Jamaica’s Portmore United and Arnett Gardens will be hunting quarter-final spots in the ScotiaBank CONCACAF League (SCL) when they play AD Santos at 6:30 and CD Arabe Unido at 9:00 pm, respectively, inside the National Stadium today.

Jamaican champions Portmore United hold a 2-1 advantage over Santos of Costa Rica, while Arnett Gardens are faced with the herculean task of overturning a 0-3 deficit against Panamanian outfit Arabe Unido.

Portmore United just need to avoid defeat to be in the last eight and should feel confident after Javon East and Maalique Foster netted in Costa Rica before holding on for a 2-1 win last week.

Head Coach Shavar Thomas is looking for another tough game but believes his team is ready and won’t be sitting back of their one goal advantage.

“We are looking for a tough challenge against a good Santos team. They responded really well in the second half in the game in Costa Rica, so we looking for a better response tomorrow from them. But we are prepared and it’s just for our guys to stay focused and see this thing through,” Thomas told the Jamaica Observer.

“We have seen some things that we could have done better in Costa Rica to our advantage in terms of our strengths. The approach come tomorrow is not for us to sit back on a 2-1 lead or hopefully get a tie, no. We are going out there to play football,” he noted.

Portmore were eliminated at the first-round stage of last year’s first edition of the SCL, losing out 5-4 to Panama’s Plaza Amador after both clubs had ended 1-1 in their home-and-away play-offs.

Portmore will once again be relying on the likes of East, the fleet-footed and skilful Foster, Venton Evans, Captain Ricardo Morris, Chavany Willis, Rosario Harriot, Ryan Wellington, Damano Solomon, Roberto Johnson, Romaine Breakenridge, and goalkeeper Kemar Foster for victory.

Santos De Guapiles, who were runners-up to Honduras’s CD Olimpia in the inaugural tournament in 2017, is coached by Johnny Chaves and will be depending on last week’s goalscorer Pablo Airbourne, Captain Wilmer Azafeifa, Francisco Flores, Francisco Rodriguez, Ronaldo Dinolis, Starling Matarrita, Reomind Salas, Randall Alvarado, Juan Diego Madrigal, Jose Garro and goalkeeper Bryan Morales.

Meanwhile, Arnett Gardens are pretty confident they can overturn that three-goal deficit based on the number of chances they created in Panama. Head Coach Jerome Waite said the team remains upbeat and raring to go.

“Pretty much, they are upbeat. They understand the situation they are in and they know that it’s do or die,” Waite told the Observer yesterday.

“We have found ourselves in this position already and this was in the early rounds of the competition where we needed four goals to advance which we did that,” said Waite, who is also the assistant head coach of Jamaica’s senior Reggae Boyz.

He continued: “So it’s not a situation where it is out of the reach of the Arnett Gardens team. It is still possible. We are at home and we trying to get the support behind us 100 per cent and we are still hoping that the players can deliver on the day because the first game we missed six clear chances in the 18-yard box.”

“We need to step up our game to offensively. But it is a crucial game, this team can come and play 5-4-1 playing behind the ball to ensure they keep down that deficit.”

Arnett Gardens will look for inspiration from national players Fabian Reid, Marvin Morgan, goalkeeper Damion Hyatt, the talented Vishinul Harris, Javoni Simms, Lennox Russell, veteran Dicoy Williams, Jabeur Johnson, Ranike Anderson, Rickardo Oldham, Tamar Edwards, the wily Damari Deacon, Jarmar Jackson, Jamar Martin and Lamar Neil.

CD Arabe Unido, coached by Carlos Ruiz, will be looking towards first leg two-goal hero Chin Hormechchea, Faber Mosquera, Raul Penaranda, Alexis Palacio, Captain Abdiel Macea, Luis Pereira, Jose Gonzalez, Mauricio Castano, Roberto Chen, Jose Garibaldi and goalkeeper Miguel Lloyd to lead them to safety.