ARCH-RIVALS SQUARE OFF IN DACOSTA CUP
TEN-TIME ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup winners Rusea’s High will face arch-rivals and defending champions Cornwall College when the quarter-final round of the competition kicks off today with eight matches across all four zones. The feature kicks off at 6 p.m. at the Montego Bay Sports Complex. Cornwall head into the quarterfinals in great form after recording their biggest margin of victory, 8-0, over Morant Bay High last Saturday at the same venue.
On the other hand, opponents Rusea’s had to make it through on penalties. Coach of Cornwall College, Dr Dean Weatherly, believes results in the previous round will not matter this afternoon as because of their rivalry the match will see good quality football and the team that wants it most will be victors on the day.
“This is one where no matter if a team isn’t playing very well, there is always good football on display. We are both quality teams, so I’m expecting some good quality football. This is also a match where who wants it most will be victorious on the day because it’s one you can’t really predict based on the rivalry,” said Weatherly.
When asked about the readiness of his team, coach Weatherly told The Gleaner that he is not concerned about Cornwall having a week off from competition while their opponents would have played their last match on Wednesday and could be more match sharp.
“At this stage of the competition, no team can sit and relax, so we will have to come with all guns blazing. We have to be on our A-game as only one team will advance from the group so if you start out slowly,
catching up can be problematic,” said Weatherly.
Rusea’s coach Vassell Reynolds is grateful for the competition he got from Brown’s Town in the second round as he believes it helped prepare his team for the challenges of the quarter-final round.
“We were one of the teams who had to dig deep to advance, we look at it as a positive for us and what it did was to keep us sharp,” Reynolds said.