W Connection head coach Stuart Charles Fevrier remains pleased with his team’s 2-0 result over Haitian club Victory on Sunday at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in the opening Caribbean Football Union Club Championship Round Two Group Five fixture, however the St. Lucian born coach believes his side can do much better.
Connection will take on Surinamese club Inter Moengoetapoe from 7:30pm at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Tuesday, and against Antigua Barracudas on Thursday from the same time at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in its final Group Five match.
The top two teams will advance into the semi-final round along with the top two finishers in Group Four which hosts TT Pro League club Caledonia AIA, Haitian club Baltimore, home side George Town and two-time defending CFU Club Champions Puerto Rico Islanders from May 20-24 in the Cayman Islands.
“We definitely have to improve in our other two games, because we definitely know we are capable of doing better,” said Fevrier. “I was quite pleased that we did well to win the game, but I thought we need to improve our consistency over the next two games.”
Fevrier who added that his side is after full points in its remaining Group Five matches, explained, “[Sunday’s match against Victory] was the first time for this group of W Connection players against foreign opponents and they were a bit nervous because they knew it had a lot of expectations of them.”
Striker Hashim Arcia scored on either side of the half while Victory failed to really threaten the hosts.
Fevrier believes his side should have gotten a third goal but praised his defense which is likely to be without Leslie Joel Russell who picked up a knee injury against the Haitians and was replaced by Neil Benjamin.
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s match, the longstanding Connection coach said, “We definitely cannot take the Surinamese club lightly.
“In the modern game of football, no game is easy. The fact that they(Inter Moengoetapoe) are here means that they are the best in their country. What I saw from them Sunday night (against Antigua Barracudas), they could have done much better with the chances they had.”
Moengoetapoe suffered a 3-0 defeat in the second day-one Group Five match at the Marabella venue against the Antiguans picking up a pair of goals by Tamorley Thomas (9th and 89th minute) and one from Quinton Griffith (43rd minute).
“Suriname has always produced top players and football,” continued Fevrier. “And from what I saw from them on Sunday night, they play a more physical game today than in the past which was more of a tactical game. Now they are very tactical and physical.”
The role of Fevrier is a huge one this week, having to manage his roster in attempts to also prepare for Friday’s domestic Digicel Pro Bowl semi-final clash against Caledonia AIA from 6pm at the Mannie Ramjohn.
“It’s very challenging because we have four games in six days and will have to rotate players. In this stage of the CFU tournament we were only allowed to register twenty players.
So the objective is to keep every player fresh. We are focusing on the recovery of the players and based on that we would pick our teams in the remaining CFU matches this week and for the Pro Bowl semi-final on Friday,” ended Fevrier.