Jermaine Lannaman, Freelance Writer

THE OPENING ceremony of the 2008 ISSA Manning and daCosta Cup football competitions could be cancelled due to a clash with Jamaica's second round World Cup qualifying fixture against Mexico at the National Stadium on Saturday, September 6.

"The situation has thrown a spanner in our wheels and, as such, we will have to reconsider," said George Forbes, competitions officer of ISSA. "We will now have to sit down with our sponsors and come up with a way forward."

Increased numbers

The competition was slated to start on September 6 with an increased number of teams in both competitions. According to Forbes, this increase is the result of a return of a few schools and the signing up of some new ones. He also said that none of the competing teams from last year had expressed a desire to withdraw from either competition.

Jamaica College are the defending Manning Cup champions, while Garvey Maceo High hold the daCosta Cup crown.

Qualifying rounds

Jamaica are down to face Canada in Canada on August 20 in their opening fixture of the semi-final round of the qualifying campaign before playing host to Mexico. They will then play away to Honduras four days later on September 10.

In the second round of the qualifiers, they will play away to Mexico on October 11 before hosting Honduras on the 15th and closing out their campaign with a home match against Canada on November 19.