Mount Pleasant Football Academy face the difficult task of overturning a three-goal lead against the Los Angeles Galaxy today. However, Head Coach Theodore Whitmore says it isn’t impossible as the club aims to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

The 2023 Jamaica Premier League champions Mount Pleasant take on Major League Soccer’s Galaxy at the National Stadium at 6:00 pm in the second leg of their round-of-16 tie, needing four clear goals to advance.

It could have been a different story for the St Ann-based club who trailed by just one goal for 88 minutes in the first leg at the Dignity Health Sports Park in California. However, hat-trick hero Gabriel Pec netted in the 89th and 96th minutes to put the Galaxy firmly in the driver’s seat.

Whitmore, though, says the Caribbean Cup champions will give it their all to overturn the deficit.

“They know the task at hand. It’s a difficult one, but it’s not impossible. We’re just going to go out there, we’re going to enjoy, we’re going to give it our best shot and play for the 90-plus minutes,” he said. “It will have to be a mixture [of attack and defence] but let’s see what presents itself and how we deal with it. But we have trained variously, how we want to play so let’s see what happens.”

Unlike the first leg, Mount Pleasant will have more players at their disposal after 10 of their first team players were denied entry to the US.

Whitmore is expecting a better performance this time around, despite the tough task ahead.

“It’s tricky in terms of the performance of the players but once we get our players at our disposal, it’s good. We want to feel the best team possible, we know we are behind, but we want to come out tomorrow and give a good account of ourselves. We are looking forward to the players available and what they bring to the table,” he said.

Last year, Cavalier’s second leg against Inter Miami saw a packed National Stadium due to the presence of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi.

Mount Pleasant aren’t expected to get close to those numbers but Whitmore is still banking on home support to help the team over the line.

“It’s always important when you have support — it drives the team, it motivates the team. So, as much as possible, we would like the fans to come out and support the team, not only Mount Pleasant fans, but Jamaica as well.”

— Daniel Blake

WHITMORE… we’re going to give it our best shot (Photo: Observer file)