Glittering Cup tour ‘Flows’ into St Elizabeth
THE build-up to the lucrative $2.5 million ISSA/Flow Super Cup continued at St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS), when quad-play telecommunications provider, Flow visited the Santa Cruz-based institution on Wednesday.
The Omar Wedderburn-coached team were left brimming with confidence following the unveiling of the Italian-designed FLOW Super Cup, as they seek to reclaim their status as rural area kingpins.
The former daCosta Cup champions are already on the hunt to reclaim their title and by extension the newly designed 24-lb Super trophy.
They accomplished the feat of being the only rural area team to get past the quarter-final round in the inaugural staging last year, following a 5-0 whipping of Denham Town and a 2-1 win over Camperdown in advancing.
However, the blue and yellow clad team dubbed “The Crocodile” by their coach were dumped from the semi-finals going down 1-3 to eventual champions Jamaica College.
But having obtained a close view of the glittering trophy, STETHS are again expected to prove formidable during their campaign in the second staging of the lucrative tournament.
The ISSA/Flow Super Cup is scheduled to kick off tomorrow and will continue through to November 14 and will feature the top-eight teams from the Manning Cup and another eight from the daCosta Cup competition.
The four-week knockout competition will contest fixtures at three venues across the island — Sabina Park and National Stadium in Kingston and the Montego Bay Sports Complex. The winners will walk away with $1 million as they did last year, but there would be more incentives for teams taking part this season.
In addition to the full kits, including football boots this year, each team will get $25,000 for taking part in the first round; teams advancing to the quarter-finals will get an additional $50,000, while the four semi-finalists will each earn another $100,000.
The two finalists will get $200,000 with the winner getting an additional $625,000, which will add up to the million-dollar prize and a brand new trophy.
This year the losing semi-finalists will share $275,000 between them, while the leading scorer will receive a $100,000 scholarship.
The draw for the first round was due to be held yesterday with the competition kicking off tomorrow with triple headers in Montego Bay and Kingston.