Tigers, Malick eye Intercol doubles

THE “Westmoorings Tigers” St Anthony’s and Malick will be seeking to retain their respective RBTT Intercol crowns at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo today. St Anthony’s will oppose the “Dial Dynamos” Arima in the national final, the feature match of today’s doubleheader from 4.30 pm, while Malick will meet Diego Martin Secondary in the Trinidad Girls’ final from 2.45 pm. Winners of today’s Girls’ encounter will square off against the Tobago champs for the national title on  a date to be announced. The Tigers and Arima met once before this season, with St Anthony’s needing a sudden-death “golden goal” to defeat the Arimians 2-1 on October 25 to retain the Coca-Cola Big 5 crown. During this 2003 season, the Tigers also retained the North Zonal Championship, but they relinquished their North Zonal Intercol title, losing 2-1 to QRC in their final on November 7.

Arima, who have dedicated this season to their late striker Dwight “Splash” Lewis, have lifted both East Zonal Championship and Intercol trophies. Led by coach Nigel Grovesnor and captain Julius James, St Anthony’s will be eyeing their third Intercol crown, following their 2-1 win over St Benedict’s in 1997 (under captain Carlos Edwards) and their memorable 6-0 thrashing of Naparima (under James’ captaincy) last year. Surprisingly, Arima have never won a national title, with the closest being in 1991 when their semi-final against St Benedict’s was abandoned after crowd trouble forced an early end to the match (with Arima leading 2-1 in extra- time). The La Romain-based squad filed an injunction against the Secondary Schools Football League following the awarding of the match to Arima, and the tournament was eventually cancelled that year.

Anyway, key players for the St Anthony’s lineup today are James, fellow midfielders Clevon George, Troy Thompson, Kevon Neaves and Christian Cabral, goalkeeper Keegan Davidson, striker Abiola Sandy and defender Yohance Marshall, all members of the 2002 Tigers squad. And Arima, under the guidance of coach Kerry Jamerson, will pin their hopes on the strike trio of Gorean Highley, Dorian Daniel and Devon King, as well as hardworking defenders Jammiel Smith and captain Jesse Martinez. The girls’ Intercol final will involve four national players against each other, with captain Nadia James, Tanekar Alexander and Nyasha Reyes wearing the Malick’s traditional blue and black colours while striker Maylee Attin-Johnson will lead the Diego Martin’s quest for an upset victory. Malick, who trounced St George’s 5-0 in last year’s inaugural Trinidad final, eased past Providence 4-0 in the semifinals on Thursday last while Diego Martin edged “the Georgians” 4-3 in the other semi.