DirecTV North East Stars will be favoured to get past South End in their First Citizens Cup qualifying match today at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya from 7 pm. Initially, a double-header was scheduled, with Tobago United and St Ann's Rangers being the other match, however, United was expelled from the Pro League for financial reasons on Thursday with immediate effect. As a result Rangers will go through, and will meet defending champion Defence Force in the quarterfinals.
Stars, the 2010 the Lucozade Sports Goal Shield winners, defeated South End 3-0 in both the league and Lucozade qualifying round and should come out on top again tonight to secure a quarterfinal date with bmobile Joe Public. South End on the other hand, reached the qualifying round after edging Police 2-1 in their qualifier playoff on September 3 at Macoya. Meanwhile the Ross Russell-coached Defence Force, also winners in 2002 and bmobile Joe Public were two of the six teams to automatically qualify for the quarterfinal round based on their position in the Digicel Pro League standings at the end of Round One.
The other clubs are W Connection, Ma Pau, San Juan Jabloteh and Caledonia AIA, in that order. IThe quarterfinal round of matches will be played on October 1 and 2 with the semifinal set for October 15 and the final, eight days later. The champion team will collect $80,000, an increase of $15,000 from last year while the runner-up gets $20,000, $10,000 less than last year. In addition, $1,000 each will be awarded to the tournament's winning coach, most valuable player and the top goal scorer.
Tournament Fixtures
Today
Qualifying round
Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya:
NE Stars vs South End, 6 pm.
Rangers vs Tobago Utd, 8 pm.
October 1 & 2:
Quarterfinal
Defence Force vs Rangers/Tobago–(A)
Joe Public vs NE Stars/South End–(B)
W Connection vs Caledonia–(C)
MaPau vs Jabloteh –(D)
October 15
Semifinals
A vs D
B vs C
October 23
Finals.
