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Cavalier, Mount Pleasant hunt JPL glory - Clubs heap ‘favourites’ tag on each other heading into championship showdown
May 22, 2025
The Jamaica Premier League (JPL) finals Trilogy takes centre stage this Friday at the National Stadium between defending champions Cavalier and last year's runners-up Mount Pleasant Football Academy, starting at 7 p.m., and both camps are labelling the other as favourites.
Cavalier qualified with a 2-1 aggregate victory against Arnett Gardens F.C. in the two-way semi-finals, after tying the first leg 1-1 at Montego Bay Sports Complex, then winning the return contest 1-0 on Sunday at Sabina Park. Mount Pleasant defeated Montego Bay United 1-0 in the first leg, then tied the second leg 1-1 to advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Cavalier supremo Rudolph Speid pointed out that his opponents have spent millions to assemble an incredible team, with some of the best players in the region.
However, he noted that Cavalier have quality of their own and will not back down.
"If you look at our opponents they have spent millions of dollars. They have searched for all the best players in the Caribbean and from across the world that they can get," he said.
"They have specialists from England that they have flown down and they have one of the best coaching staff that money can buy in Jamaica," he added.
Speid also noted that Mount Pleasant were far superior to any other team in the league, finishing with 93 points, 13 clear at the top. They also scored 94 goals, 20 more than any other team and concede 21 goals, four less than the second best defensive team, in Portmore United. For these reasons, he says this makes them obvious favourites for the title.
"But we are Cavalier. Everybody knows what that means. We are not going to back down. When we look from last year and the progress that each team was making, we always thought that it was going to be the trilogy with us and Mount Pleasant," he stated.
With their gruelling season well documented, Speid believes they've managed well to get to the final, and is calling for one last 'Herculean effort' from his players.
"We have played 56 games. The next one will make it 57 in the last 10 months. There is a thing called periodisation and you have to know how to manage it and I think we have managed that successfully," he assessed.
"Sometimes when we are on our last legs, the boys have been able to find a way. Our bench is not deep, there are a lot of inexperienced players. So most of the times we have to use about 14 players on our way to the championship.
"So whoever is here now, we will have to try and patch them up and come with one last Herculean effort on Friday," he said.
INTERNATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Mount Pleasant's technical director, Daveon Ferguson, says his opponents are favoured to win the title.
Ferguson argued that despite Mount Pleasant's dominance of the regular season, Cavalier's accomplishments on the international scene supersede theirs.
"Personally, I wouldn't say that we are favourites," he told STAR Sports. "I think the stats say otherwise. Locally we have dominated the space in terms of the table, but Cavalier have gained regional recognition. They are Caribbean Cup champions. So for me that trumps what happens locally."
Both teams have employed contrasting styles of play, with Cavalier using a more transitional, counter-attacking style, while Mount Pleasant have been much more possession-based.
However, Ferguson said they are not fixed into any one way of playing, and that on the day they will look to employ the tactics that are most effective.
"We do not play one style. Whatever the occasion, we can rise to it. We are a very adaptable team. We can play the possession-based style and we can also play the transitional style," he analysed. "The key about any style is that you have to be defensively solid. That is a hallmark of whatever is to come.
"So what we want to do is play in the moment. If it is a situation where we need to employ a transitional style, then we can do it. And if it is a possession based style, we can do it."
Nevertheless, Ferguson believes the team that makes the best of their moments will be crowned champions.
"For us is not about being favoured or underdogs. It is about arriving in the moment at the final with the fans and players to really enjoy that moment and to make it a celebratory one," he pointed out.
"We respect the opponent and the threat they offer against any team, not just Mount Pleasant, on any given day. So it is about giving a last effort and make it an enjoyable one for our team and fans."
