experienced player isn't in it at all. Dale Eve — Bermuda's captain and the most-capped goalkeeper in the country's history — is absent from the 24-man squad named by new head coach John Barry Nusum. Nobody has said why.
What's Confirmed
Eve's absence was noted, not explained, when Bermuda's squad was announced. Both Bernews and the Royal Gazette — Bermuda's two established outlets of record — named it as notable in their own squad coverage, and neither offered a reason. The Bermuda Football Association has not explained it. Nusum has not explained it. No public explanation from Eve was found in the sources we reviewed.
Bermuda's captain and most-capped goalkeeper is missing. Nobody has said why.
Who Is Dale Eve
Eve, a goalkeeper from Pembroke Parish, has been part of Bermuda's senior setup since the early 2010s and has gone on to become the country's most-capped goalkeeper, with 53 appearances between 2011 and 2025. He has more recently served as national-team captain. His career has been built almost entirely in English football below the professional divisions — time in Stoke City's academy, a spell with Forest Green Rovers that included their run to a National League play-off final at Wembley in 2016, though he didn't play in the final itself, and a string of non-league clubs since, moving between them regularly in recent seasons.
Not Entirely Without Precedent
This isn't the first time Eve has missed a Nations League window unexplained. The Royal Gazette reported him missing what it called "crucial Nations League matches" in November 2024, also without a stated reason at the time. Full internationals get left out of squads for all kinds of unremarkable reasons, and nothing here says this one is any different. His previous absence doesn't explain this one. It does show that Eve missing an important Nations League window is not entirely without precedent.
Why It Matters for Saint Lucia
For Saint Lucia, it means Rajesh Latchoo's first Piton Boyz side in charge faces a Bermuda goalkeeping department with a fraction of Eve's experience between them — Milai Perott, Jahquil Hill and Coleridge Fubler, none carrying anything close to his caps total or his standing as captain. That says nothing about how those three will actually perform. It does mean Bermuda go into Nusum's first competitive match in charge, against Guadeloupe first and the Piton Boyz three days later, without the player who has represented them more often than anyone else between the posts.
Offside758 will update this if an explanation surfaces before kick-off. For now, what's confirmed is only that Bermuda's captain isn't there, and that no explanation has surfaced from the federation, the coach or the player in anything we've found.