Waterhouse president expects club to take last chance
Published:Wednesday | May 25, 2022 | 12:07 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
ONLY ONE more opportunity remains for Waterhouse to qualify for continental competition this season, an opportunity that club president Donovan White says they are ready and prepared to take advantage of.
Waterhouse will face Puerto Rican outfit Bayamon FC in the Concacaf Champions League play-off game today at 4:00 p.m. at the Estadio Cibao, in Santiago, Dominican Republic, hoping to end their Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship campaign with qualification into the 2022 Concacaf Champions League.
Waterhouse’s Caribbean Club title dreams were dashed in the semi-finals by eventual champions Violette of Haiti and in their third-place play-off game, went down to Vega Real 3-1 on penalties, denying them a chance at qualifying for the Concacaf Champions League.
While acknowledging the strain that the short turnaround has had on the team, White says that they are not making any excuses for their struggles as they believe they had the quality necessary to win the title.
HECTIC
“We had essentially four games in less than eight days and we are playing a fifth game basically in 12 days,” White told The Gleaner.
“It has been hectic on the players but we are offering no excuses. Because we have a quality team and we expect them to perform at the highest level whenever asked.”
Despite the fatigue, White is optimistic about his team’s chances to set things right.
“We are going to continue to support the team and hope they can put their best foot forward, play the football they know they can play and win,” White said.
Waterhouse have never won the Caribbean Club Championships, having finished runners-up on two occasions. White said that not being able to win the final edition of the tournament before the changes to the Concacaf club competition structure comes into effect was a hard one to take, but says they are still on course to challenge for regional success and are committed to seeing their efforts reap rewards.
“We haven’t really thought about the format change next year, therefore we would have been the last to have won it. That would have been nice, but we can’t get hung up on those sentimental reasons,” White said.
“Our primary objective is to produce a quality team and to play football at the highest level. We haven’t produced the goods, but we have to stick to our guns and to keep encouraging the players and the staff to continue to believe in the future, in what we are trying to achieve and eventually we will get there.”
Waterhouse last competed in the Concacaf Champions League in 2020.