For DirecTV W Connection defender Alvin Jones, there is no bigger prize than the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (SCCL).
“Being from a small island, CONCACAF is everything to us,” the 21-year-old told CONCACAF.com. “It’s like being in a World Cup final.”
As such, Jones and his teammates are looking to turn their fortunes around against visiting Saprissa on Wednesday night at Hasely Crawford Stadium.
“Saprissa is a very good team and we have a young team and we are home and we will try to do our best,” Jones said. “We will not make it easy on them. It will not be an easy game.”
The Savonetta Boys suffered consecutive 4-0 defeats in their first two Group A encounters, losing away to Santos and Saprissa. Now they are back home for their final two group-stage encounters with a belief that reaching the quarterfinals is still a possibility.
“Even though we lost our two games by at least four goals, we still believe that we can quality if we get two big victories in the next games,” said midfielder Gerard Williams, a St. Kitts & Nevis international. “You never know what could happen between the next two clubs when they meet each other. In football, you have to go out there on the day and do what you have to do and anything is possible.”
With the start of the TT Pro League season around the corner, Williams believes W Connection is better suited to face Saprissa this time around.
“We have more and more confidence, we’re training together more and more together and playing more practice games,” Williams noted. “I feel we are in a better condition for this match.”
Despite the demanding road ahead, belief remains high in the camp.
“That’s what our main focus is on, getting out of the group stage,” commented Jones. “If we can get six points, we’ll probably go through on goal difference, so we will try our best to get six points from our two games at home.”
And if W Connection falls short of its goal of reaching the SCCL quarterfinals, Jones still thinks his team will be in prime position to be one of the TT Pro League’s leaders again.
“We are using this as our stepping stone to go into our league,” he remarked. “If we can get six points out of the next two games we will have very good momentum going into the league.”