Jabloteh earn spot in CFU Final Round

Jabloteh finished with maximum nine points and ahead of, in descending order, Guadeloupe’s Club Sportif Moulien (six points), System 3 Sport Academy (three points) and Saint Maarten’s Flames United (zero points), to join another Trinidad and Tobago Pro League side, Central FC, in the Final Round to be hosted in Trinidad from May 14 - 21.

Central FC, the twotime Caribbean holders, received a bye to the final round as defending champions.

Jabloteh became the latest team to qualify for the Final Round after Haiti’s Racing FC (Group A), Dominica Republic’s Cibao FC (Group B) and Antigua/ Barbuda side Grenades FC (Group C).

Puerto Rico Islanders, Jamaica’s Portmore United, Cayman Islands’ Scholars International and Suriname’s SV Transvaal will tackle each other in Group D in Puerto Rico from today until March 19 for the sixth and final berth into the Final Round which will be contested in two groups of three, each headed by Central FC and Jabloteh.

Both Final Round group winners will contest each other for the Club Championship title and Caribbean’s spot in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Teams finishing second, third and fourth in the Caribbean Club Championship will join 13 Central American teams in the newly launched club championship tournament – set to begin in August – to battle for a trophy which guarantees the winner a place in the CONCACAF Champions League where they will join 15 other teams.

“We want it to be an all-Trinidad and Tobago final (again),” said San Juan Jabloteh coach Keith Jeffrey, looking ahead to the 2017 Final Round.

“We want to continue doing well in the tournament and we want to wish Central the very best also in the big six (Final Round).

Jabloteh were in control of Group E, with wins over Flames United and Moulien 9-0 and 4-1 respectively, ahead of Sunday’s final game against the hosts System 3 Sport Academy who, backed by their home supporters, did put up a valiant effort according to Jeffrey.

The decisive item arrived on 64 minutes for Jabloteh when Tyrone Charles, for his second goal of the tournament, headed into the back of System 3 Sport Academy’s net off an Elijah Manners corner.