Digicel Pro League champions, bmobile Joe Public departed for Guatemala City on Monday afternoon where it will face CSD Municipal in a CONCACAF Champions’ League Group B match day two encounter on Thursday.
The match will take place at the Mateo Flores National Stadium, Guatemala from 10pm and will be of great importance for both clubs, which are coming off of losses in their opening match.
Municipal was beaten 1-0 away to Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew in Ohio while Joe Public was handed a 5-2 thrashing at home by Mexico’s Santos Laguna last week.
In fact out of the eight games played in the first round, the only team to suffer a defeat at home was the Derek King-coached Joe Public, which now will be seeking its first win in eight group stage matches.
Prior to his team’s departure for Guatemala yesterday, King said his players will be going out to get a win.“We were beaten in our first match at home so we now have to get three points on the road and get ourselves back in contention to advance to the next stage of the tournament,” said King.
“We did not play to our expectations in the first match against Santos and we know that we will have to show much more discipline defensively if we want to get the required result in Guatemala.King also pointed out that Municipal, beaten in its first match by Crew will also be coming out to get a win in front of their home supporters which will make the match a bit more difficult.
“The guys have played away from home before and we know that we have to do much better in terms of keeping our shape and tighten up our defence while putting away our chances.
“Hopefully we will be able to get it right this time which will be enough for us to get the required result.”
King will also have the availability of defensive duo, Carlyle Mitchell and Jovan Morris, both of whom missed the match against Santos.Mitchell has recovered from a groin strain suffered while playing for T&T in a 3-1 loss to Jamaica on August 11 while Morris was suspended for the Santos match.They have replaced Julien Landeau and Kenaz Williams, who were unused substitutes in the Santos match.
Making its second CCL appearance, Municipal, coming off a 2-0 loss to Xinabajul on Saturday, has won the Guatemalan football league crown a record 28 times and is the lone Guatemalan squad to win the Concacaf title, in 1974, and finished as runner-up in the Copa Interamericana in 1974, the best finish by a Guatemalan club.
Since the Guatemalan league switched to the Apertura/Clausura format in 2000, Municipal has won 13 of the 22 titles. Coached by Uruguayan Manuel Keosseian, who previously managed Honduran side Marathon in the Champions League, Municipal is led by captain Juan Carlos Plata, the most prolific scorer in the history of Guatemala's top division.
He has 299 goals in 20 years with Municipal and 35 more for the Guatemalan national team, second only to Carlos Ruiz.Tuesday night, Santos will be at home to Crew in both teams second match at the Nuevo Estadio Corona from 10pm.
Joe Public team: Glenroy Samuel, Trent Noel, Makan Hislop, Nigel Daniel, Kieon Goodridge, Kerry Baptiste, Hayden Tinto, Marcus Joseph, Kareem Young, Yu Hoshide, Micah Lewis, Marvin Phillip, Carlyle Mitchell, Jovan Morris, Jason Springer, Gayson Gregory, Akim Toussaint, Kareem Moses.