Southern outfit into CFU quarters
Dominican club champions Bath Estate would not have fond memories of the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, nor will they care to hear the name, W. Connection, for some time.
Connection's next opponents are likely to be Haitian club, SA Cavaly, who enjoy a 5-0 first leg lead over Aruban club, SV Britannia. The two teams meet again on Monday for the second and final leg.
CLICO San Juan Jabloteh, the defending T&T Pro League champions for two years running, enter the Caribbean competition at the quarterfinal stage, where they host Surinamese outfit, Inter Moengo Tapoe, in the first leg on April 13.
Connection also have home advantage on April 13 against either Cavaly or Britannia, while both Trinidad teams play away on April 20.
Surely neither fixture will be as straightforward as Wednesday's night one-sided affair in Marabella.
"After winning the first leg 5-0 we knew we had a very good grip (on the two-legged contest)," said W. Connection coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier. "I knew too that we were likely to have a lot of possession at home so we focused more on the offence and putting them away and I was quite pleased with the way the game went."
Dominican Republic international striker Jonathan Frias scored twice in the opening seven minutes for Connection and the hosts never looked back.
Andre Toussaint and substitute Matthew Bartholomew notched three goals apiece while Kerron Smith, Kittian midfielder Gerrard Williams and the Colombian pair of Eder Arias and Christian Viveros chipped in a solitary item each.
It did not all go Connection's way, though, as Bath attacker Kurlson Benjamin got a consolation goal in the 26th minute, while Fevrier's new striker Kevon Woodley, who notched 11 goals for United Petrotrin last season, failed to open his account after two outings against woeful opposition.
Bath Estate failed to provide a team list to the match commissioner before kick off and were similarly anonymous for most of the 90 minutes while Connection never tired of padding the score summary.
"The guys never took things for granted or allowed their standard to drop," said Fevrier. "They kept their level and played for the full 90 minutes."
It was scant consolation for Bath Estate.
W Connection—Murilo Da Costa, Elijah Joseph (capt), Hughtun Hector, Jonathan Frias, Oscar Torijano, William Da Silva Oliviera, Christian Viveros (Kelvin Modeste), Andre Toussaint, Kern Cupid (Matthew Batholomew), Kevon Woodley (Kerron Smith), Gerrard Williams.
Goalscorers
Jonathon Frias 3’, 6’; Andre Toussaint 14’, 37’, 56’, Gerrard Williams 35’; Christian Viveros 43’; Eder Gilmar Arias 52’; Matthew Bartholomew 65’, 81’, 89’, Kerron Smith 87’
W Connection routs Bath Estate 12-1 to advance in Caribbean club championship
CONCACAF.com
Andre Toussaint and Matthew Bartholemew scored three goals each to lead W Connection of Trinidad to a 12-1 victory over Bath Estate of Dominica on Wednesday and place in the second round of the Caribbean Club Champions Cup.
W Connection was joined by Inter Moengo Tapoe of Suriname, which despite a 1-0 loss at home to CSD Barber of the Netherlands Antilles on Wednesday, advanced to the second round on a 3-2 aggregate score.
Jonathan Frias scored twice in the first seven minutes for W Connection, which won the first leg in Dominca 5-0 and advanced on a 17-1 aggregate.
W Connection next plays the winner between SA Cavaly of Haiti and SV Britannia of Aruba. Cavaly won its home leg 5-0 on Sunday and will play the second leg in Aruba on Monday.
Inter advances to play San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad, which was seeded into the second round by virtue of reaching the semifinals the last time the tournament was held in 2007.
Besides Toussaint, who is a member of the Trinidad & Tobago national team player pool, Bartholemew and Frias, W Connection also got goals from Gerrard Williams, Christian Viveros, Eder Arias and Kerron Smith.
Kurlson Benjamin had Bath Estate’s lone goal in the 26th after W Connection already had built a 3-0 lead.
In Suriname, Vaylison Lake gave CSD Barber hope with a goal in the 14th minute, and the Dutch Antilles’ club’s prospects improved further with the 21st-minute ejection of Inter’s Brayon Damba. But it failed to generate another goal and was eliminated.
Three first-round series remain undecided. Besides Cavaly-Britannia, Sevilla FC of Puerto Rico heads to Antigua to face the Greenbay Hoppers on Sunday after they two drew their first leg 3-3, and Tempete FC of Haiti hosts Alpha United of Guyana, also on Sunday, after they drew their first leg 1-1.
The second-round matches are set for April 13 and April 20, with the single-game semifinals scheduled for May 15 in Trinidad and the championship and third-place match two days later in Trinidad.
The CFU Club Champions Cup will qualify three teams for next season’s CONCACAF Champions League.