Howard Walker, Staff ReporterDEFENDING CHAMPIONS Portmore United will put their Red Stripe Champions Knockout Cup title on the line against Tivoli Gardens at the National Stadium at 6:00 p.m. today.
In a curtain-raiser at 4:00 p.m., Jamaica's national under-20 female team takes on a Sherwin Williams Women's All-Star aggregation.
With a winning prize of $600,000 up for grabs and $400,000 set for the loser, both camps are oozing with confidence of copping the major slice of the KO Cup purse.
Paul Young, coach of in-form Portmore, is confident of retaining the title, but won't be taking his opponents lightly.
Said Young: "We are just as confident as any other game and will be coming focussed and hopefully we can defend our trophy.
"Tivoli are a good team, they always play well against us, but we are going to work hard and we won't take them lightly because it is a final and anybody can win," he said.
TIVOLI CONFIDENT
Meanwhile Brian Rose, manager of Tivoli Gardens, is equally confident after seeing his team put in some spirited efforts during training.
"We are as confident as can be because the only thing we can win is the Red Stripe Cup and we are in the final and just have to take it from there," said Rose.
"It's a big match-up. It's the final and Portmore are the form team, but that won't perturb us. Over the past two weeks we have been putting in some extra work hoping that it will pay off. One leg has paid off in that we have reached the final, the second leg is to win the Cup," he said.
The competition started in January with 26 teams from across the island and now it's down to two after four rounds of exhilarating action.
Tivoli Gardens had the easier of passage to the final, playing only one Premier League team in the process.
They brushed aside Tafari Lions of St. Elizabeth 5-2 on aggregate and KSAFA's Super League outfit Maverley/Hughenden 9-2 on aggregate.
Then in the semi-finals, they outscored their arch rivals Arnett Gardens 3-2 at the National Stadium.
The orange and black-clad Tivoli will be without Jameel Thompson, who is out for the rest of the season with a broken foot.
DOUBTFUL
National players, Fabian Davis and Jermaine Johnson are doubtful as is the energetic Waheem Walker.
Tivoli will depend on Edsel Scott, Kasai Hinds, Victor Thompson, Oraine Simpson, Craig Stewart, Roland Dean, Nicholas McCreath, Carlton Young and Christopher Nicholas to carry them to victory.
The red-hot Portmore United should start favourites and rightly so. The St Catherine-based team have had the harder task, facing only Premier League opponents.
They got the better of Village of Trelawny 5-0 , KSAFA's Harbour View 4-3 and Waterhouse 3-1.
The defending champions will be at full throttle through the likes of Omar Daley, Kevin Deerr, Wolry and Kemeel Wolfe, Anthony Modeste, Jason Morrison, Tyrone and Shawn Sawyers.
In three meetings so far this season between the teams, two were drawn with Portmore winning the other.
