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<p>The Corporate Area schoolboy Digicel Manning Cup football competition begins on Saturday (Sept. 9) with defending champions Kingston College (KC) taking on former winners Excelsior in the official opening of the tournament at Montego Bay Sports Complex at 5:00 pm.</p>
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<p>It
will be one of seven contests that will be played on the opening day, which
will have matches in Group D, Group F and Group G.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/09/football-Manning-Cup-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-7804" /></figure>
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<p>The
official opening match between KC and Excelsior is the only encounter for Group
G, however, the other two groups will have the full slate of three matches.</p>
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<p>A
total of 44 teams will start the season. They are divided into seven groups
with two having seven contestants and the other five comprising of six.</p>
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<p>Each
group has two teams that are favoured to dominate the rest of their opponents,
but the predictions can be totally wrong with schoolboys.</p>
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<p>It
is expected to be a fiercely contested season with traditional kingpins,
Jamaica College (JC), KC, St George’s College and Wolmer’s favoured to lift the
title.</p>
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<p>However,
waiting to spring a few surprises are former champions Excelsior as well as
Holy Trinity, who are knocking on the door in recent years, but have not been
able to break through to get their first title.</p>
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<p>Like
Holy Trinity, 1987 champions St Andrew Technical (STATHS) have also been
consistent in the past few seasons, as they have maintained a presence in the
semi-finals.</p>
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