The showdown between St Michael West and St Michael East could be the highlight of the Super 16 round of the David Thompson Memorial Football Classic, which enters the knockout phase this weekend.
Four matches are slated for tonight and the final four tomorrow night with six St Michael teams qualifying for the Final 16.
At a Press conference on Wednesday, tournament technical coordinator Mark “Bob”?Forde acknowledged that today’s 8 p.m. clash at Eden Lodge pitting St Michael West against St Michael East should be engrossing and exciting.
“This should be an excellent match. St Michael West was one of the teams that went through the preliminaries unbeaten. They had three wins and a draw while St Michael East were blanking all of their rivals by four clear goals before they were beaten by St Andrew. That should be a good game,”?Forde said.
In other matches tonight, St Joseph meet Christ Church East Central in a 6 p.m. kick-off while St Andrew oppose Christ Church East at 8 p.m. Both matches are scheduled for Silver Sands.
The opening match at Eden Lodge will feature St Michael Central and Christ Church West at 6 p.m.
Forde said there is a northern derby for fans with St Peter facing St Lucy tomorrow night at Speightstown at 8 p.m.
“These players come from teams like Cosmos, Checker Hall, Road View, Youth Milan, and therefore I expect this to be one of the top matches on Saturday with such rivalry at stake. This match will have a large crowd,” he said.
Forde said that the battle between St John and The City slated for tomorrow at Bayville should be riveting.
“St John started the tournament on a big note and have looked good but they will go into the round of 16 without their inspirational goalkeeper Bernard Howell, who was sent off in their last game. The City started slow but ended the prelims with a 5-0 victory over St Michael North East, so they will be one to watch,” he said.
Forde said he was happy with the quality of play in the tournament, which started five weeks ago on October 16.
A whopping 229 goals had been scored so far in the six zones named after former top players and officials Jerry Goddard, Victor “Gas”?Clarke, Reggie Haynes, Don Norville, Christie Smith and Ansyl Marquez.
Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett said the tournament, which is being held under the umbrella of the Constituency Councils, was proving to be a big success.
Blackett noted everything was on stream for the December 4 finals at Kensington Oval with free admission for fans. The final will be preceded by the third place playoff.
The minister said he was happy with the standard of play and the level of sportsmanship, adding that there had been no acts of ungentlemanly behaviour.