Entering their third consecutive Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final, the focus for Mount Pleasant Football Academy will be to bring the national title back to St Ann, to solidify their status as the hub for footballing development in not just Jamaica but the entire Caribbean region.
Mount Pleasant will face Cavalier for the third year in a row in the JPL final when they take to the field today at the National Stadium, with kick off set for 7 p.m.
The St Ann massive had walked away with the title in 2023 but were turned back when Cavalier won the crown in 2024.
For Mount Pleasant, the goal will be to reclaim their lost crown and they will be looking towards a squad filled with multinational talents to do so.
Speaking with The Gleaner last month, Mount Pleasant sporting director Paul Christie had described the team’s players as proof of their work in the region.
He said the goal for Mount Pleasant is to become a hub of football development in the Caribbean region.
“What we are doing at Mount Pleasant is that we’re trying to create a central hub to develop talents in the region so that our region is more competitive at the world stage,” Christie told The Gleaner.
“We’re based in Jamaica but we’re not limited to just Jamaica, as we’re looking at Caribbean and Central American talents.”
Chief among there multinational squad is their Haitian core of players, including Jeudy Johnson, Angelo Exilus and the teenaged talents Franco Celestin and Emerson Liasse.
Celestin had proved pivotal in their run to the final as he scored the all-important goal for Mount Pleasant in the second leg of their semi-finals against Montego Bay United to propel them into the final.
Leading the lines for this core of players will be former national head coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, who will be looking to outfox the widely experienced Rudolph Speid of Cavalier.
Before the duo meet, however, the JPL third-place play-offs will open the double-header at the National Stadium with Montego Bay United taking on Arnett Gardens.
The third-place play-off is set to kick off at 4 p.m.