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Mount Pleasant determined to claim first Concacaf Caribbean title - St Ann team take 1-0 advantage into return-leg final against Dom Rep’s Universidad O&M
December 02, 2025
Mount Pleasant Football Academy take a 1-0 advantage into their Concacaf Caribbean Cup second-leg final against Universidad O&M at the National Stadium this evening at 7.
The St Ann team dominated the competition from the very start, notching up an impressive and unbeaten run throughout the preliminaries without conceding a goal. Their only blip came in the return final four stage matchup, then they had all but cemented their spot in the final following a huge win in the opening tie.
For the final, the advantage is not hefty. Still, Mount Pleasant's assistant coach Davian Ferguson said they will not go into the game looking to protect their meagre advantage. The intention, he said, is to beat their Dominican Republic opponents again and claim their first hold on the trophy.
"We are not really thinking about the aggregate score. It's a new game and our focus is fixed on this game and trying to win this game," Ferguson said.
"We (coaches) have said to the team continuously; 'we are leading the tie but the job is not finished'. So they (players) have to stay calm, disciplined and in control. And we want to stay true to our identity because we have one aim and that is to finish the job."
Universidad O&M upset their more fancied league rivals in the Dom Rep, Cibao FC - who are 14 points ahead in their local competition - to secure their spot in the final.
Given that their backs are against the wall, Ferguson expects the Dominican Republic team to throw caution to the wind and come hard at them to get back into the tie.
However, he says they are prepared for all eventualities.
"We are not going to be complacent. O&M is a good team. Each time we have seen them they have improved. But we are ready, we are prepared. They will come and give it as much as they can. But it's a game we have to be ready for and ready to adapt to whatever they might bring," he reasoned.
This is the third time that the teams will be meeting this season. In the first match, Mount Pleasant won 2-0 during the preliminary stages, and in last week's first leg final Kimoni Bailey's early goal secured a 1-0 triumph.
The result represented a timely rebound for the Jamaica team, which had suffered their only defeat in the competition, the return-leg semifinal game the lost 1-0 against Defense Force FC from Trinidad and Tobago at the National Stadium. This came a week after Mount Pleasant had hammered them 5-1 in Trinidad.
Coaches for the St Ann team noted complacency may have set in for that return semifinal and they are keen to not let that happen again.,
"We are at home. We want to be aggressive. We don't want to sit back and rest on anything. But we are also mature enough to know how to manage these moments, these games. So while we are aggressive with the ball, there has to be some level of control and that is important for us in terms of how we want to play," said Ferguson, who shoulders tactical and technical responsibilities for the club with head coach Theodore Whitmore, former coach of Jamaica's senior national men's team.
Mount Pleasant played just three matches in the last month and a half, Ferguson believes the team showed no ill-effects from the lack of competitive fixtures, due to suspension of the Jamaica Premier League after the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
"We have a particular way in how we work, so we were never worried about not playing for a long period because our squad is as competitive as you find," he noted.
"What we have internally is competition for places, the sessions are really intense. We push ourselves sometimes more than certain opponents might push us. So we know we have enough quality inside, and because our training is really intense, we bring a high level of work to the pitch," Ferguson shared.
"But the game is what refines everything, and not having that, one can argue it took away a bit from the gloss of how we play. But whatever game the opponent brings we have to be adaptable and control all phases and dominate."
The Mount Pleasant team is loaded with quality, including Reggae Boyz Jahshaun Anglin, the team's key midfielder and striker Warner Brown, who returned from a long injury layoff to score in the semis. Raheem Edwards and Shaqueil Bradford have also been very prolific for the St Ann team, which has other strong midfielders in Daniel Green and Alex Marshall, and a strong backline that includes Jamoi Topey, Kyle Ming and goalkeeper Tafari Chambers.
"We have an objective. We have a focus," said Ferguson. "The objective was to be here (final) and we are here. Now the objective has to be to finish the job. And everyone is raring to go."
