Pasion Naranja!

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*Islandersfc.net published a very interesting note regarding the officiating of the USL. Essentially what Eduardo Cantore says can be summed up as:

-The USL favors physical play vs talented ball movement, even with FIFA regulations clearly point in the opposite direction.

-There continues to be very inexplicable but consistent refereeing against the Islanders beyond what could be normally attributed to different referees, etc. It has left many fans and commentators wondering whether there is a desire by the league to hamper the Islanders’ performance on the pitch (particularly considering the controversial decision last year as to where the USL Final would be played).

You can read the note (Spanish) here: Islandersfc.net

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*Primera Hora published a note on Andres Cabrero’s performance in the match against Rochester last week. As we mentioned previously, Cabrero had an impressive performance as a starter. With last year’s league MVP, Jonathan Steele, still nursing an injury – Cabrero might be a regular in the starting lineup for a while. Even when Steele is back in full match form, we might see these two players competing for a spot in the starting 11. This isn’t only good for the young Puerto Rican star, but overall I think it’s a very good example of the extraordinary depth of the team.

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*The USL announced their ‘team of the week‘ honors on Tuesday. The week 3 honors included Islanders captain Noah Delgado for his effort in the 0-0 draw with Rochester last week. The players of the week honor went to Austin Aztex player Eddie Johnson with his 2 goals and 1 assist in the 3-0 win over Cleveland last Saturday.

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*The USL published a note on the Islanders’ and Whitecaps’ road to the Concacaf Champions League for 2009-2010. The Islanders received a bye to the semi-final round to be played May 15 in Trinidad. The draw for the semi-finals should take place early next week. The Whitecaps face the Toronto FC of the MLS next Wednesday May 6 for their first match of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. The winner of this championship will represent Canada in the next Concacaf Champions League. Last year’s honors went to the Montreal Impact.

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*Last but not least, MatchFitUSA continues with their USL-1 project. MFUSA is looking for a team to adopt as its own in the USL-1. The project is currently in its ‘semi-finals’ as you can see in the note. As Islanders supporters, please drop by the website and comment in favor of the Islanders! Time to show your colors.

The Islanders announced today that there will be a team ‘open day’ this upcoming Sunday, May 3rd – from 10:00 am to 2:00pm.

Fans will be able to see the players conduct training drills, tour the locker room, and take pictures with the players.

Apologies for the delay.

Sunday saw the two home teams securing their first wins of the season.

*Minnesota Thunder vs Carolina RailHawks

The RailHawks continued their unbeaten streak by defeating the visiting Minnesota Thunder for the second time in the season by a 1-0 margin. The Thunder continue to look for their first win of the season.

*Rochester Rhinos vs Miami FC Blues

The Rhinos had their first win of the season in Miami. The Blues fell by a 2-1 score. Ex-Islanders striker Taiwo Atieno was a constant concern for the Miami defence.

USL-1 action on Saturday night:

*Austin Aztex beat the visiting Cleveland City Stars 3-0, making it the first win in club history.

*Portland Timbers fell to the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-nil, it was the Whitecaps home opener and their first win of the season. Also, it was Portland’s season opener – the Portland supporter group, Timbers Army, was in full force visiting Swangard Stadium.

*The Islanders will be playing in the Caribbean Football Union club championship in May. The top 3 team earn berths into the 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League. So far 3 of the semi-finalist have been defined: PR Islanders, W Connection (Trinidad), and San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad). For an update on the quarter-finals you can visit: TheOffside

*A clarification note: the friendly we reported on earlier on Saturday against Guyanabo Fluminense was actually played for only 45 minutes. Heavy rain prevented the game from continuing. So yep, those 6 goals were all in what would have been the first half. Fabrice Noel scored 3 goals, Kendall Jagdeosingh scored 2, and Martin Nuñez scored 1.

More about this scrimmage here: TheOffside

More on the Puerto Rico – Rochester game:

Andres Cabrero

Something we forgot to mention in our post-match report earlier today was Andres Cabrero’s great permormance last night. Cabrero, just 20 years old, is a Puerto Rico National Team player who usually comes off the bench for the Islanders. Colin Clarke gave him a spot in the starting 11 last night and the young player made quite an impact on the game. Cabrero was all over the field yesterday and proved to be a key player in many of the Islanders’ goal opportunities. It was very encouraging to see the young Puerto Rican start get some more playing minutes and his impresive performance on the pitch. Definitley a player to keep an eye out for the rest of the season.

For more match analysis:

Islandersfc.net

TheOffside

Articles in Puerto Rico newspapers:

El Nuevo Dia

Primera Hora

Friday games

Montreal-Miami: Miami managed to get their second win of the season beating Montreal 2-1 in Miamia’s new home stadium. The Impact missed an important penalty kick in the 58th minute. Miami received the Rochester Rhinos tomorrow for their 3rd game of the season. More on the match here.

Minnesota-Carolina: The Minnesota Thunder are still looking for their first win of the season as they tied 1-1 at Charleston. The Battery would’ve had yet another scoreless match if not for a penalty kick in the 38th minute that Tsuyoshi Yoshitake managed to convert into a goal.  More on the match here.

Saturday friendly

Today at 10:30 am, the Islanders played a friendly against the Puerto Rico Soccer League side Guaynabo Fluminense. As expected, the Islanders dominated the entirety of the match. Guaynabo, is currently in its pre-season preparation for the second season of the Puerto Rico Soccer League. Final score: PR Islanders (6-0) Guaynabo Fluminense

Today, Kartik Krishnaiyer from MLS-Talk published an opinion piece regarding league parity in the USL-1. His main argument is that some USL-1 teams, the Islanders in particular, have opened up a ‘talent gap’ that is unhealthy for the league according to Krishnaiyer.

The commentator would have the USL look more like the MLS, to ensure “parity” – which would mean more centralized league control, salary caps, amongst other things. The point the author is missing is that all of those things are what many believe are driving MLS to the ground while the USL continues to flourish. While the MLS sides have an enormous advantage in terms of funds, most MLS clubs are not profitable while USL teams are quite successful in their markets.

MLS places much energy and effort into achieving league “parity” by having centralized control. This hampers the MLS clubs from pursuing the players and rosters they would like to sign, as the league prevents them from doing so. On the other hand, the USL-1 has no salary caps or limits in this regards. In theory, if the Islanders had the money and influence to buy players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Drogba, Messi, etc they could so so. What Krishnaiyer fails to address in his piece is that while this is possible, it is extremely unlikely. The USL-1 teams self-limit themselves by virtue of how much they coudl actually earn as an USL side in their respective markets. Why would the Islanders pay 20,30,40 million dollars for a star filled roster if they could never hope to bring in the revenue needed to be profitable?

The fact is that USL-1 sides are limited by the revenue they could bring in, and this regulates the league naturally. If a particular team reached a certain point of profitability, it would probably try to move to the MLS – as it could probably bring in more revenue.

Finally, why should the USL try to achieve parity in its league? To support the lower rung teams? In the USL, any team can become a serious contender with adequate team organization. The league’s system will naturally weed out teams that are not competitive and profitable – while bringing in teams that try to be more competitive and successful; is this a bad thing? Probably not, trying to change how the whole league operates just to benefit some shaky teams would just bring down the value and standard of the league as a whole. Instead, the USL allows for the teams to constantly battle it out and attempt to improve themselves in a fairly even playing field.

It is our opinion that the USL represents a much higher quality league system and one that is more prone to survival and succes in the long run.

For those of you still interested in the Concacaf Champions League, Cruz Azul and Atlante faced off last night in Mexico City for the first game of the Final.

Cruz Azul was playing at home and lost 2-0 to visiting side Atlante. The final match will at Cancun, home of Atlante, on April 29th.

Cruz Azul proved to be underserving of being in the Final, and it was almos sad to watch.

You can read more about the match here: Concacaf