No school has ever successfully defended the ISSA Champions Cup, but holders Clarendon College (CC) are very keen on creating history by becoming the first school to do so.

Their head coach Lenworth “Teacher” Hyde admits that he would delight in retaining the title that they won for the very first time last season.

“It would be special to be the first school to defend the trophy but the way we are playing now I am confident that we are going to go out there and play good football. If we continue to play how we are playing and nullifying the mistakes on the pitch I think we can get good results.”

Clarendon College are in the reckoning to win three titles, but Hyde says that they are not pressuring the boys to do so.

“We don’t want to pressure the players, saying we have to this, we have to that, we just want them to go out there and have fun and play football,” he explained.

He said that he has been sensitising his players about the need to win at this stage of the season.

“We have to win games now; you can’t lose a game now. We have been telling the players that from three weeks ago, that every game now is a final and every game we have try and win them.”

“I think the longer the season goes on, the more they understand how to play. They are technically good but to understand the system and how we want the ball to move, everybody is following.

“They are very disciplined, they listen well, they practice hard and that helps my coaching so it’s not a hard task for me. I have a good trainer, so they understand everything that I want from them on the pitch.”

CC has been playing some really good football while remaining unbeaten in the DaCosta and Hyde can’t wait to expose his team to football fans in Kingston when they begin their title defense against the much talked about Mona High at Sabina Park on Saturday starting at 4:00pm.

“We are ready for the challenge. We are ready to play some good football on this stage. We have been playing in the daCosta Cup down in the rural parts, so it’s good to see us in Kingston so that we can showcase our skills and our talent and how we have been playing. We would like all of Jamaica to come out and see how we perform,” he said.

Having played Mona in preseason and seen them play during the current Manning Cup campaign, Hyde is eager to see how his team will match up against them again.

“It will be good for our team, and it will also be good for the Mona team, so the spectators can see a beautiful game of football on Saturday,” he promised.

“We are looking forward to that. It’s gonna be competitive and the challenge that we will be getting from Mona, it will be great for my team to lift our moral and lift our game, how we plan to play and how we want to play, and the better team will win on the day,” he continued.

“I have been seeing them play and it’s a quality team. Mr Butler is a good coach, and he knows the football, so we are expecting a tough game from them,” he admitted.

This match will precede the game between former champions Kingston College and first timers Central High which is set to begin at 6:15pm.

Both matches are play to the finish and will go directly to penalty kicks if the scores are tied at the end of regulation time.

lat