Jamaica’s Arnett Gardens and Club Atletico Pantoja of the Dominican Republic will contest the final of the FLOW Caribbean Club Championship today at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex at 8:00 pm for a direct spot into the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League.

The winner of the title match will walk away with US$50,000 (about J$6.2m).

In the curtain-raiser at 5:00 pm, Jamaica’s Portmore United and Central FC of Trinidad and Tobago battle in the third-place play-off match.

The second-and third-placed teams qualify to the second tier 2018 CONCACAF League, while the fourth-placed team will enter a play-off against Tier Two (Caribbean Cup Shield) winners for a place also in 2018 CONCACAF League.

On Friday night Portmore United lost 3-4 to Pantoja in a seven-goal thriller, while Arnett Gardens defeated Central FC 2-0.

In the first game, Pantoja — a professional outfit with players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Uruguay and Haiti — were always a step quicker than Portmore United and emerged deserved victors.

Luis Espinal (24th, 45+2) and Eduardo Centeno (30, 60th) each grabbed a brace, while Javon East (28th, 34th) and Jermie Lynch (52nd) levelled the scores three times for Portmore in a gallant effort.

Pantoja head coach Lenin Bastidas was a happy man after thwarting the challenge of Portmore United.

“We came with the objective of winning, but it wasn’t the best game for us. But we are happy that we qualified for the final,” he said through a translator.

“Despite the mistakes, we were able to make it to the final. It’s a semi-final and we played one of the strongest team in Jamaica, so we expected it to be a close game. We already played Arnett so we know they will be difficult,” he added.

Following a 20-minute power blackout, Arnett went on to book their final spot with a 2-0 win with goals by Tamar Edwards (38th minute) and Marvin Morgan (54th).

In January, Pantoja and Arnett Gardens battled 0-0 in Trinidad and Tobago and finished first and second from the group and advanced to the final stage. They meet once again, only this time in the final.

Arnett head coach Jerome Waite said his players stuck to the game plan against Central FC, and said he is quietly confident after playing with 10 men against Pantoja earlier in the year.

“Pantoja is a team that I have played before because they came from my zone. The first game we got a red card in Oneil Thompson, and despite being one man down we kept our shape and the game drew 0-0. I know what Pantoja is capable of doing, so hopefully we can recover,” said Waite.

“The players showed that they needed to reach the final and now that they [are there], I am expecting great things from them,” he added.

Meanwhile, the third-place play-off should also be interesting between Portmore United and Central FC as the winners qualify for the 2018 CONCACAF League.

Portmore Head Coach Shavar Thomas said it’s not what they wanted.

“It’s tough. It would have been nice for us to qualify directly to the Champions League. But these guys are strong enough. We have lost games before where we didn’t play so well during the season,” said Thomas.

“At this level you can’t make those mistakes that we made and expect to come out victorious. When you go down three times and came back three times, it is difficult to snatch a fourth. But we showed that we have resilience and we still have a chance to qualify, so we are going to regroup and come again and learn from our mistakes,” he added.

Central FC came into this tournament knowing they have won the Caribbean Club Championship twice and were fancied to do well. But they ran into a spirited Arnett Gardens aggregation and they must now lift themselves for another shot at the region’s second tier competition.

“I have no problem in losing, but it’s the manner in which you lose the game. We never fought for the game and Arnett Gardens came out and fought for the game and were hungrier than us and we never really fight for the cause,” said a disappointed Stern John.

“They scored against the run of play but we kept the ball, but we never looked like we were going to score. We didn’t deserve to win the game,” he added.

“We have to regroup. We have a day to turn around and get going again. We have some fresh legs on the bench and we will be making changes. As long as we come out and compete we will get a better result,” he added.