DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Cavalier head into their final Group B Concacaf Caribbean Cup match away to Weymouth Wales of Barbados at the Wildey Turf at 8 p.m. today, with their title defence hanging by a thread.
Ciboa of the Dominican Republic lead the group with maximum nine points from three matches while Weymouth, Defence Force, and Cavalier all have four points, with one game to go. Haitian team Juventus Des Cayes, who have completed their group fixtures, sit at the foot of the standings with just one point.
In the other game, Ciboa entertain Defence Force at the Estadio Ciboa.
Cavalier coach Rudolph Speid said contrary to what many think, Weymouth have proven themselves to be formidable and that getting the result they want away against the Bajan outfit is going to be difficult on many levels.
“They are not the least team in the group. They are actually second now, with one match to go. If they win, they can qualify for the semi-finals. So it’s another death match. This is the ‘group of death’. So we knew it would be a difficult group. And losing our first match has made it so much harder. There was no room for error.
“We clearly do not have it in our own hands. What we know is that we must win to have a chance because we are fourth even though we are on the same points as Weymouth and Defence Force. This is a must-win game for us, and we still need some help.
“So we have to help ourselves, and we need some help. So we are in a very tricky situation. But we are still not in a bad position,” he assesed.
Nevertheless, he believes that if they can reproduce a performance similar to their display against Defence Force, the result will not be beyond them.
“Defence Force, we really had to run them into the ground. They were stubborn and hard to break down, and I think we need another performance like that. One of those performances that we play as hard as we can. We are playing away, so the conditions are going to be against us. So we have to play as hard as we can, and everybody has to be on their A game,” he said.
Getting a big win could also be crucial to the chances of qualifying to the last four.
“We have to win handsome!y, and that makes it even harder. We have to win by at least two, preferably three. So we will have to be on the hunt from early. Hopefully, with a little luck, things go our way,” he said.
“We want the goal difference to be in our favour because three teams can still finish on seven points. The good thing, we have defeated Defence Force. Because we won the head- to-head, it is good for us. We are ahead in the head-to-head, but we are behind on the goal difference and goal scored. So we have to try and win handsomely.”
