Only one ISSA/LIME Manning Cup will be on today, and it’s a massive one.

As Group B favourites, Charlie Smith and Excelsior High clash at Mountain View today starting at 3:30 pm.

Charlie Smith lead the group with maximum six points following 1-0 and 11-0 wins over Mona High and Cumberland High, respectively.

Excelsior, on the other hand, were surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw by Cumberland before blanking Vauxhall High 2-0 to be on four points.

Both Charlie Smith and Excelsior are expected to advance to the second round of the Manning Cup, but beyond that, today’s encounter holds another mouth-watering prospect.

Only the winner of the group will be eligible for the $1 million LIME Super Cup, and in the case of Excelsior who have dropped two points already, today’s game will be of paramount importance.

The Mountain View Avenue-based school can ill afford to slip further behind their main rivals, and Lebert Halliman-coached aggregation will have to step up a notch to slow down the high-riding ‘Charlie’.

Charlie Smith will be on a high following their 11-0 mauling of Cumberland, a team that Excelsior failed to beat. That should give the Jerome Waite-coached unit the psychological edge.

“Despite Excelsior drawing with Cumberland that doesn’t mean much. Once they play Charlie Smith it will be a different game and I expect a competitive match,” Waite told the Jamaica Observer.

“Charlie Smith and Excelsior are always rivals and with two competent coaches, so I expect a good tactical game,” he added.

Based on current form, Charlie Smith will start favourite, but Excelsior — last season’s beaten Walker Cup finalist — will be no pushover, both quality sides setting the stage for a most intriguing early-season game.

However, coach Halliman is not too excited about his school’s chances having only retained just three starting players, plus being hobbled by a lack of resources and injuries to key players.

“I am not even expected to come out of the group. We drew with a team that Charlie Smith gave eleven,” noted Halliman, one of the most successful schoolboy coaches in the business.

The coach, who led STATHS to the 1987 title and Excelsior to back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004, said the poor surface at Cumberland hampered his team’s chances and also caused injuries to two players who are unable to play today.

“We are in the rebuilding mode, so we are just going to go there and play by our school motto (Age Animo, Do It With Thy Might),” said Halliman.