Two-time defending national champions Debe High School have a stiff challenge today against El Dorado East Secondary as both teams vie for the Secondary Schools Football League Girls National League final berth from 3.45 p.m.
El Dorado confirmed their victory atop the East Zone standings on the weekend and will now face Debe, who are unbeaten for three seasons, at San Juan North Secondary's Bourg Mulatresse Ground this afternoon.
Debe are riding high on confidence with national players, winger Kayla Taylor, goalkeeper Linfah Jones and Debe captain Patrice Vincent leading the way.
But El Dorado, the underdogs in this semi-final, will fancy their own chances, especially after Debe were held to a 2-2 draw by Point Fortin East Secondary on Thursday, the first time they dropped any League points since 2007.
Manager Clive Auguste, though, does not think there is a chink in the Debe armour.
"We're not really too perturbed about that," Auguste told the Express yesterday, referring to the draw with Point Fortin East. "But it's a wake-up call for us and for Linfah as well. "We expect to go right up to the finals. We have the confidence in the players," he added
Jones was almost late for the Point Fortin East clash last week, causing her to have a horrid first half. But Auguste is confident this will not happen a second time around.
Debe skipper Vincent is also expecting a victory for the four-time South Zone champions.
"The hardest team we had to play for any season was Point Fortin (East). There are a few national girls there as well. The competition in south is a lot stiff than north and Tobago. But we have trained hard (for this match), so we're ready."
The winner of today's encounter will face Tobago Zone champions Roxborough Secondary in the National League final, after Roxborough edged out North Zone champions St Francois Girls College on Sunday.
Sunday's SSFL Girls National League semi-final score:
Roxborough 3 (Natalia Benjamin 2, Share Guerra) St Francois 2 (Chelsea-Marie Spence, Andrea Fraser og)