Caledonia AIA suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat in its debut CONCACAF Champions’ League match against home-side Seattle Sounders last Thursday, however the Morvant/Laventille based TT Pro League club remains very optimistic over advancing out of the group stage.
Sammy Ochoa, Fredy Montero and Andy Rose all scored in the first half for the Major League Soccer (MLS) club, Sounders, and five minutes after the break Kareem Joseph pulled back a goal from the penalty spot for Caledonia after striker Jamal Gay was bundled inside the area.
“I think we didn't play well in the first half, and didn’t play individually. And sometimes we need a kick up the pants when we are not doing well,” said coach Jerry Moe, who marched the touch line in absence of Head Coach and Technical Director Jamaal Shabazz on Thursday night in Seattle.
“We can’t make excuses,” continued Moe.
“But our biggest challenge is that we aren’t playing competitive matches at this point, only little practice matches, and we are still without a couple injured players (Ataullah Guerra and Akim Armstrong).”
The 2012 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Champions and Digicel Pro League Championship third place finishers will next host Honduran club CD Marathon on Tuesday 21 August in its second Group 4 match.
Caledonia then hosts Sounders in the second leg on the Wednesday 29 August, and finally visits Marathon on Wednesday 26 September. The winner of the group advances to the quarter-final round.
“We should be able to do better,” added Moe. “We have to be confident. We have three games still. We won the second half against Seattle and that should give us some confidence. So it’s just for us to play our remaining matches with the right discipline and attitude.”