Despite facing an uphill battle to reach the 2016/17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, DirecTV W Connection remains optimistic that it can achieve its goal of winning Group A.
The Savonetta Boys (0W-1D-1L, 1 point) will get an opportunity to secure three points Thursday, when it visits Honduras Progreso (1-1-1, 4) in San Pedro Sula.
A win would set up an October 20 confrontation at first-place Pumas (2-0-1, 6) in Mexico City, while a draw would eliminate the Trinidad & Tobago side. Honduras Progreso (1-1-1, 4), however, would assume the group lead with a win of its own.
"The preparation is very good," said captain Hughtun Hector. "We know what they have, what they can do. We have a lot of skill. We are trying to get a win, so we can go to Mexico and do the business to get a result."
Added goalkeeper Julani Archibald: "We're very confident."
W Connection has never reached the SCCL knockout phase.
"It would mean a lot to us," Hector expressed. "I think we can win these two games and create history."
Although W Connection won't start its 2016/17 TT Pro League season until an October 4 visit to fellow SCCL side Central FC, the squad has trained six days a week since its 1-1 home draw against Progreso on August 25.
"It's a good thing and a bad thing," Archibald said in reference to the preseason program. "Good thing [because] it keeps us from injury, but bad thing because we are not getting match games."
Archibald faces a busy schedule in the Caribbean Cup third round when St. Kitts and Nevis visits French Guiana on October 8 and hosts Haiti three days later. The Group 2 winner will qualify for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
"We have good chemistry and have a good understanding," Archibald commented. "So everybody gets along well. That is our strength."
If St. Kitts reaches the Gold Cup for the first time, Archibald remarked that "it would be a huge, huge accomplishment. The whole island would be extremely proud of us."