2008 Trinidad and Tobago League Cup

The 2008 Trinidad and Tobago League Cup was the ninth season of the First Citizens Cup, which is the league cup competition for Trinidad and Tobago teams competing in the TT Pro League. The slogan for the year's league cup was No Room for Losers and was sponsored by First Citizens Bank for the eighth consecutive year.[1] W Connection entered as the defending champions after having defeated Caledonia AIA 2–0 in the 2007 final for their fourth consecutive league cup title.

2008 First Citizens Cup
Trinidad and Tobago FCB Cup
CountryTrinidad and Tobago
Teams10
Defending championsW Connection (5)
ChampionsW Connection
Runners-upJoe Public
Matches played10
Goals scored36 (3.6 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)Gregory Richardson
(4 goals)
← 2007
2009 →

Qualification

Seeding for the competition was determined from the league standings following the eighteenth league match day. The bottom four teams were placed in the qualifying round to determine which teams advance to the quarterfinals. The teams ranked from first to sixth advanced directly to the quarterfinals.

The automatic quarterfinal qualifiers in order of league position were: San Juan Jabloteh, W Connection, Caledonia AIA, United Petrotrin, Joe Public, and St. Ann's Rangers.

Schedule

The schedule for the 2008 First Citizens Cup, as announced by the TT Pro League:

RoundDateMatchesClubsNew entries this round
Qualifying round2 September 2008
2
10 → 8
4: 7th–10th
Quarterfinals12 September 2008
4
8 → 4
6: 1st–6th
Semifinals19 September 2008
2
4 → 2
Third place26 September 2008
1
2 → 1
Final26 September 2008
1
2 → 1

Bracket
  Qualifying round
2 September 2008		 Quarterfinals
12 September 2008		 Semifinals
19 September 2008		 Final
26 September 2008
                                     
  9 Ma Pau 1  
  10 Tobago United 2     1 San Juan Jabloteh 2  
        10 Tobago United 0    
      1 San Juan Jabloteh 0  
      5 Joe Public 1  
        4 United Petrotrin 2    
        5 Joe Public 4  
    5 Joe Public 2 (5)
  2 W Connection 2 (6)
    3 Caledonia AIA 3 (3)  
    6 St. Ann's Rangers 3 (4)    
      6 St. Ann's Rangers 0
      2 W Connection 2   Third place
    2 W Connection 5    
  7 North East Stars 1 (0)     8 Defence Force 2   1 San Juan Jabloteh 1
8 Defence Force 1 (3)     6 St. Ann's Rangers 2

Results

All matches were played for 90 minutes duration, at the end of which if the match was still tied, penalty-kicks were used to determine the match winner.

Qualifying round

The knockout cup began in the qualifying round with Tobago United and Defence Force recording upsets over higher-seeded Ma Pau and North East Stars respectively.

2 September 2008 Tobago United2–1Ma PauMalabar, Trinidad
17:00 (UTC-4) Hercules  68' (pen.)
Hernandez  82'		 Proctor  19' Stadium: Larry Gomes Stadium
Referee: Gordon Maloney
2 September 2008 North East Stars1–1
(0–3 p)		Defence ForceMalabar, Trinidad
19:00 (UTC-4) Teesdale  60' Jorsling  50' Stadium: Larry Gomes Stadium
Penalties
Stewart
Cooper
Jeffrey 		Pierre
Jorsling
Williams

Quarterfinals

Fans saw a goal spree in the quarterfinals where 22 goals were scored in four matches on 12 September, which saw Jabloteh, Joe Public, Rangers, and W Connection advance to the semifinals.

12 September 2008 San Juan Jabloteh2–0Tobago UnitedMalabar, Trinidad
18:00 (UTC-4) Noel  14' (pen.)
Forbes  87'		 Stadium: Larry Gomes Stadium
12 September 2008 United Petrotrin2–4Joe PublicMarabella, Trinidad
18:00 (UTC-4) Aguillera  11'
Woodley  18'		 Richardson  5', 19', 26'
Calderon  44'		 Stadium: Manny Ramjohn Stadium
Referee: Phillip Jordan
12 September 2008 St. Ann's Rangers3–3
(4–3 p)		Caledonia AIAMalabar, Trinidad
20:00 (UTC-4) Thomas  37'
Edwards  41'
Belgrave  53' (pen.)		 Moore  6'
Smith  18', 26'		 Stadium: Larry Gomes Stadium
12 September 2008 W Connection5–2Defence ForceMarabella, Trinidad
20:00 (UTC-4) Hector  15', 53'
Faña  40'
Viana  43'
Toussaint  89'		 Williams  6'
Carter  57'		 Stadium: Manny Ramjohn Stadium

Semifinals

On 19 September 2008, Joe Public used a lone goal from Gregory Richardson to advance to the final. In the other semifinal, W Connection blanked St. Ann's Rangers after goals from Jonathan Faña and Atiba McKnight on either side of half-time.

19 September 2008 San Juan Jabloteh0–1Joe PublicMarabella, Trinidad
20:00 (UTC-4) Report Richardson  48' Stadium: Manny Ramjohn Stadium
Referee: Austin Perelion
19 September 2008 W Connection2–0St. Ann's RangersMarabella, Trinidad
18:00 (UTC-4) Faña  8'
McKnight  74'		 Report Stadium: Manny Ramjohn Stadium

Third place

With wins by Joe Public and W Connection in the semifinals; San Juan Jabloteh and St. Ann's Rangers were sent to the third place match. Before the final match, St. Ann's Rangers used strikes from Keyon Edwards and Josimar Belgrave in two minutes to put away top seeded San Juan Jabloteh for a third-place finish.

26 September 2008 San Juan Jabloteh1–2St. Ann's RangersMarabella, Trinidad
18:00 (UTC-4) Marcano  67' Report Edwards  60'
Belgrave  61'		 Stadium: Manny Ramjohn Stadium
Referee: Julien Drayton

Final

W Connection claimed their fifth consecutive title and sixth overall in the tournament's nine-year history with a win over Joe Public in the final. The match was held on 26 September in Manny Ramjohn Stadium. After being dead-locked 2–2 at the end of regulation, W Connection used a miss by Joe Public's Jason Springer on the twelfth kick from the penalty spot to win 6–5 in the shootout.[2] Although Joe Public finished runners-up, Gregory Richardson led the tournament with four goals scored.

26 September 2008 W Connection2–2
(6–5 p)		Joe PublicMarabella, Trinidad
20:00 (UTC-4) Toussaint  18'
Faña  35'		 Report Harvey  11'
Thomas  55'		 Stadium: Manny Ramjohn Stadium
Referee: Gregory Hospedales
Penalties
Faña
Toussaint
Seabra
Viveros
Joseph
Cupid
McKnight 		Baptiste
Dwarika
Harvey
Saunders
Wolfe
Thomas
Springer

References
  1. "First Citizens ploughs $200,000 in KO series". T&T Guardian. 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  2. "W Connection rules on penalty kicks". T&T Guardian. 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
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