Comeback kids?
Rusea’s, Charlemont look to bounce back in D’Cup
MICHAEL ISRAEL, coach of Charlemont High School, said his school will be looking to bounce back from Wednesday’s defeat to Browns Town, in the return leg of their second round match in the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup.
Israel believes that his team’s failure to capitalise on opportunities let them down in the first leg, but notes that they will be looking to get things right at home this afternoon.
Charlemont, who will be playing the first game of a double-header at Dinthill High School, will be looking to overturn a 2-1 deficit in their 1:00 pm kick-off. In the second game, Dinthill will be looking to feed off home support to pile more goals on the 6-0 thumping they handed Herbert Morrison at Jarrett Park on Wednesday.
Another team that will be looking to overturn a first-leg defeat is defending champions Rusea’s High School, who suffered a surprising 2-1 setback at the hands of 32nd seed Mile Gully High School.
Israel, meanwhile, is hoping that his team will play to their full potential when they take the field today.
“What happened was missed chances. We got clear chances early in the game, but once we did not put them away Browns Town played and built confidence. We didn’t play our best game, too much slow movement on the field offensively and defensively,” said Israel.
Israel also believes that them not being in the knockout stages of the competition for over a decade could have resulted in them not having that cutting edge on Wednesday. He, however, said this loss came at the right time and that he is expecting his boys to respond to their do-or-die situation.
“The cutting edge is going to be necessary for this round and further on ... This is the loss that we can take in the round, so maybe it’s a good thing because we are not used to losing games. When you go to the quarter-finals, you can’t lose any games because only one team will go to the semi-finals from four,” said Israel.
“We have the away goal that I think is very much a benefit to us. When I observe the Browns Town team, I’m not seeing any serious threat coming to Linstead to play us. So we will look to bounce back tomorrow, and our boys promised that they would put in more effort in terms of the physicality of the game” he added.
“I see potential where they have their shape and organisation in their defence, but I know we are going to breach them numerous times on Saturday (today) to come out with the victory and move on to the quarter-finals.”