Defending champions Jamaica College (JC) and Tivoli Gardens will clash in the opening match of the ISSA/Manning Cup competition at National Stadium, setting the stage for a pulsating start to the season.

Match time is 6:00 pm.

JC, who defeated Kingston Technical 8-7 on penalties to win the title last year, will be aiming for their 32nd lien on the Corporate Area’s most prestigious schoolboy football trophy.

However, they are expected to face a tough challenge from Tivoli, who are the reigning Walker Cup Knockout champions, in today’s highly anticipated clash.

Davion Ferguson, head coach of JC, said they are expecting a very fierce contest, but he is confident that in the end they will come away with all three points.

“To be honest, I have not seen Tivoli, but I know that they have a very good team because last year they won the Walker Cup Knockout competition, which is an achievement for them,” said Ferguson.

“I know that they have injected some new players into their programme over the last 12 to 18 months and it is actually bearing serious fruits now,” he said.

“I think any game against Tivoli, and especially the opening game, will be a difficult one and it will be a challenging one, but it is not something that we are not too perturbed about. We are basically focusing on ourselves and trying to get our preparation right for the duration of the season and not just for one game,” Ferguson said.

He noted that they have retained 13 members of their squad that won the competition, four of whom were regular starters.

“A lot of our players would have been getting minutes, whether last year with us or at the Under-16 level or other competitions that were playing throughout the country,” Ferguson said.

“We also have a few young national Under-15 players who would have equipped themselves well and would have made a name for themselves, and so those are the players that we really have and those are the players that we will depend on,” he pointed out.

On the other hand, head coach of Tivoli Christopher Nicholas said they are aiming for a positive result against JC as they fear no team in the competition.

“We are looking forward to a successful game because we have a very strong team, and so we just want the youngsters to go out there and express themselves against JC,” said Nicholas.

“We are very confident because the youngsters understand what is at stake this year and they know what exactly that we want from this season.

“They have been doing well in training because we have played a couple of practice games and I am very pleased with their execution, and so we are feeling very upbeat going into this season,” Nicholas noted.

He pointed out that they have a very rounded team entering this year’s championship, which includes 13 members of last year’s squad.

Meanwhile, the other teams in Group B are Cumberland, Kingston Technical, Meadowbrook, and Spanish Town.