All about Puerto Rico Islanders team

[Frank Cunha]

http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/64724.html

[BethlehemFC]

How will they be able to afford travel costs at the a-league level?

[Frank Cunha]

good question, with a little help from the government

[Thatslife]

does the new york titans play in the A-League?

[Frank Cunha]

not in the A-lEAGUE, they are a NFL-american football team

[Frank Cunha]

IMPACT WINS 2-0 IN PUERTO RICO


BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, April 25, 2004 — The Montreal Impact kicked off its 11th season in the A-League with a 2-0 victory against the Puerto Rico Islanders, Sunday, at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon. Eduardo Sebrango, on the rebound of a stopped penalty kick at the 32nd minute, and Patrick Leduc, on a converted PK at 56th minute, led the Montreal squad to victory.

Greg Sutton came up with the shutout against the expansion-team Islanders. The Impact goalkeeper shut out the opposing team 11 times last year, most in the A-League.

The Montreal squad therefore put an end to a four-game losing streak in season openers. The Impact has a lifetime 6-5 record in such games, all played on the road, except in 1994.

"It was very important for us to get the win in our season opener," said Sebrango. "It’s been a couple of years that we’ve had a slow start, but we had a good camp, and everybody was up for the challenge."

Nick DeSantis, for his part, picked up a win in his very first outing as Impact head coach.

"We wanted to score more goals and be more aggressive offensively, and that’s what we did today," said DeSantis. "But also, at the same time, everybody as a group defended well. We’re a team that wants to play, and we showed that today."

Sebrango scored the only goal of the first half by heading in the rebound from a penalty kick stopped by Andrew Nucifora. The Islander goalkeeper dove to his right to make the save on Mauro Biello’s shot. The Impact captain earned the PK after he was brought down in the penalty area while trying to take a shot on net.

Leduc gave the visitors a 2-0 lead by taking a low shot to the right of Nucifora on his PK. The referee awarded the penalty kick when David Fronimadis, coming through on the right wing, was fouled in the penalty area.

The Islanders had then been playing one man short for six minutes. Javier Alessandro Novarini was ejected at the 50th minute for a hard tackle on Leduc. In spite of being down to 10 men, the Islanders had their best moments of the game after the ejection, often buzzing around Sutton’s net.

"In the first half, the Islanders had trouble controlling us because we were playing with two forwards and Mauro (Biello) was creating space from the midfield," said DeSantis. "In the second half, they only kept two defenders back and pushed up, but we stuck to our game plan, which was to block the midfield as much as possible, and we were able to contain them."

The Impact will continue its present three-game road trip next weekend. Montreal will face the A-League champion Battery, Friday night in Charleston (7:30 pm), and will be in Atlanta on Saturday to face the Silverbacks (6 pm).

The Impact will then have two weeks off to prepare for its home opener at Claude Robillard Stadium, set for Sunday, May 16 at 4 pm against the Virginia Beach Mariners.

SOMMAIRE/GAME SUMMARY
Impact de Montréal 2
Puerto Rico Islanders 0

Stade Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium
Bayamon, Puerto Rico

Buteurs/Goal scorers:
32: MTL Eduardo Sebrango
56: MTL Patrick Leduc (PK)

Formations partantes/Starting line-ups
MTL: Greg Sutton, Gabriel Gervais, Adam Braz, David Fronimadis, Zé Roberto, Jason DiTullio, Mauro Biello (Antonio Ribeiro 75), Sandro Grande (Kyt Selaidopoulos 85), Patrick Leduc, Eduardo Sebrango, Nikola Budalic (Joel John Bailey 60).

PR: Andrew Nucifora, Javier Alessandro Novarini, Luis Fernando Zuleta, Christopher Gores, Alexis Rivera, Diego Deering, Raphel Ortiz, Hector Rivera (Angel Mussenden 81), Edivaldo Juninho Da Silva (Eddi Valdo 63), Martin Zapata, Mauricio Salles de Alencar

MTL : PR
Buts/Goals – 2:0
Tirs/Shots – 7:11
Arrêts/Saves – 4:5
Fautes/Fouls – 21:18
Hors-jeux/Offsides – 1:1
Corners – 4:7
Avert./Cautions - PR: A. Rivera (19), Novarini (40, 50), Gores (54) MTL: Grande (42), DiTullio (45)
Expul./Ejections: PR: Novarini (50)

Assist./Attend.: 8747

Arbitre/Referee
Joe Carrucio

Juges de touche/Linesmen
Antonio Lopez, Jimmy Tosado

4e officiel/4th official
Jesus Lebron

-30-

SOURCE:
bcomm

INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)

[Frank Cunha]

Scrappy Dogs salvage a 2-2 draw
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Staff reports
San Juan, Puerto Rico - After 11 days away, coach Laurie Calloway and the Syracuse Salty Dogs are eager to get back home. They return on the heels of a very impressive visit to this tropical island.



Machel Millwood and Lars Lyssand each scored second-half goals as the undermanned Salty Dogs rallied for a 2-2 draw with the Puerto Rico Islanders before about 5,000 fans at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium. Calloway came away impressed.

"The players were magnificent," said the coach of the second-year A-League soccer franchise, which improved to 2-0-1 on the season. "It's a great performance."

Especially under the circumstances. Already trailing 1-0, Syracuse played the final 62 minutes of regulation and the two 10-minute overtimes with 10 players after defenseman Jason Perry received a red card in the game's 28th minute.

Perry, the last Syracuse player back, tackled an Islanders player inside the penalty box area, a major foul that warranted an immediate ejection. Calloway said he had no problem with the call. He inserted Millwood and Gary Mack at that point for some much-needed speed.

"We were trying to make them believe they could do it," said Calloway, whose Dogs scored a 2-1 win here Thursday. "The Millwood goal made us believe even more."

The Salty Dogs trailed 2-0 at the intermission, but Millwood's tally, in the 48th minute, helped energize them on another hot and humid night.

Lyssand, a midfielder, pulled Syracuse into a tie in the 55th minute. Eventually, however, the weather conditions and the loss of Perry left the Dogs, well, dog tired.

Syracuse opens the P&C Stadium portion of its schedule Saturday against the same Islanders.

It seems like three months," Calloway said of the long road trip. "It's been good for the purpose of bonding."

[Frank Cunha]

we didn't think to much of Puerto Rico, but it looks like they for real they tied Atalanta on Friday, today they won 2-0
I wonder if they still drawing like they did in the first games of the season

[Frank Cunha]

been a great success story special with 5,100 average attendance
not bad for a second division team

http://www.a-league.com/Teams/Puerto...slanders.shtml

[Deuce]

Wow didn't think they were drawing that well, if they keep that up I don't see why the MLS wouldn't look there in the future. If we are considering Toronto why not Puerto Rico.

[Frank Cunha]

I remember the first year they had a crap team, just imagine in the 3rd year if they have a good team

[Frank Cunha]

Puerto Rico to start 3rd season with a new coach
http://www.primerahora.com/noticia.a...BEBE660826A19E

[Frank Cunha]

1st game of the season
Puerto Rico -3-Atalanta Silverbacks-1
http://www.uslsoccer.com/stats/2006/116991.html

attendance 7,044 that's great for a II division team

[Frank Cunha]

2nd game of the season
Atlanta 1
@ Puerto Rico 1

[Frank Cunha]

5,182 in attendance for the second home game
Puerto Rico -1-Atalanta -1

http://uslpro.uslsoccer.com/home/129751.html