PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
A confident Trinidad and Tobago will square off against Haiti in a highly anticipated Digicel Caribbean Cup Final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium today at 7.15 p.m. local time.
Two hours earlier, Cuba, the top ranked team in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), and Guadeloupe will meet in the third-place match.
Hosts and eight-time Carib-bean Cup champions T&T advanced to the final after beating Cuba 3-1 in Saturday's second semi-final at the same venue. Haiti, who lost to T&T in as group match last Wednesday, won by a similar margin over Guadeloupe to reach the title match.
The top four teams are already assured of a place in the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer in the U.S.A., and all that is left now is to crown new CFU champion.
Jamaica won the title in Barbados last year but suffered a shock exit in the first stage of qualifying in September.
The tournament winners will collect US$120,000 while second gets US$70,000. Third place will receive US$50,000 and fourth, US$30,000.
Performed well
Coach Wim Rijsbergen, a former international defender with the Dutch national team, has managed to gel his young and inexperienced team into a fluent attacking unit. They stuttered in their first match of the tournament for a 1-1 draw against Barbados, but changed gears in subsequent matches for a high-scoring winning streak.
They have hit 11 goals in their last three games, brushing aside highly-rated Martinique (5-1) and Haiti (3-1) before thumping fancied Cuba out of the title race.
On current record, T&T can be considered favourites for the final, but when they squared off against Haiti in the group stage, the French-speaking country fielded an under strength team as they had already qualified for the semi-final stage.
Rijsbergen believes his players have the quality to beat Haiti.
"We know this could be our toughest game of the tournament but we will play our game the way plan it and hopefully it will be enough from the players to go all the way. I think we can definitely get the result we all want."
Haitian coach, Cuban Luis Amelio Garcia also feels that his team can come away with a victory. He says they have no fear for the locals.
"We will play our football and will play them without any fear," said Garcia on the eve of the match.
"We will play with the best players we have. This is the final and we need that because we also need to show T&T the respect and CONCACAF as well. Of course we expect this game to be the toughest. The final brings the best of the teams.
"We are not worried. Football is a joy for us. We have a responsibility but we always enjoy this. We only have conviction because we will end up first," he added.
