When Devorn Jorsling and Kareem “Tiny” Joseph first laid eyes on each other, Facebook was not yet invented and berries were a delicious snack not an omnipresent communication tool.
If they didn’t quite complete each other’s sentence, the Malick schoolboys and Morvant villagers certainly meshed on the football field. The scrawny Joseph hustled and created while the stocky Jorsling produced the end result.
But, tonight, only one of the pair will celebrate at the final whistle as Jorsling’s Defence Force and Joseph’s Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA meet from 8 pm in the First Citizens Cup final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
For 90 minutes, give or take extra time, their long standing friendship will be certainly on pause.
“As a footballer, playing in a Cup final is always a dream,” Joseph told Wired868.com. “It will be an exciting game and fans can expect to see us play our normal way, which is attacking down the flanks and trying to keep possession through the centre.
“We won this competition last year and we want to keep it.”
Joseph might have extra reason for sentiment. The adventurous right back scored twice in the final last year when the “Eastern Lions” came from behind to edge T&TEC 2-1 in the First Citizens Cup final.
But don’t expect Jorsling to do his old friend or his childhood community any favours tonight.
“You can expect a fired-up Jorsling tonight,” said the prolific striker. “Last week, I don’t feel I had a good performance (in our semi-final win) against Rangers. My team looks to me for leadership and I aim to lead from the front.”
One is a mobile winger and the other a static centre forward; Jorsling and Joseph’s career paths have been as different as their footballing attributes.
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