Nigel Si­mon

Two-time de­fend­ing Dig­i­cel Pro League cham­pi­ons, Cli­co San Juan Jabloteh will come up against Pana­man­ian club, San Fran­cis­co in La Chor­rera, Pana­ma in the first-leg of their Con­ca­caf Cham­pi­ons League pre­lim­i­nary round se­ries tonight, from 8 pm. The re­turn-leg match is set for Au­gust 6 in Trinidad.

The 18-man Jabloteh squad led by Mar­vin Oliv­er left yes­ter­day mi­nus na­tion­al Un­der-20 de­fend­er Shel­don Bateau, who re­turned home on Mon­day from na­tion­al du­ty in­jured. Bateau was part of the na­tion­al Un­der-20 team which par­tic­i­pat­ed in an in­vi­ta­tion­al tour­na­ment in Venezuela dur­ing the last week as part of their prepa­ra­tions for the Fi­fa Un­der-20 World Cup Fi­nals in Egypt from Sep­tem­ber 24 to Oc­to­ber 16.

How­ev­er, while play­ing in the open­ing match, a 4�1 loss to Con­ca­caf cham­pi­ons, Cos­ta Ri­ca, Bateau picked up a ham­string in­jury af­ter be­ing checked by Jabloteh med­ical doc­tors it was de­cid­ed to leave out the de­fend­er. The win­ner of the se­ries be­tween Jabloteh/San Fran­cis­co se­ries will ad­vance to the First Round Group B round-robin se­ries to join Tolu­ca (Mex­i­co), CD Marathon (Hon­duras) and the win­ner of the DC Unit­ed (USA)/CD Luis An­gel Fir­po (El Sal­vador) tie.

W Con­nec­tion, the Caribbean Foot­ball Union Club win­ners for a third time ear­li­er in March on home soil en­ter­tains New York Red Bulls in their first-leg match on Thurs­day at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la from 8 pm.

The sec­ond-leg is set for Wednes­day Au­gust 5 in New York. The win­ner of the W Con­nec­tion/Red Bull tie will move on­to to Group D to join Pumas (Mex­i­co), CSD Co­mu­ni­ca­ciones (Guatemala) and the win­ner of the se­ries be­tween Liberia Mia (Cos­ta Ri­ca)/Re­al CD Es­pana (Hon­duras).