ALL TO PLAY FOR

Despite Cavalier FC losing their first-leg Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 game against Inter Miami on Thursday, Head Coach Rudolph Speid says his team deserved more from the game, and expects a better outcome in their return leg in Kingston this Thursday.

Inter Miami, with captain and talisman Lionel Messi watching from the stands, got the better of the reigning Jamaica Premier League champions 2-0 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, thanks to second-half goals from Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez.

Cavalier were also disappointed not to have taken the lead when Shaquille Stein’s goal just before half-time was ruled offside after a lengthy video assistant referee (VAR) check.

Although holding their own against one of the region’s best, Speid told the Jamaica Observer that the result didn’t reflect the performance.

“Based on our team and how we normally operate, we thought there was a missed opportunity to do even better,” he said. “The game is a game of small margins and those small margins went against us. We’re not elated, if that’s what people think. We believe that we need to go back and work harder to get the margins in our favour for the next game.”

One of the major talking points prior to the match was the threat of Messi but he was ruled out with Inter Miami’s Head Coach Javier Mascherano citing fatigue.

While some may have regarded his absence as an advantage, Speid doesn’t necessarily see it that way.

“We would have had to recalibrate when we realised that [Messi] wasn’t in the squad and set up the team a little bit different,” Speid said. “We know where certain attacks and certain patterns would come from, so without him, we had to think about the other possible patterns.

“They would have run a little bit more because the person who would have replaced him was younger and run a little bit more, so it goes both ways.Some people could say we got a respite but also we had other issues when he doesn’t play.”

Coming in as the overwhelming underdogs, the Caribbean Cup champions have received plaudits for their competitiveness against Inter Miami, but Speid says their performance shouldn’t be a surprise.

“When you look in Europe, there are some teams that used to give 20-0; those things don’t happen anymore,” he said. “With the advent of better team knowledge, better education, players prepare differently, the coaching staff has more knowledge, so the gap is getting smaller, plus Cavalier is always tagged as an underdog team so it’s nothing new for us.

“This team is now a very experienced international team. We’ve played over 20 games so we’re not new to this anymore in terms of travelling, accommodation, preparation, meals, and so on. We understand that there’s information that we can assess and come up with a game model to play against any team so that’s what we did. With a little bit more luck, it could have been a different story.”

Cavalier will need to overturn the two-goal deficit in the second leg at the National Stadium on Thursday, and Speid has full confidence that his team will pull off the upset.

“Whenever our backs are against the wall, you see what we do,” he said. “One thing is on our minds; when we come back, we going to come back harder and better. We know what we have to do and we’re prepared to give it a good shot. Jamaican people, come out and watch because we know what is at stake and what we have to do.

“We will find a way to deal with it, whether it works is a different thing, but we’ll come up with a plan. I thought the way we came up with our game model and stuck to it was very instrumental; we were able to pressure Inter Miami at intervals, so we’ll come up with another game model, some other strategies, and Jamaica will see an even better team in the return leg.”

The game on Thursday kicks off at 7:00 pm. The winner will advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament where they will meet either Los Angeles FC or Columbus Crew.