A highly motivated 18-man Waterhouse FC squad, headed by striker Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson, will travel to Trinidad and Tobago where the team will participate in the 2015 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship, which begins tomorrow.

Some members of the squad are scheduled to depart Jamaica today, while a second and final set is expected to leave tomorrow for the twin-island republic.

Waterhouse, competing in Group Two of the preliminary round, will have little time to settle. They open against Antigua & Barbuda’s SAP FC on the opening day at the Ato Boldon Stadium. Team Manager Keith Sailsman said the core of the squad will leave in the first batch.

DirectTV W Connection FC (T&T) and Guyana Defence Force (Guyana) are the other teams competing in the group.

It is the second season in succession that Waterhouse are competing in the CFU Club Championship. Last season’s successful run saw them progressing to the CONCACAF Club Championship, where they performed creditably before being eliminated. Club captain and national goalkeeper Richard McCallum is looking for another positive showing and says there is the determination to go even a step further.

“Last year, for the CFU Club Championship, we went into the tournament very focused, well prepared with an intention to do well. What aided us was that most clubs in the region apparently did not know much about us in terms of competing effectively at that level. So we went in as the underdogs.

“This year, we are going in just as focused, but the level of [financial] support we had last year is missing this year. Nonetheless, our intention is to do just as good as we did last year, and hopefully we can take it much further,” he said.

McCallum was asked to give the reason for his optimistic view.

“We have been doing a lot of preparatory work for the past three or four weeks with our coaches and physical trainers as well,” he explained

A total of 15 clubs from across the CFU region will take part in the tournament. The group winners will advance to the final phase.

All matches in the four preliminary round groups will be played between April 15 and 20 April, while the final round is scheduled for May 20-25 in a straight knockout format. The winners will be crowned 2015 Caribbean champions. The top three teams at the CFU Club Championship will secure berths to the CONCACAF Champions League.

Group One — Alpha United FC (Guy), Central FC (Tri), Inter Moengotapoe (Sur).

Group Two — DirectTV W Connection FC (Tri), SAP FC (Atg), Guyana Defence Force (Guy), Waterhouse FC (Jam).

Group Three — America FC (Hai), Montego Bay United FC (Jam), SV Excelsior (Sur), Club Sportif (Glp).

Group Four — Don Bosco FC de Petion Ville (Hai), Helenites Sporting Club (Vir), Unite Sainte Rose (Glp), Lyford Cay FC (Bah).

Waterhouse contingent — Keith Sailsman (head of delegation/manager); Anthony Patrick and Christopher Bender (coaches); Dr Romayne Edwards (physician); Chris Paul (physical trainer); Glenford Anderson (equipment manager).

Squad: Richard McCallum, George Brown, Nicholy Finlayson, Rohan Amos, Hughan Gray, Damarley Samuels, Evan Taylor, Jomoly Powell, Adoah Nickle, Tremaine Stewart, Andre Messam, DeAndre Brown, Omar Walcott, Oshane Roberts, Romario Campbell, Andre Leslie, Steffan Logan, Jermaine Anderson.