Islanders near next Champions League

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

TAMPA, FL — With Puerto Rico Islanders’ eyes squarely on their upcoming CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal series with Marathon of Honduras, the USL First Division side received great news regarding qualification for the next edition of the tournament with the unveiling of the Caribbean Club Championship tournament format and schedule.

The Islanders will be the front-runners to qualify for one of the three Caribbean berths in the 2009-10 Champions League tournament with their automatic seeding into the Semifinals of the regional competition.

The only elite level competition, arguably, in the tournament aside from the Islanders are their previous foe from the qualification match for the third berth at the beginning of 2008, San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad & Tobago. Jabloteh joined Puerto Rico as the two teams that received byes to the later rounds based on last year’s performance. Aside from the Islanders matches versus Jamaican and Trinidadian competition, the team dominated with 34-4 goal differential in the four other group games, which included 2-1 and 5-2 results over potential upcoming opponent Inter Moengotapoe (Suriname), and the Quarterfinal match.

2007 CFU Club Champions Tournament Results [+]

Jabloteh and the Islanders were the only teams that reached the 2008 Caribbean semifinals that returned to this year’s event. The Islanders, which have advanced to the quarterfinals of the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League, were placed in the single-game semifinals by virtue of having beaten Jabloteh for third place last year and must wait until after the second round to learn their opponent.

Two-time Caribbean club champion W. Connection of Trinidad will open its bid for a third title against Centre Bath Estate, drawing the Dominica side for the first-round knockout pairing in the CFU Club Champions Cup. Sevilla Bayamon FC of Puerto Rico was chosen to face the Greenbay Hoppers of Antigua & Barbuda in the draw conducted at CONCACAF’s headquarters in New York. Other first-round matches will have Tampete FC of Haiti against Alpha United of Guyana, SV Britannia of Aruba against Cavaly of Haiti and CSD Barber of the Netherlands Antilles opposing Inter Moengo Tapeo of Suriname. Center Bath Estate, Sevilla Temepe, SV Britannia and CSD Barber will host the first legs of the first round March 18 with the second legs set for a week later.

Teams also were drawn into pairings for the second round, which will have the first leg on April 13 and the return leg April 20. The Sevilla-Greenbay winner will play the winner between Tampete and Alpha United, while the W. Connection-Centre Bath victor will face off against either Cavaly or SV Britannia. Inter Moengo Tapoe or CSD Barber will play against San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad

The single-game semifinals will be held May 15 in Trinidad & Tobago, which also will host the final and third-place game two days later.

Series – First Round (March 18 & 25)
A – Sevilla FC (Puerto Rico) vs Greenbay Hoppers (Antigua)
B – Centre Bath Estate (Dominica) vs W. Connection (Trinidad)
C – Temepte FC (Haiti) vs Alpha United (Guyana)
D – SV Britannia (Aruba) vs Cavaly (Haiti)
E – CSD Barber (Netherlands Antilles) vs Inter Moengo Tapoe (Suriname)

Second Round (April 13 & 20)
Series A winner vs Series C winner
Series B winner vs Series D winner
San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad) vs Series E winner

Semifinals
Second Round winners and the Puerto Rico Islanders will be drawn for single-game semifinals after the second round is complete. The semifinals will be played May 15 in Trinidad, which also will stage the final and third-place match two days later.

Comentarios

Comentarios