D-Day for d'Cup semi-final aspirants

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau: The four semi-finalists in the 2010 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup rural area schoolboy football competition will be decided today when the curtain comes down on the quarter-finals, with four highly anticipated third-round games.

Two will be played at Jarrett Park, Montego Bay; and one each at Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, and Jamalco, Clarendon.

While all four games are crucial, the big Group One clash between reigning champions, St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), and former champions, Glenmuir High School, at STETHS, should take top billing, as in addition to having two master tacticians in Patrick 'Jackie' Walters (Glenmuir) and Andrew Edwards (STETHS) as their coaches, both teams are in prime form.

STETHS, which have already won half of the rural double (the Ben Francis KO Cup), could actually lose today and still advance since they are now sitting pretty on four points, following their 2-2 draw against St James High and a 2-1 win against Marcus Garvey.

However, their opponents, Glenmuir, have no such luxury as with just two points from their 2-2 draw against Marcus Garvey Technical, and 1-1 draw against St James, a defeat today would bring their title chase to a screeching halt.

avoiding defeat

"Once we avoid defeat on Saturday (today), we will be okay, and I am confident we will," said Edwards. "The mood in our camp is very positive at this time, and the players are ready and raring to go."

For Glenmuir, who were on the verge of taking maximum points from St James High on Wednesday before one of their defenders inadvertently scored an own-goal to leave them with just one point from the contest, they cannot afford another slip-up as they will not have another opportunity to rebound. In fact, they might well be forced to throw caution to the wind as its an all-or-nothing affair.

In the second Group One game, St James High, with two points from two games, face a dicey situation.

While a win would definitely put them in the semi-final, a draw might not be good enough unless STETHS beat Glenmuir. However, should St James lose, it would mean the end of their campaign.

"We are again in a tight situation for the second game running, but we are confident and ready," said St James High's coach, Pastor Hugh Solomon. "If we want to be sure of a place in the semi-final, we have no choice but to go out there and beat Marcus Garvey this time around."

While they have only one point from two games, Marcus Garvey could could still find themselves in the semi-finals if STETHS defeat Glenmuir and they manage to beat St James High, who they held to a 2-2 draw when they contested the same group in the competition's inter-zone phase.

red-hot team

In Group Two, the red-hot Rusea's team, fresh from their masterful 3-0 demolition job against Garvey Maceo on Wednesday, look a safe bet to beat Old Harbour in the feature game of the Jarrett Park double-header. In fact, should they again report in prime form, the Old Harbour team could well find themselves leaving Montego Bay demoralised, if not badly humiliated.

"Our strategy this season is to take it one game at a time, and it has been working well for us so far," said Rusea's coach, Anthony 'Follies' Williams, who was once a robust midfielder for the 'Russians'.

He added: "This team has been making steady improvement right through the season, so we just need to keep the players focused."

While they are given very little chance to humbug Rusea's, based on their one loss and one draw in their two previous quarter-final games, it could be a big mistake to write off Old Harbour. Time and again this season, they have shown themselves to be real fighters and they could come to Jarrett Park seeking to exploit the mathematical chance they have of advancing.

Despite their loss to Rusea's on Wednesday, Garvey Maceo, which took three points off Old Harbour in their first game, are still in with a good chance of advancing to the semi-final. However, they must first overcome Lennon High, a team many pundits rate as arguably the sharpest, offensively, in the last eight.

"We cannot afford to make the kind of mistakes we did in the Rusea's game," said Garvey Maceo's coach, Jeffrey Hewitt. "The senior players will need to play with greater responsibility as this is a game we cannot afford to lose."

With just a mere two points from respective 0-0 and 1-1 draws against Rusea's and Old Harbour, Lennon face a must-win situation. It is no secret that they are a high-quality team, but it will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure today.