T&T Pro League duo, W Connection and Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA will be hoping to set up an all-local Caribbean Football Union Club Championship final on Thursday at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella when semifinal matches take place tonight at the same venue. In the first semifinal, Caledonia, third placed finishers in the Pro League this season and winners of three titles will come up against US Soccer League club, Antigua Barracuda from 6 pm. Two hours later, four-time (2001, 2002, 2006 & 2009) CFU Club Championship winners and reigning Pro League, W Connection faces two-time defending CFU Club champions, Puerto Rico Islanders. The semifinal winners will meet in final at the same venue on Thursday at 8 pm and secure places in the Concacaf Champions League while the third place finisher will earn the all important third and final qualification spot to the Champions League.
In tonight's opening match, Caledonia AIA and its coach Jamaal Shabazz will be seeking to reach their first ever CFU Club Championship final in three attempts and qualify for the Concacaf Champions League. Caledonia has already won the T&T Football Federation FA Trophy, First Citizens Cup and Lucozade Sport Goal Shield but coach Jamaal Shabbaz said his team has to put all that behind them because the most important thing is to qualify for the Concacaf tournament. However, against Barracudas it will not be an easy task as admitted by Shabazz. "We will be basically playing the Antigua and Barbuda national team and what makes the task for us daunting is the fact that they are now coming off a credible 0-0 draw with Jamaica in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. But according to Jerry Moe, Caledonia's assistant, the team is more focussed on the game and what it has to do than what Antigua Barracudas did against jamaica."
For tonight's encounter, Caledonia, which thrashed Georgetown of Cayman Islands 5-0 and drew 0-0 with Islanders to qualify as the runner-up form its second round group, will place a lot of burden on skipper Stephan David, Kkeyon Edwards and the strike trio of Devorn Jorsling and national Under-23 strikers Jamal Gay and Trevin Ceasar as there are still some injury concerns over midfielders Atualla Guerra and Kedar Roderick. Jorsling and Ceasar led the team with two goals each.
The Barracudas, meanwhile advanced to the semifinal stage after topping its group with wins over W Connection (2-1) and Suriname's Inter Moengotapoe (3-0) after a 0-0 draw with Haiti's Victory. However, the Antiguans, coached by Englishman Thomas Curtis, are on a four-match losing streak since beating W Connection, inclusive off a 2-0 loss to Orlando City Lions in the US Pro League on Sunday night. Against Caledonia, Barracudas will look to Tamarley Thomas (two goals), Englishman Matthew Aldred (one goal) and former Pro League players, George Dublin, Ranja Christian and Peter Byers (one goal) to get them to the final. Having captured the T&T Pro League for a record W Connection coach, St Lucian-born Stuart Charles-Fevrier has set his sights on a fifth CFU club crown and is keen to maintain his team's perfect record against the Islanders of two wins from two matches.
But the former T&T national coach was quick to admit preparation for the tournament has been difficult. "It's been difficult trying to get practice matches and remain focus as our season ended close to two months ago. "Despite that we have tried our best under the circumstances and we will enter the match with Islanders very optimistic about our chances," added Charles-Fevrier. The last time W Connection and Islanders faced off in the competition was in the 2009 final, which the T&T team won led by a double from Dominican Republic striker Jonathan Fana Frias, who leads his team with three goals.
Frias is now part of the Islanders set up which also includes T&T duo, defender Osei Telesford and midfielder Justin Fojo.
Also in the Islanders squad are former W Connection striker, Jamaican Nicholas Addlery and Guyana's Gregory Richard formerly of bmobile Joe Public. W Connection defeated Victory (2-0) and Moengotapoe (6-0) led by Wincheseter (two goals) and Hashim Arcia (four goals) in the second round group stage to reach the semifinals as runner-up to Barracudas but has not played a competitive match since May 10, a 2-1 loss to the group winners. Islanders, meanwhile, was blanked 2-0 by San Antonio Scorpions on Saturday and its coach Adrian Whitbread said his team needs to react and focus for its clash with the T&T club. Admission for tonight's matches is $40.