DCup quarters kick off today
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Ben Francis Cup Knockout finalists St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Manchester High will start what is expected to be a path to the semi-finals of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup football competition when the quarter-finals kick off today with four games.
STETHS and Marcus Garvey Technical, two of three teams that had perfect win records in the Inter-zone round, will face each other at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex, while Manchester High travel to Montego Bay to face first-time qualifiers Muschett High in the second game of a double header at Jarrett Park.
Green Island and Frome Technical will meet in what should be an interesting game in the first match at Jarrett Park, while Port Antonio, who scored 15 goals in the previous round in their three wins, will face Garvey Maceo at Jamalco.
The eight teams have been placed in two groups of four teams each and the top two from each zone will advance to the semi-finals.
Except for two draws against Munro College in the first round, STETHS have won every other game played and look on course for their first rural area double.
Marcus Garvey will be the next team on the conveyer line, but the St Ann school will come into the game with a solid defensive record of giving up just six goals in 13 games played.
They will, however, face a striker of the calibre of Khesanio Hall for the first time this season and will hope to be the first team to stop the striker, who has scored 28 goals in 13 daCosta Cup games played, netting in every game his team has contested so far this season.
Manchester High will face a Muschett team that while they are new to this level of football, have shown a fighting spirit that has seen them defy the odds so far.
Muschett’s coach Hugh Solomon has been there repeatedly with St James High and has quality players in Zidane Francis, Garel Gooden and Nickoy Anderson.
In one of the most unlikely quarter-final match-ups, Frome Technical and Green Island High, who met twice in the first round, could be in the running for a semi-final place this time next week.
Port Antonio are the dark horses in the competition and after sailing through the Inter-zone round, cannot be discounted, especially against a Garvey Maceo team that managed to score just three goals in three Inter-zone games.
