Cavalier Sporting Director Rudolph Speid says the club is bracing for a tough encounter when they face Real Hope of Haiti in Group A of the Caribbean Football Union Club Championships at the National Stadium on Tuesday. Match time is 7:00 pm.

Cavalier, the reigning Jamaica Premier League champions, have been in excellent form in the competition. They have won back-to-back matches, which puts them atop the standings with six points. Their last outing was an easy 4-1 victory over Police FC of Trinidad and Tobago on August 29.

Real Hope are currently third in the group with one point from one game, following their 1-1 result with Police. Mount Pleasant Academy of Jamaica are second in the group with three points from two games, while Police have one point from two matches. Arnett Gardens are at the bottom of the table with zero points after losing their only game to date.

Despite Cavalier’s comfortable position in the standings, Speid insisted that they must win their last two games to progress to the next phase of the competition.

“This is a crucial match for us because we need to get a positive result to stay on top of our zone. As you know, the Caribbean Cup is a craze nowadays, and it is really a good competition as it is something that we need to represent the country, and that is what we are trying to do,” Speid said.

“Those victories were two hard games, but we managed to pull them off. We believe that this zone will be decided on the last day, with the last set of matches on October 3rd. So, we are focusing on these two remaining matches because they are very important for us,” he said.

He emphasised that Real Hope are a strong unit with a lot of quality players.

“Real Hope is a really good team because technically all their players are sound. They drew their first game, and I am sure that this is the game where they will try to play as hard as they can to win. The Haitian teams are always good and this is a team we have to be aware of because one-on-one, they are very good,” Speid noted.

Speid, an experienced tactician, highlighted that his players love to compete in big games, and they are looking forward to putting on a great showing in front of their home fans.

“We are preparing as best as we can with one aim in mind, which is to win every game that we play. We have a lot of young players, and usually, young players like to play in these big games because they want to make a name for themselves. So, my job is just to motivate them and try to get them to play how I want them to play.”