Violette AC ready for first Semifinal test vs Portmore United

General Secretary Antonio Campoy shares his thoughts ahead of the Semifinals.

MIAMI – Fresh from becoming only the second team in Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship history to sweep its group matches, Violette AC will meet the kind of opponent that makes perfection hard to sustain when facing Portmore United on Tuesday 13th at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.

Violette, a Port-Au-Prince-based club founded in 1918 and the oldest still active in Haiti, became only the second team in Caribbean Cup history to win all four of its Group Stage matches, joining Mount Pleasant as the only team to ever accomplish this feat.

The table-topping performance, capped by 12 maximum points, came as a surprise, but Violette General Secretary Antonio Campoy and his team welcomed this accomplishment nonetheless.

“Astonished, but delighted. Why? We have a young group of players this year, and that’s why we didn’t expect them to do so well” he shared.

“But more than just what happens on the field, we have always invested in the right people in every level of the club. Plus, we always strived to be the best. That’s the spirit that has taken us forward” he added.

PATH TO THE SEMIFINALS

In its dominant run in Group A, Violette opened with a 3-nil blanking of Trinidad and Tobago’s Defence Force, then beat Dominican Republic' s Romano FC 1-0 and edged Suriname’s SV Broki 2-1.

With top spot still up for grabs heading into the final round of fixtures, Violette clinched it at the expense of Sando FC, courtesy of Jean Jules Mikenlove’s 84th minute goal to secure a crucial 1-nil win.

Even though his team was better on the day, Campoy saluted Sando FC for the quality it brought to the contest: “I was impressed with how Sando played for a new club, it is a very structured and well-coached team. We can see our soccer in the region has evolved” he said.

Campoy says his team is ready to claim its second regional title after its 2022 triumph, but he knows getting past Portmore will be no easy task: “Yes, it’s going to be a very tough match. Portmore is a very dangerous opponent, and we need to be very vigilant. As you know, the Jamaican clubs are the best in the region right now,” he told concacaf.com.

“To be successful, we must play these games as if we are in the final,” Campoy said. “We will be taking it one game at a time, and our players are looking forward to playing against Portmore.”

The Violette official said the winning mentality that fueled the team through the group stage will carry through the rest of the campaign.

NEW GOAL IN SIGHT: 2027 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP

Violette has set its sights on winning the Caribbean Club Championship and qualifying for the Concacaf Champions Cup: “It would be a great accomplishment and a proud moment to create more glory for the club,” Campoy stated.

Violette will be banking on its offensive duo of Elyvens Déjean and Miche-Naider Chéry to power past Portmore and beyond.

Campoy takes pride in the club’s focus on youth, a pillar of its growth and development strategy: “Our mantra is always to help the young and try to give them a platform where they can express and elevate themselves.”

“We always try to recruit young, talented players. And the way we have structured the club, it permits them to showcase their talents” he finished.