Rural disappointment - Wedderburn looking to defend 'country' in Champions Cup

Omar ‘Rambo’ Wedderburn, head coach of St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), one of only two rural teams which advanced to the quarter-finals of the ISSA Champions Cup, expressed his disappointment in the performances of the other 'country' schools, but said they are looking to win the title for rural Jamaica.

STETHS defeated defending champions Kingston College 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 fulltime scoreline on Friday.

“Well, honestly I expected more country teams to qualify. I think it’s more a level playing field as you can see only three games were decided in fulltime. However, the fact of the matter is that it is what it is. Right now, we just have to concentrate on what we do and that alone. We cannot help the situation, so we just have to do what we do best and that’s to go out there, play and represent for country,” said Wedderburn.

With no rural team winning the Champions Cup's predecessor - the Super Cup since its inception in 2014 and the last stand alone Olivier Shield win coming in 2004 through Glenmuir, Wedderburn was asked about the ongoing debate around the quality of rural area schools in comparison to their urban counterparts.

He told STAR Sports he does not believe rural schools are inferior, and that it's a matter of who delivers on the day.

“I think the World Cup said it all. If you check it I think it’s the first the team that possesses the ball the most don’t usually win the game. So I don’t buy into this country and town theory because it’s the 90 minutes that determine who is the best,” said Wedderburn.

“I don’t really get into this conversation. I am always going to defend country because I am a full-fledged country born and who is from the city is going to defend town. So it is when match day comes… as it is now you cannot convince me that KC is a better playing team than STETHS. I don’t really buy into it on that wide scale,” he added.

Wedderburn said although they don’t yet know their opponent for the next round, they are preparing for the road ahead.

“We are just waiting on the draw to really make our plans going forward. You know regular training resumes but any tactical or strategic approach, we don’t do as yet, because we don’t know the opponent. We just focus on the basics until we can start conditioning our mind towards the opponents we have to face,” said Wedderburn. 

Cornwall College are the only other daCosta Cup team in the next round of the Champions Cup after their 3-2 (1-1) penalty shootout win over Wolmer's. Camperdown, Holy Trinity, Charlie Smith, Jamaica College, St George's College and St Andrew Technical are the other teams in the next round.