Tonight the Enmore Community Centre ground will come alive on the second day of judgment in the 21st Kashif and Shanghai Football Tournament when a double header kicks off at 6pm.
The night begins with Netrockers, playing out of Linden, coming up against Bakewell Buxton Stars on their home territory, then from 8pm the Fruta Conquerors team will clash with Victoria Kings who will also be playing at home.
Stabroek Sport was able to contact a few of the coaches prior to the encounter and they were each confident that their team would put on a good performance today.
Coach of Fruta Conquerors Sampson Gilbert commented that his team is looking quite organized going into the matchup today since they have been putting in a lot of work by having training sessions twice daily.
Gilbert added that he was not satisfied with the fitness because as a coach, it is not where he wants it to be. However, he stated that they have worked on multiple other areas to develop a well-rounded capacity since they are lacking somewhat in the fitness aspect.
“We have a very youthful side but some players returned and there is the experience there now and we are confident of a successful game. We will be looking to impose ourselves on the opposition and try to be in control of the game on offence and defence,” Sampson stated. On the other hand, Victoria Kings’ Everal Mundy said the Victoria Kings squad would have loved for a bit more preparation time since they were affected by the inclement weather.
He said: “We have worked on our fitness since the field was soggy but when we got a dry period we were able to get in some team organization. However, I think with the practice we got from the Super League we are still well prepared.”
The team is quite an experienced side with Quacy De Souza and Sherlock Dowding leading the defence, Calvin Do Souza working in the midfield and Winston Pompey and Rawlston Morrison attacking.
Linden’s Netrockers are the only team from the mining town that never took a Kashif and Shanghai title despite having a few good tournament runs.
They exited the 2009/2010 tourney playing against their Linden counterparts Bakewell Top XX in a nail-biting encounter at the Mackenzie Sports Complex Ground. It is a safe bet that they will be expecting to give a good account in their first encounter.
Their opponent tonight is Bakewell Buxton Stars who, according to coach Sherry Abrams, are rearing and ready to go. Abrams said, “We are fully prepared, we have been training over a month and will be relying heavily on our fitness.”
She added that they are much more prepared to participate than in the previous two years and the strengths of the team will be playing as a unit because the guys are ready to cover for each other.
Abrams said that in their preparation they had a few practice games and the systems implemented had brought them success.
