Cavalier relishing regional tournament opportunity
Not long after Cavalier won their first Jamaica Premier League title in 40 years last Saturday, technical director Rudolph Speid is already relishing the next challenge for his young charges, regional and potentially, continental glory.
Cavalier, who defeated Waterhouse 5-4 on penalties in the final, had already qualified for next year’s Caribbean Club Championship, but will now do so as league champions. The opportunity before them is a potential place in next season’s Concacaf Champions League.
Speid said that the prospect of playing in the regional and continental tournaments is the main motivation and drive for a club that won it all, sticking to its philosophy of youth development and granting them the opportunity to compete.
“That’s why we get up every single morning at 5:30 a.m to go to training. That is what they wanted. The win is just the icing on the cake. Once we qualified for the Caribbean Club Championship we were very happy,” Speid said.
The Cavalier technical director said the road to their first championship since 1981 was not easy given the year- and- a- half hiatus because of the COVID- 19 pandemic and has credited the team for staying focused throughout the months without football.
“We were able to focus and do some things in the background that helped us as the season went along,” Speid said.
It is that focus that now sees Cavalier looking to take advantage of regional play along with league runners-up Waterhouse. It is also that unyielding belief in the young players which Cavalier and national goalkeeper Jeadine White is most thankful for.
“They say that the youths are the future and we have proven that. We want to thank coach for believing in us because he could have got older players but he believed that players 23 and under would get the job done and we did,” White said.
daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com