Bmobile Joe Public still in hunt for a 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions’ League group stage win, has one last try on Thursday against visiting MLS club Columbus Crew from 8pm at the Marvin Lee Stadium.
“You have to come good to beat us,” said King ahead of Thursday’s final group stage match of the CCL. “Our unity is really good at the moment.”
King’s side has been under pressure from that start of this season’s CCL Group phase seeded in B along Mexico’s Club Santos Laguna, Columbus and Guatemala’s Municipal.
Joe Public, the only English speaking Caribbean club in the CCL Group phase, stumbled in its first match suffering a 5-2 whipping by visiting Santos on August 18. On August 26, the Lions earned a point away to Municipal in a 1-1 draw but less than ten days later(September 14) they were hammered 3-0 against home side Columbus.
On September 23 Joe Public hosted Municipal in what was the Pro League club’s campaign surviving encounter but suffered a 3-2 defeat. Six days later(September 29) Joe Public travelled to Mexico still searching a victory. That search is still active in Joe Public’s final Group B clash on Thursday against Columbus after receiving a 5-1 defeat in Mexico.
“The experience in CONCACAF really helped us,” he said, despite the club’s poor results. “I told my players from the beginning…let’s learn from this level.
“And it really brought us closer. We are much closer as a team and we have been really working on defending solid as a team and attacking as a team.
“When we analyzed our performances in CONCACAF we saw that teams didn’t really outplay us. It’s really individual mistakes that cost us. We realized that things we got away with domestically, you wouldn’t get away with at the CONCACAF level.”
King added, “We want to finish on a high with a win at home. So we must be disciplined collectively and do what we have been working on mentally, individually and as a team.
Columbus who defeated the Lions with three second half goals in the first leg are second on Group B standings with 9 points, four behind leaders Santos and joins the Mexicans as group advancers.
Joe Public defender Makan Hislop who predicts a much better showing by his team, has tipped a resurrection of striker Kerry Baptiste.
“This game is all about pride,” said Hislop. “We want to prove that we can really compete with bigger teams in CONCACAF.
“We had some communication problems and weren’t focused for the full ninety minutes (against Columbus in the first leg). We were playing them neck against neck in the first half but in the second period we lapsed in concentration.
“I think playing at the CONCACAF level has allowed us to grow individually and as a team in confidence to a level that we can now match these teams. This experience gives us that level of confidence to compete higher.
“I can also say that Kerry is looking a lot sharper in recent (domestic) games and I think he is ready to re-stamp his name in Trinidad and Tobago,” concluded the Joe Public defender.