‘WE JUST HAVE TO’

Mount Pleasant Academy head coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore said it is now or never for his team when they prepare to face LA Galaxy in the second leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup round-of-16 encounter at the National Stadium today, starting at 6 p.m.

The St Ann-based outfit trails the tie 3-0 after suffering a heavy defeat in Los Angeles last week, where they were without several key players.

However, Whitmore said his team will be much improved this time around, with a full squad available for selection.

“I think it is tricky in terms of the performance of the players last week, but once we can have all our players at our disposal now, it is good, so we want to field the best team possible for this encounter,” said Whitmore.

“We know we are behind, but we want to come out and give a good account of ourselves. We are looking forward to the players available and what they bring to the table.”

Despite the daunting three-goal deficit, Whitmore noted that the tie is not beyond reach and is urging his players to approach the contest with confidence and determination.

“They know the task at hand. It is a difficult one, but it is not impossible, so we are going to go out there, enjoy it, and give it our best shot and play for 90-odd minutes,” he added.

Whitmore also stated the importance of balancing attacking intent with defensive discipline as his team looks to overturn the deficit.

“Despite the support, we know what we have to go out on the pitch and do. We know the fans will come out and support, and we just have to do what we have to do,” he said.

“It will have to be a mixture of attack and defence, but let’s see what presents itself and how we deal with it. We would have trained in the various ways we want to play, so let’s see what happens.”

The former Reggae Boyz coach highlighted that positional adjustments in the first leg affected the team’s performance, but that issue has now been addressed.

“We would have had players who played out of position in the first game, but we now have a full-strength team to pick from,” Whitmore explained.

“We have seen the LA Galaxy team and their threats, but they still have weaknesses. So in the couple of days that we have been back here, we have put some things together in preparation for the game.”

LA Galaxy will enter the contest brimming with confidence after forward Gabriel Pec scored a hat-trick to power the Major League Soccer side to a comfortable 3-0 victory in the first leg.