Cornell Chin-Sue returns to top form

I have watched the career of Cornel Chin-Sue ever since he was a schoolboy at Charlie Smith Comprehensive, now turned high, school. At the time, everybody was talking about the 1995 Manning Cup team, brimming with talent and arguable one of the best schoolboy football teams ever assembled.

The talk of the town on that team was Kevin ‘Pele’ Wilson, and to a lesser extent, the pace of Kwamie Richardson down the flank was also something to mention.

However, the man I noticed was the light skilled midfielder, who quietly went about the business of passing his opponents out of the game. As a central midfielder, I was amazed at how attacking minded he was, spraying passes that had not other end but the back of his opponents net.

After moving on to the Arnett Gardens Premier League team, I looked to see if the young man’s talent would have been recognised. Of course, the poster boy, Kevin Wilson, had always been ahead of Chin-Sue in the eyes of many and was not surprisingly, first to break into the national team. While that was going on, Chin-Sue was getting on with the business of helping Arnett Gardens to titles, as he won the Premier League twice, while going to the final, when the League used to be ended with a final, three times.

In 2001, Chin-Sue and his ‘gang’, beat Waterhouse and in a repeat, in 2002. It was only in the final against hazard in 2003 that Arnett finally gave up their dominance of the Premier League.

After that, Chin-Sue began to get the notice he deserved and made the national squad, playing in a few games here and there before a knee injury affected his fitness.

Since that time, the midfielder has not shown much, he was resigned to the bench under coach Max Straw for most of this season but in the Kingston and St. Andrew Football Association Jackie-Bell Knockout semi-final at Harbour View recently I was pleasantly surprised.

There was Chin-Sue, pulling strings for Arnett and although they lost 1-nil, it was not for lack of effort on his part.

In the first half of that game, Chin-Sue controlled the middle of the park and made activities for Waterhouse more than a little difficult. When the game got tough in the second-half Chin-Sue turned defender after one of his players had to leave the field injured.

Even from this position he made admirable forays into the opponents half when his team tried to mount counter-attacks. What was most impressive was seeing Chin-Sue running at defenders again.

If he continues like this, and Arnett has awakened in the last few games, you have to look out. As a matter of fact, though it is safe to say they won’t win the league this season, Arnett should be the team with the strongest finish. One of the reasons for this is the return of Jerome Waite, who has put his faith in the now aging midfielder, and Chin Sue is delivering, as a matter of fact, so good has his performances been, that he could easily be the midfielder of the third round.