Champs Waterhouse launch out against Cavalier

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

The 2010-2011 football season will get under way today when the first set of matches in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Claro Champions Cup kicks off.

The competition, formerly the President's Cup, features KSAFA's top teams. They include the six clubs that participated in the last season's premier league (Harbour View, Waterhouse, Tivoli Gardens, Boys' Town, Arnett Gardens and August Town); along with Cavalier, University of the West Indies (UWI) and Seaview Gardens, the respective winners of the KSAFA Super, Major and Syd Bartlett leagues.

They are divided into two zones, with Zone A consisting of five teams and Zone B four. Zone A has defending champions Waterhouse, Cavalier, UWI, Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens.

Waterhouse will tackle Cavalier today in the round's feature match at the Constant Spring field, in the first game of a double-header, starting at 2 p.m. The second match, which is slated to commence at 4 p.m., will see premier league outfit Arnett Gardens tackling UWI. The fifth team in Group A, Tivoli Gardens, will bow into action on August 11, when they play Cavalier.

The focus will shift to UWI Bowl tomorrow, when the teams in Zone B get their title challenge on the way. In the opening match at 2 p.m, 2009-2010 premier league champions Harbour View will play Seaview Gardens. The second match of the day will see host team August Town do battle with Boys' Town.

Despite being behind in preparations for the opening competition of the season, Cavalier's coach, Lamar Morgan, is anticipating a good showing.

"We are just about 40 to 50 per cent ready because we just started training," said Morgan. "We are not having a great turnout ... because to get in the players to training now is a little hectic."

Good showing

But he warned: "Cavalier will put up a good showing, especially against Waterhouse. We are going to approach that game cautiously because we are playing the defending champions and they are also in the National Premier League. We will, however, go into the game with a positive mindset and look to get something out of it," he added.

Waterhouse's assistant coach, Xavier Gilbert, intends to use the competition as preparation for the upcoming premiership season.

"It is a good preparation for the national league. We have a pretty young team with a lot of youngsters coming up from the Under-21 level," said Gilbert. "It is going to give us a good test before the long season and, of course, we are the defending champions of the championship.

"We just want to go out there and represent the club and the community well," he added.

The eventual winners of the competition will walk away with the Claro/KSAFA Champions Cup and $250,000 in prize money, while second, third and fourth place teams will pocket $150,000, $100,000 and $70,000, respectively.