Nigel Si­mon

W Con­nec­tion and Cale­do­nia AIA of Mor­vant/Laven­tille will be ea­ger to avoid be­com­ing a big name first round ca­su­al­i­ty when they meet in the 2009 Toy­ota Clas­sic round-of-16 this evening. The 16-team knock­out com­pe­ti­tion which car­ries a first prize of $25,000 com­pris­es ten clubs from the Dig­i­cel Pro League and six clubs from the bmo­bile Na­tion­al Su­per League. The 16 clubs were placed in­to the groups of four, A, B, C and D on a seed­ed ba­sis from one to four. The clash be­tween, W Con­nec­tion, win­ners of the Clas­sic in its in­au­gur­al year, 2005 and Cale­do­nia, semi­fi­nal­ists for the last three years will kick off at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la from 8pm.

The "Savonet­ta Boys" com­ing off a 0-0 draw with bmo­bile Joe Pub­lic on Tues­day night will fan­cy their chances of a win over Cale­do­nia who they have de­feat­ed in three of four meet­ings this sea­son. The last win com­ing as ear­ly as last week in the Big Six 1-0 while it al­so won 2-1 in the the league and 4-1 in the quar­ter­fi­nals of the Lu­cozade Sport Goal Shield. Cale­do­nia's lone suc­cess over W Con­nec­tion came in a 2-1 league in round two. Two hours ear­li­er at the same venue, Unit­ed Petrotrin which has been in­ac­tive for close to a month af­ter fail­ing to qual­i­fy for the Pro League "Big Six" and win­ners of the com­pe­ti­tion in 2006 faces Su­per League op­po­nents, Econ­o­my Strik­ers.

A dou­ble-head­er is al­so card­ed for the Mar­vin Lee Sta­di­um, Ma­coya, where Joe Pub­lic Pro League and Su­per League out­fits, cham­pi­ons of their re­spec­tive leagues will be in ac­tion. In the first match from 6 pm, the Pro League "East­ern Li­ons", the 2007 win­ner and com­ing of their tri­umph in the Pro League and "Big Six" com­pe­ti­tions start their quest for a third ti­tle this sea­son against Po­lice, which fin­ished bot­tom of the Pro League stand­ings. At 8 pm, the 'East­ern Li­ons" Su­per League play­ers will test their skills against a youth­ful but very pro­fes­sion­al team in Ma Pau, which fin­ished a cred­itable fifth in on­ly its sec­ond year in the pre­mier foot­ball com­pe­ti­tion in the coun­try.

One oth­er match is card­ed for tonight, with two-time fi­nal­ist, St Ann's Rangers com­ing up against FC South End at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va from 6pm. To­mor­row, de­fend­ing cham­pi­on and 2007 run­ners-up, Cli­co San Juan Jabloteh will be­gin its de­fence against De­fence Force Su­per League out­fit at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar from 6 pm. The quar­ter­fi­nal match­es will take place on Tues­day with cross-over match­es in­volv­ing groups A and B, and C and D with the semi­fi­nal card­ed for Fri­day No­vem­ber 6 and the fi­nal, a week lat­er.The tour­na­ment run­ners-up will re­ceive TT$10,000.

Groups & Match­es

Group A:

(1) - St Ann's Rangers vs (4)- South End FC

(2) - Petrotrin vs (3) - Econ­o­my Strik­ers (Su­per League)

Group B:

(1) - Jabloteh vs (4) - D/Force (Su­per League)

(2) - Phoenix (Su­per League) vs (3)- Har­vard (Su­per League)

Group C:

(1) - De­fence Force vs (4)- T&TEC (Su­per League)

(2) - W Con­nec­tion vs (3)- Cale­do­nia

Group D:

(1) - Joe Pub­lic (Su­per League) vs (4)- Ma Pau

(2) - Joe Pub­lic vs (3) - Po­lice

To­day's match­es:

Mar­vin Lee Sta­di­um, Ma­coya:

Joe Pub­lic vs Po­lice, 6pm.

Joe Pub­lic (Su­per League) vs Ma Pau, 8pm.

Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la:

Petrotrin vs E/Strik­ers (Su­per League), 6pm.

W Con­nec­tion vs Cale­do­nia, 8pm.

Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va:

Rangers vs South End, 6pm.

To­mor­row (Sat­ur­day):

Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar.

Jabloteh vs D/Force (Su­per League), 6pm.

D/Force vs T&TEC (Su­per League), 8pm.

Sun­day:

Phoenix vs Har­vard, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 4pm.