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<p>Cumberland High School are looking to build on the success they achieved last year in the Corporate Area schoolboy football Manning Cup and surprise the football fraternity.</p>
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<p>Coach Kemar Brown and principal Darien Henry are confident that Cumberland will create a stir in the competition similar to last year when they advanced to the second round for the first time in the school’s history.</p>
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<p>Brown said: "The expectations for Cumberland are very high, based on the season that we had last year. We are trying to bring over the momentum into this season and see if it can actually make us qualify for the second round."</p>
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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>'This year we have another surprise in the bag.'</p><cite>— Principal Darien Henry</cite></blockquote>
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<p>Henry added: "My expectations are very high. I knew that Cumberland’s Manning Cup team would have surprised the entire football fraternity and the country in general. This year we have another surprise in the bag as we are going to be a team to be reckoned with. We have been working throughout the summer and we expect good performances from them.”</p>
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<p>According to Brown, he is confident that the team can earn a
place in the quarter-finals based on the work that has been put in over the
holidays.</p>
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<p>He said, “we are expecting to at least reach the
quarter-finals because we definitely have ourselves to come out of the zone and
we know what is required of us to come out. We are looking forward to the
quarterfinals and once we reach that stage we are looking forward to reaching
further than there.”</p>
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<p>Henry said, “based on the strategic plan the coaches and
I was looking at, we expect them to surpass the first and second rounds.
It’s a formidable team and there are other formidable teams and we know our
limitations but we know our strengths as well.”</p>
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<p>The confidence of both the coach and principal is boosted by
Cumberland getting positives results from the more than 20 practice matches
that they have played, which include beating Hydel 1-0 and losing 3-0 to Old
Harbour, 2-1 to defending champions Kingston College and 2-1 to Charlemont.</p>
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<p>While principal Henry admitted that Cumberland were
stretched for resources over the holidays, coach Brown said the players are
about 75 percent and on the right track for a successful season.</p>
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<p>Another boost for Cumberland is the retention of 15 players
from last year’s history-making squad.</p>
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<p>Brown, however, is wary of the other teams in Group A of
the competition, which is also made up of Holy Trinity, St Jago, Haile
Selassie, Bridgeport and Clan Carthy.</p>
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<p>According to Brown, the teams in the group are going to be
tough, as he believes that it will be the most competitive of the seven groups
with all the teams competent to deliver on match days. Brown, however, believes
that Holy Trinity and St Jago will be his main rivals from the group.</p>
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<p>He is expecting Nicholas Shorter, Christopher Morgan and
Javante Grant to bear the brunt of the workload for Cumberland.</p>
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<p>Brown said they have worked to build depth in the squad as
he believes it factored in their failure to sparkle after advancing to the
second round last year, with injuries affecting them.</p>
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<p>Brown said, “we are dedicated and committed to putting in
this work to actually qualify as front runners (from the group) because our aim
definitely also, is to play the Digicel Cup.”</p>
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