Two-time winners and defending Toyota Classic champions DirecTV W Connection will kick off its title defence against Super League outfit Defence Force at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, this evening from 8 pm.
The 16-team tournament, now in its eighth year, comprises the eight clubs of the Digicel T&T Pro League: W?Connection, winners in 2005 and 2011, Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA, Defence Force, North East Stars, Central FC, St Ann's Rangers, Police FC and T&TEC FC and the top eight teams of the National Super League-WASA FC, Joe Public, Westside Starz, Stokely Vale, Siparia Spurs, Defence Force, 1976 Phoenix and 1st FC Santa Rosa.
Last year in the final, W Connection edged out T&TEC 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw at the end of regulation time and this year the Stuart Charles-Fevrier-coached "Savonneta Boys," currently third on the league table and semifinalist in the First Citizens Cup, will hope to at least reach the tournament final once more.
In their last league outing on November 10, W Connection clobbered the "Electricity Boys" 7-0, led by braces from Shahdon Winchester and Hashim Arcia while Defence Force (Super League) is coming off a 3-1 loss to Starz in the Super League on Sunday.
Two hours earlier at the same venue, W?Connection's T&T Pro League rivals, North East Stars, quarterfinalist last year, comes up against Siparia Spurs also of the Super League.
Stars, who were losing finalist to the now defunct Ma Pau in 2010 on penalty kicks will enter the match buoyed by their impressive unbeaten start to the Pro League campaign will also be fancied to get past Siparia in the first match.
There are round-of-16 double-headers also carded for the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet; Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva; and the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, from 6 pm.
In Tobago, joint T&T Pro League leaders Defence Force led by national strikers, Richard "Shaka" Roy and Devorn Jorsling will face a tricky tie against 1976 Phoenix from 6 pm while Police, another arm of the "Protective Services," tangles with Stokely Vale at 8 pm.
At Couva, Joe Public, currently second on the Super League standings, plays 2010 semifinalists T&TEC at 6 pm. In the second match, Starz, which gave North East Stars a scare last year before losing 4-3 in the first round and are currently third in the Super League, meets Central FC from 8 pm.
The winner also takes home $50,000 and $20,000 for the runners-up.
Down at Mucurapo, Pro League leaders Caledonia AIA and winners of the First Citizens Cup and Caribbean Football Union Club Championship title already this season begins it campaign against tournament debutants Santa Rosa from 6 pm while Super League leaders WASA takes on two-time Toyota Classic runners-up St Ann's Rangers in the night's second match.
