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Cavalier seek hold on Concacaf Caribbean club title
December 03, 2024
Cavalier Soccer Club (CSC) head coach Rudolph Speid believes the pressure will be on hosts Ciboa when they take on the Dominican Republic team in the second leg of their Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship final at the Estadio Cibao in Santiago, Dominican Republic, today at 7 p.m.
Cavalier lead the tie 1-0 courtesy of Shaquille Stein's 20th-minute goal from last week's first leg in Kingston. Despite their slim advantage, Speid pointed out that with the away goal rule in effect, the pressure will be on the home team to score. He also believes there is additional pressure with their opponents stopping them from scoring.
"The shoe is now on the other foot. They have to prevent us from getting on the scoresheet, because they are the ones who are going to get in trouble with the away goal rule. So we just need to score a goal and they will be the ones chasing the game," he said.
"There were a number of objectives that we had (first leg), and one of them was not to concede because of the away goal rule, and we achieved that," Speid explained.
"The other one was try to get a lead. We didn't get a big enough lead as we would have wanted. But I would take what happened anytime over any other score. We are pleased with the 1-0. It could be better but we will live with it."
Cavalier are yet to concede in the knockout phase of the competition, and Speid believes this defensive solidity will be key if they are to win their first regional title.
He is also drawing confidence from the belief that with their experience as a travelling team, they can get the win.
"As you can see in this competition, we are a team that scores anywhere. We are not worried. We believe that on the day we will give a good account of ourselves," Speid noted.
"We are not going there to draw the game. We are going there to try and win the game. So we are not worried. We have always been a team that can defend well. Since the semifinals, we have not conceded for the three games. If we do that again, we should be good," he reasoned.
"But this is a well-travelled team. For the last three years, we have been the one representing Jamaica in the Caribbean Cup and Concacaf Champions League. So this is a team that knows how to travel. So it's not going to be an issue for this team," he said.
He also assured that Dwayne Atkinson, who had the assist in the first leg but was taken out at halftime, will be fit and ready for the return.
"He will be ready. We just pulled him as a precaution," he said.
Ciboa's coach, Scheldeur Sainvilus, said though they respect Cavalier, the intention is to replicate their second-half performance in the first leg, where they dominated possession and created a number of opportunities to score.
"That (first leg) was a good game. We did all our best. Cavalier is a good team with fast players. But we know we have 90 minutes at home. So we are going to fight to win the trophy," Sainvilus assessed.
"We did a good second half. And we are going to have a good game at home. So we are going to try to win that.
"We have a good team. Cavalier have a good team too. But if we can play as we did in the second half, I think we can do our best. I think we can win the game," he said.
Sainvilus noted that he has an abundance of quality at his disposal, and the fact that they are not active domestically will play in their favour.
However, Cavalier have been given time off locally to focus on the final and have not played a Jamaica Premier League game in two weeks.
"We have a lot of players," Sainvilus said. "Any change that we make our team can be better. Cavalier have fast players but they looked tired.
"Right now we don't have a national league. We have seven days to prepare again and Cavalier need to play on the weekend. That is something good for us," he said, reflecting a lack of awareness of the Cavalier situation.
"We are going to do our best to win the game. We have to try to do the same thing we did second half (first leg). We have to try and take the ball. You have in Cavalier a lot of players so fast, so we have to try and take the ball and don't lose lose ball when we attack. If we don't lose the ball when we attack, we can do a good game," he concluded.
