AC PoS face Cibao in must-win Concacaf Caribbean Cup match

Trinidad and Tobago Premier Football League (TTPFL) reigning champions AC PoS will have to fight for Concacaf survival when they host Dominican Republic club Cibao FC from 8 pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo on September 24.

With three games completed in their 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup campaign, AC PoS (two points) find themselves in third spot behind the Dominican Republic pair of Moca FC (seven points) and Cibao in the five-team group B heading into their last encounter.

And with only two teams advancing from the group, coach Walt Noriega's team will need to do something they have not done in consecutive Caribbean Cup campaigns thus far – win a match.

Noriega said his team only have themselves to blame for being in this precarious position, but he's optimistic they will get the much-needed win to keep their Concacaf dreams alive.

"We know a win versus Cibao puts us on five points, but we also have to hope the Haitian team (Ouanaminthe) does us a favour and gets full points too to give us an opportunity to qualify," Noriega told the media, at the pre-match press briefing on September 23.

"It's out of our hands, and today we only have ourselves to blame that it's out of our hands. We will go and give our best fight and see what can happen."

In their first match of the campaign versus Ouanaminthe on August 22, AC PoS were held 1-1, before suffering a dramatic 3-2 loss away to Moca on August 27 – a game which they led 2-1 at the hour mark.

In their first game of the group stage on home soil on September 17, the wasteful "Capital Boys" team were held 1-1 by Antiguan outfit Grenades FC – conceding an equaliser in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage-time.

It was a goal that punished glaring misses by winger Sedale McLean and a squandered penalty by captain and playmaker Duane Muckette.

"It's deflating to play like that and not come out with three points. At this point, we just have to bounce back," Muckette told the media.

"We still have life and we still have a chance. We have to give everything. We have to give ourselves a chance to go through once we win the game."

After finishing an agonising second to Defence Force in the inaugural TTPFL season last year, AC PoS lifted the 2023/24 TTPFL crown ahead of Miscellaneous Police FC on May 19.

AC PoS' domestic season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to Defence Force in the First Citizens Knockout Cup final on May 29.

Since then, Noriega says it's been a battle for his team to maintain optimum fitness and he believes this has contributed to their lapses in the Concacaf Caribbean Cup.

"I think (being out of season) has a big part to play in it because every time we play this competition, the teams we're playing against, they're eight or nine games into their season.

"We're always trying to play catch up and trying to get matches...it's not an excuse for us conceding late goals, but there's a part to play scientifically."

Though the odds are now stacked against them, Noriega said his charges must pull up their socks and get the job done.

"Mathematically, we still have a chance...once we give ourselves the opportunity to push for the win, we'll be good."