Bell...this is a tournament to look forward to.
While the aim is to gauge the readiness of players, Neville "Bertis" Bell says the focus around the St George’s College Cup, is also to raise and nurture their aspirations and expectations for the upcoming schoolboy football season.
That he said, not only goes for his team, but for the other coaches who are using the invitational tournament, which started in 2011, as part of their preseason preparations to improve their chances of rural, urban and possibly, all-island supremacy later this year.
For this year's staging of the two-day event, host St George’s College will square off against Manning Cup semi-finalist Mona High, beaten daCosta Cup finalist, Central High, as well as Christiana High.
Action is scheduled to begin om Saturday at Winchester Park, with Central High opposing Christiana at 2:00pm, while Mona and St George’s will lock horns at 4:00pm.
On Sunday, Mona and Central High will do battle at 2:00pm, with St George’s and Christiana to meet in the 4:00pm feature contest.
"Interestingly, we have never repeated a team from the very first year until now...new teams every year. Central High are beaten daCosta Cup finalist, Christiana did well, Mona got to the semi-final last year and St George’s College were fifth overall. So the tournament is important for us and the other teams because it provides the opportunity for coaches to take a better look at players that they maybe not certain of and its close enough to the season to take it fairly seriously," Bell told SportsMax.tv.
"Maybe long ago coaches started to look at compositions of their teams, but tournament like these really gives us an opportunity to zoom in on some stuff because we are playing against quality teams, so it helps to gauge players readiness," he added.
All four teams are expected to walk away with something from the tournament, sponsored Derrimon Trading through their Refresh Water product.
The winner will pocket $100,000 and the runner-up $70,000, while the third and fourth-placed teams will receive $50,000 and $40,000 for their efforts respectively.
St George's are defending champions, with Jamaica College, Wolmer's Boys and the National Under-17 team, among previous winners.
"We feel it is a tournament to look forward to, just a couple of games, but even if you don't win, you still come out with something to go towards your programme," Bell said.
"I don't know about the other teams, but we have a good crop, we retained about 14 or 15 players who played Manning Cup last year and six or seven of those are starters. So we are not in a bad position, but it's pre-season so we will have to wait and see how we perform," he ended.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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