Shavar Thomas

SAINTE-LUCE, Martinique:

NEITHER JAMAICA'S Shavar Thomas nor Guadeloupe's Stephane Auvray will be running around clenching a wand in their fist, but you can bet your bottom dollar that both captains, who represent Kansas City Wizards in the United States Major League Soccer competition, will expect some bit of magic and trickery from the team's offensive stars, in what should be a big Digicel Caribbean Cup showdown tonight.

No one is predicting how this evening's activities will unfold, but both teams are keen on winning the match, the feature of a double-header at the Riviére Pilote Stadium, at 8:30 (7:30 Jamaica time), in a Group I fixture that could well decide Guadeloupe's fate in the tournament.

Antigua and Barbuda will meet Guyana in the opening fixture at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. Jamaica time).

Jamaica's Reggae Boyz beat Antigua and Barbuda 3-1 on a Luton Shelton (14th, 37th) double and Dane Richards (40th) goal, to lead the group by three points.

Guadeloupe, for whom Loic Loval scored in Saturday's match, gave up an 86th minute equaliser to draw 1-1 with Guyana, against whom they squandered more than eight wide open chances. In the four-team group, they are tied at joint second on one point and with one game to follow, they are hungry to beat Jamaica to clear their path to the semi-finals.

tournament

It is a path on which the Reggae Boyz are not looking to give up any ground, as they seek to defend their title and also secure a spot in next year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, a tournament in which Guadeloupe also craves a spot.

The last time both teams met, Jamaica won 2-0 to eliminate Guadeloupe in the semi-final of the last edition of the Digicel Cup, which was held at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Though they are now in their opponents' backyard -with Guadeloupe being close to fellow French-speaking host country Martinique - Thomas and his Jamaica teammates have long been chanting on their determination to "defend the title" and also qualify for the Gold Cup.

Yet, after watching Guadeloupe draw before helping his team beat Antigua and Barbuda, Thomas remained secretive, holding his cards to his chest as to any kinks he may have spotted in Martinique's armour, when they battled Guyana.

Thomas said: "They're a good side and we liked what we saw about them, we're going to go to our training and decide how we're going to go against them."

His coach, Theodore Whitmore, also chose to keep the most intricate details of his assessment of the Guadeloupe team private, choosing to reason in general terms.

"This is football and you never can tell what might happen," said Whitmore. "We don't want to look on what we'd seen from the Guadeloupe-Guyana match earlier.

"There are bits and pieces that we can take from that game that can help us, but it's going to be a hard, tough game," he pointed out.

Despite the challenge facing his team, Auvray, captain of the Guana Boys, remained clear on the direction they want to take.

"We're looking at our team before we look at the Jamaica team. Because we didn't win the first game we only have one point so we must have a good result against Jamaica," said Auvray.

"We know it's basically the best team of the tournament, but we need to take some points against them. I played two years ago against Jamaica and it was a more experienced and different team, but I watched the first half yesterday and they were much better than Antigua."