Speid welcomes possible test vs Messi’s Inter Miami
While saying he has no preference about who they would want to play in the Round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions Cup in March 2025, Cavalier FC Technical Director Rudolph Speid says playing Inter Miami CF with Argentine super star Lionel Messi would be a dream for Jamaican football fans.
On Tuesday, Cavalier FC, the newly crowned Concacaf Caribbean Cup champions were drawn to face the winners of the first-round clash between United States Major League Soccer (MLS) teams Sporting Kansas City and Inter Miami next year.
The competition is set to start in the first week of February.
Speid said his priority was “getting past the first opponent”.
The Cavalier boss said facing Inter Miami with the legendary Messi in the team, in Jamaica, would be huge for local fans. He, however, added: “Right now it does not matter, we will play anybody.”
It will be the second-straight season the Jamaican Premier League champions will be playing in the prestigious Champions Cup. They were previously beaten 0-6 on aggregate by MLS outfit FC Cincinnati.
“We have been to the Champions Cup before,” Speid pointed out to the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday. “What we must do now is find a way to get past them and into the next round.”
In a previous interview with the Observer, Speid had said he did not think the gap between the Caribbean teams and their North and Central American counterparts were as wide as it used to be.
Cavalier, the Caribbean Cup champions, were one of five teams that were given byes to the Round of 16.
Cavalier FC earned the bye after beating Cibao FC of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Cup final just over a week ago. They were ranked fifth among the five teams that drew a bye.
Cavalier FC are the third Jamaican team to win the Caribbean Cup after both Harbour View FC and Portmore United each won the competition twice.
Cavalier, who were beaten in the final last year, won the title on away goals after they finished tied 2-2 on aggregate against Cibao. They had won the first leg 1-0 at the National Stadium in Jamaica before losing 1-2 in the return leg in the Dominican Republic.
— Paul A Reid
