PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Highly-rated Trinidadian club W Connection will launch their bid for their fourth Caribbean Football Union Club Championship title when they do battle in the semi-finals of the tournament starting here today.
The south Trinidad side will take on Jamaica’s reigning domestic champions, Montego Bay United FC, in what is expected to be a highly charged second semi-final at 8 pm, at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
The two teams will enter today’s game on the heels of contrasting results. W Connection suffered a heartbreaking loss in the domestic Pro Bowl semi-finals a week ago, when they went out on penalties to Caledonia AIA, following a 3-3 stalemate.
There was no such misfortune for Montego Bay, however. They thrashed Waterhouse 5-1 in the second leg of their Jamaica Premier League semi-final recently, with the result coming on the heels of an impressive 3-1 victory in the first leg away in Kingston.
Despite the defeat, however, W Connection technical director Stuart Charles-Fevrier, said they were ready for battle.
“We have put that loss behind us and I don’t think it will affect us really because at the start of the 2014/2015 season, this CFU tournament was at the top of our agenda, and come Friday we will be ready,” Charles-Fevrier said.
W Connection easily qualified for the semi-finals last month when they clinched Group Two of the competition hosted at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
They crushed the Guyana Defence Force 7-1 in their opening game before returning to hammer Antiguan club SAP FC 7-2 in their second game.
Montego Bay should prove a handful, however, and enter the contest in excellent form. They will be without four key players in Fabian McCarthy, Keniel Kirlew, John Barrett and Donovan Carey, but president Orville Powell said they remained confident of a positive result.
“We’re confident because coming from Jamaica with the games we have behind us, the guys are building more and more confidence so the only thing now is to keep focussed and not be too overconfident,” Powell said.
Montego Bay were similarly impressive, marching through the preliminary stage to easily capture Group Three in Haiti. They got past CS Moulien of Guadeloupe 1-0, brushed aside home side America des Cayes 4-1 before blanking Surinamese side Excelsior, 3-0.
In the preceding game at 6 pm, another Trinidadian club will chase a spot in Sunday’s final, as Central FC take on Haitian side Don Bosco FC.
Neither side have ever won the Club Championship.
