Fyzabad Composite begin the defence of their 2004 South Zone RBTT Intercol title against Princes Town Senior Secondary in the first match of a double-header at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella today.
This season "Fyzo" failed to build on the previous year’s success as they struggled with inconsistency all season long and finished the season in fifth place just as they did last year.
While they boasted victories over Vessigny and St Benedict’s, they were only able to muster a solitary point in two matches against lowly Moruga.
Team manager Eric Lange is convinced that if his team is to repeat as South Zone champs, they must perform to their ability more consistently and would require huge efforts from their forwards Bevon Dass and Andre Quashie.
After a promising start to the season, Princes Town have fallen on hard times and have limped to the finish of the season with a three-match losing streak.
Despite their recent struggles, team manager Louis Bobcombe insists his team would be "no walkover" in Intercol but admits that it would require a team effort if they were to turn around their season and advance deep into this year’s tournament.
The second match of today’s double-header renews one of the biggest rivalries in schools football with Presentation College coming up against league champs Naparima.
Presentation, once among the elite of secondary schools football teams, have fallen off lately and spent the last two seasons in the doldrums of the senior division.
They return to the championship division next year after winning the senior league and will get their first taste of Intercol football in two years as they battle "Naps" today.
A team who had an unbeaten season capped off by winning the "Big 5" title less than a week ago should not be overly concerned about playing against a senior grade team.
This is different.
"Pres" is not your typical underachieving eight seeded team. They too boast an undefeated 2005 season (albeit against much weaker opponents) and in a friendly encounter two Saturdays ago, the boys from Carib Street left a bad taste in the mouths of Naparima faithful when they unofficially handed them their first defeat of the season.
Naparima team manager Richard Nagaur said that the team is "confident but not overconfident" going into first round match against "Pres".
He insists that they have a score to settle with the senior grade champs and are approaching the match seriously knowing that Pres would be on a high after getting the better of their team in the friendly.
Presentation College Technical Co-ordinator Terrence Boissiere describes his team as being "quietly confident" going into today’s encounter and is hoping for a win that would mean a lot to a school body recently starved of football success.
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