Rusea's, Lennon hunt cup glory

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Their pedigree in the sport might be different but their mission will be the same this afternoon when Rusea's High and Lennon High square off in the final of the 2010 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup at Jarrett Park, Montego Bay, starting at 3:00.

While eight-time champions Rusea's will be seeking to join Vere Technical in second place on the list of all-time winners, the Clarendon-based Lennon, whose previous best finish was making the semi-finals in 2008, will be seeking to join the list of teams with the enviable distinction of being crowned daCosta Cup champions.

In tracking the performances of the two teams during the various stages of the competition, there is no question that Rusea's, who started their campaign by winning Zone B of the competition's preliminary round; and Lennon, who finished second behind Clarendon College in Zone H, have acquitted themselves well this season.

Rusea's still unbeaten

"We realised at the start of the season that we have a very good team and, while we did not want to make any predictions, we had stated repeatedly that we expected this team to do very well," said Anthony 'Follies' Williams, who shares coaching duties at Rusea's with Emerson 'Diggy' Henry.

Having gone through the various stages of the competition unbeaten, winning 13 games and drawing two, Rusea's have very good reasons to be flushed with confidence going into today's final. However, they must be cognisant of the fact that Manning's, who dumped them from the Ben Francis Cup (2-1), were subsequently spanked 4-0 by Lennon High.

Lennon, long considered a powerhouse on the schoolboy football circuit in Clarendon, are yet to make the powerful statement many believe they are capable of but, according to coach Merron Gordon, he intends to change that by joining Vere Technical, Clarendon College, Glenmuir and Garvey Maceo as champions from that mid-island parish.

"We are ready and raring to go, we know that Rusea's are a good team but we are not intimidated by their record," said Gordon. "We will be going down to Jarrett Park with one intention, and that is to take home the daCosta Cup with us."

With both teams playing to a 0-0 draw when they ended up in the competition's same quarter-final group, they have no doubt picked up valuable tips about each other. Interestingly, it should be noted that after drawing against each other, Rusea's defeated Garvey Maceo 3-0 and upstaged Old Harbour 3-1, while Lennon drew 1-1 with Old Harbour and just managed a last-minute 1-0 win against Garvey Maceo.

The overall records of the two teams also makes an interesting comparison. While Rusea's have been quite consistent, winning 13 times and drawing twice in 15 games, Lennon's ride has not been as smooth, as in their 16 games they had 11 wins, three draws and two defeats. In addition, while Rusea's have scored 46 goals and conceded only three, Lennon have 31 goals for and 11 against.

In terms of quality players, both teams are blessed with an abundance of extremely gifted players, and should the occasion not prove too big for the stars on both sides, a most entertaining game could be in the offing for the fans, who are expected to journey in from Clarendon and Hanover in large numbers.

Bid for glory

For Rusea's with the enviable distinction of being the only team that has won four titles in a season - the daCosta Cup, Ben Francis Cup, Olivier Shield and Nutrament Shield in 1985 - will have the likes of the prolific Brian Brown, Anthony Walker, Jermaine Wozencraft, Nicodie Haughton, Ramon Foster and Wonnick Pinnock leading their bid for glory.

For their part, the Lennon camp, whose greatest strength is their capacity to operate as a cohesive unit, will have the likes of the dazzling Ewan Grandison, Odane Brown, Justin Johnson and Gerald Eastwood leading their charge to secure a place in history.

• NOTE:

Guadeloupe beat Cuba 2-1 in the first Digicel Cup semi-final last night. See today's STAR for result and full report on the Jamaica vs Grenada match.