Toussaint, Joseph out vs Real Espana.
By: Ian Prescott (Express).
Striker Andre Toussaint is out for the remainder of the season, while skipper and central defender Elijah Joseph is suspended as W Connection face Honduran champions CD Real Espana in a CONCACAF Champ-ions League Group D match from eight o'clock tonight at Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
W Connection will be without Toussaint, who picked up an ankle injury against Guatemalan side Communicaciones, but veteran Brazilian defender Jose Luis Seabra is available after coming out of retirement last weekend, as is newly-recruited Mexican striker Jose Carlos Diaz.
Jonathon Frias, their top scorer from the Dominican Republic, is in the squad along with Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Marvin Phillip and midfielder Hughton Hector, who provided a pinpoint cross which led to Kerry Baptiste's headed goal in a 2-2 draw with Mexico last week in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier.
In their first meeting, W Connection put up a very good showing before a defensive mix-up gave Real Espana a 1-0 win in Honduras.
Group D leaders Pumas Unam of Mexico have already clinched a berth in the CONCACAF Champ-ions League quarter-finals, but the other spot in the knockout stage is up for grabs. Comunicaciones (Guatemala) and Real Espana (Honduras) are level with six points apiece after five matches, two points ahead of W Connection.
A win for Connection against Espana and a loss for Communicaciones against group leaders Pumas Unam could send the T&T Pro League club into the quarter-final round of the Champions League.
"Winning on Wednesday against Real Espana will give us a good chance of making the quarter-final round of the CONCACAF Champ-ions League. And also give us confidence in our remaining Pro League matches," said W Connection coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier.
"It has been great," continued Fevrier over his team's involvement in the Champions League.
"We're really happy to be playing at this level. We hope we can stay playing at this level. At the moment we are trying to be more focused for our match on Wednesday."
But Trinidad and Tobago's other representative, San Juan Jabloteh, will end their Champions League run tomorrow when they host Marathon, another Honduran team, from 8 p.m. at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
Unlike W Connection, Jabloteh have no chance of advancing out of Group B after losing all five of their matches to date.