The Defence Force Elite team finished off its 2025 T&T Premier Football League (TTPFL) season with an unblemished record and two titles to show for it.
After clinching the Tier I crown with matches to go, the Defence Force Elite shut out their colleagues- the Defence Force Tier II team, 2-0 in the final of the First Citizens (FCB) Cup Thursday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain.
A brace from Shaquille Bertrand silenced the battling Tier II Army unit, which comprised mainly of players who were in the Tier I team last year.
Assistant coach Devorn Jorsling told the media last week that he expected their toughest match from their colleagues, who had beaten four Tier I teams on their way to the final.
With the win, the Tier I team copped the cash prize of $100,000 and the trophy, while the Defence Force Tier II walked away with $50,000.
After the match, Kelshall Alexander, the Tier II coach, said he was proud of his players and team for the performance on the night, saying there was no big gap between the teams.
“I think the better team won on the night. Football won in the end. We were expecting the game to be tough, and I thought we would have had a chance to get the edge on fitness, but it seemed they were fitter than us, which was expected because football was all they did here, while our players and staff still had to work before we could play football,” Alexander said.
The Defence Force Elite were without some of their key players, such as defender Justin Garcia, who scored in a 1-1 tie with Haiti last night in the Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States and Canada. They were also without the services of midfielders Kaihim Thomas and Kevin Molino, as well as defender Isaiah Garcia.
