K&S defending champs Pele aiming for a repeat, Santos will be no pushover

Dec 07, 2009 Sports

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Inaugural winners Milerock clash with debutants Grove Hi Tec

By Franklin Wilson

When the historical 20th Kashif and Shanghai knockout football tournament kicks off on Sunday at the Guyana National Stadium Providence, the excitement, energy, anxiety and disappointment will be no different.
Teams are in the final phase of their preparations and have been pulling out all the stops to ensure that their hard work brings the required rewards in a tournament that will be the biggest ever in every regard.
Kaieteur Sport spoke with representatives of all the four teams who will be facing off on the opening night when the King of Football King Pele will be the special Guest of honour. Arch rivals Pele, the defending champions and Santos will be meeting in the feature game and they have both expressed confidence in moving into the quarter-finals.
Pele, have recently returned from a successful training stint in Lethem and played their final warm up game against GFC yesterday at their Bourda venue.  Club President and Manager Carey Jacques, a former National Goalkeeper, has expressed confident that the defending champions will retain their title come New Year’s Day, January 1, 2010. He disclosed that preparations have been proceeding very well and he is satisfied with progress.
“I think we are better prepared than for the tournament this year. The players have really shown the kind of commitment and dedication that I would love at this level and I think this is really encouraging for us.”
Jacques disclosed that they have a really good coaching network in place headed by Technical Advisor and Former National Captain Terrence Archer. The others involved are Justin Bentick (Head Coach), Terry Plummer, Clive Perry and one of two guest (loan) players Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson who campaigns in the USA.

The focus this week according to Jacques will be mental toughness and to this end the club will be organizing a number of pep talks

with various speakers.
While the tournament organizers have made provision for 4 guest players, Pele has opted to just have two, Richardson and Former National Captain Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard who led them to their first Kashif and Shanghai win at the 19th edition.
Current Captain Dirk Archer will retain that position and with the likes of Shemroy Arthur, Konata Manning, Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant, Marvin Joseph, Okeney Fraser, King Solomon Austin, Gerald Whittington, Quincy Adams, Keoma Gravesande and Calvin Shepherd, the defending champs look a solid bunch.
Their {Pele} opening night challengers Santos, believes that they are the underdogs but they are preparing to stun their opponents.
Manager Rawle Adams speaking with Kaieteur Sport acknowledges the fact that they are outside underdogs but believes that Pele will be surprised come Sunday night. “We have been doing pretty well with regard to preparing, the guys have been coming out and as a club we have invested in training under lights on some evenings to put in the work needed to come out victors.”
Adams noted that coming up against Pele for their opening game is a tough draw and perhaps their toughest ever but will be ready for the task at hand. They {Santos} will be strengthening and will be utilizing their four loan players.
National defender Kester Jacobs, currently playing with T&T Pro League side Caledonia AIA will be there to shore up their defence. Daniel Favorite, Keith Fraser (goalkeeper) and another player (forward) to be named will be their loan players.
They will combine forces with the regular campaigners in O’Neil Heywood, Michael Pedro, Glenorvan Edmonds along with veterans Quacy Price, Jermaine Fraser, Seon McKenzie, Jevon Gibson and William Europe.
First timers in their own right, Milerock and Grove Hi Tec have been given the honour of kicking off the tournament on Sunday from 16:00hrs.
Milerock, the first champions of the tournament when it started as Greg and Shanghai in 1990 will match skills with Grove Hi Tech, the first team to represent East Bank who competed as a combined team before.
Brian Joseph, head coach of Milerock informed this newspaper that their preparations at this stage are a bit behind schedule due to indiscipline on the part of some players. They just placed fourth in the inaugural GFF National Super League and will hope to improve on that momentum in their bid to get past Grove who are promising that they will give a solid account of themselves.
Preparations for Milerock will continue at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground which they have been sharing along with five-time champs Bakewell Topp XX.
The focus in the past days has been on physical preparations while technical and tactical work will be fine tuned this week.
Forward Randolph ‘Blackhead’ Jerome and defender Brion Baker, both senior national players based in Trinidad and Tobago along with St. Lucia based defender Neive Dennis and local Ossie Hale are their loan players.
These players will compliment the local stalwarts; Michael Rose, Captain Marlon Maxius, Derrol Dainty, Trevor Tudor, Randy Jerome younger brother of Randolph, Deon Grandison, Jermaine Mc bean and Ray Bob-Semple.
Grove’s Assistant Coach Hawley Cossou is of the view that they will give a good account of themselves come Sunday afternoon.
“We are very focused on the job ahead of us with the guys well aware of what they various roles are as team members. This tournament is very important for us not only as a club but for the sport on the East Bank as a whole and we intend to represent.”
Ronald Barker, Keshwan Blackman, Troy Johnson and Kevin Rose are the loan players Grove has drafted in to help them achieve their goal of upsetting the more fancied Milerock.
Their regular players are Rondell Allen, Romel Matthews, Dexter Archer, Orson Francois, Marvin Squires, John Matthews, Dominic Garnett, Sherman Doris and Kevin Allen. Head Coach is Dennis “Chow’ Hunte.

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