Note: Due to out busy schedule this week, which includes attending both of the home Islanders game this weekend – the recap will be a bit brief.
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You can find a video recap of this week’s USL-1 action: here
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Team of the week:
With the Islanders receiving a bye this week from league action there was no Puerto Rico player on the list. Rochester’s GK Scott Vallow was named player of the week for having 11 saves in a 2-1 win at Vancouver. Find the complete list: here
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Posted by KVD
We must admit it’s often hard to come by timely and complete news regarding the Islanders. The team doesn’t post news items often enough on the official website, so fans are left with either waiting for one of the major Puerto Rican newspapers writing about the team, visiting one of several blogs, or exchanging information on the fan forum. This of course makes it difficult when trying to look at the whole picture of things, even more so when controversial issues are involved.
With a 2-1 final score, the Trinidadian side W Connection became the Champion of the Caribbean. After defeating Haitian club Tempete FC 2-0 in over-time during the semi-final, the Islanders couldn’t manage to come away victorious in their first ever Caribbean Football Union Club Champions Final appearance.
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Posted by KVD
Final score: W.Connection 2-1
More to come soon…
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Without much fanfare or regional attention – Macoya, Trinidad will be hosting tonight the most important match of professional soccer in the Caribbean. The Puerto Rico Islanders face the Trinidadian side W. Connection for the Caribbean Football Union’s Club Champions Cup.
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Posted by KVD
Thanks to BoriQa from TheOffside for the scoreboard
The ‘Tropa Naranja’ needed overtime to do it, but in the end they beat Tempete FC 2-0 to head to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship and gain a berth for the next Concacaf Champions League.
In what was reportedly a very spirited match in Macoya, Trinidad &Tobago – both sides kept up the attack from the opening whistle until the end of the second over-time. Both Goalkeepers had to make several saves throughout the first 90 minutes of play to keep the score 0-0. Towards the end of the second-half the game began to change in the Islanders’ favor when Peter Villegas and Kendall Jagdeosingh both came in as substitutions – also the Haitian side had to play a man down when their player Francoeur received a red card in the 88th minute. With the score still 0-0 in the 90th minute, the game headed to overtime – two 15 minutes halves.
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Posted by KVD
The long hard road to the 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League (CCL) Final starts tonight for the Puerto Rico Islanders. The Islanders, by far the most surprising team of last year’s competition, were just a penalty shootout away from the CCL Final in the 2008-2009 competition.
As was the case last year, the Islanders must again gain a spot in the preliminary CCL rounds by first qualifying through the Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) Club Championship. The top 3 teams of this Caribbean competition qualify for spots in the Champions League. Last year, Puerto Rico had to qualify the hard way by going through all the preliminary rounds of the CFU and after losing in their semi-final match, had to fight for the 3rd place spot against San Juan Jabloteh.
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Posted by KVD
In an expected move, the Montreal Impact announced yesterday that they were getting rid of head coach John Limniatis after just one season at the team’s helm. The Impact have been very disappointing this year as they are still winless in the USL-1 2009. While Limniatis took the Impact to the quarterfinals of the 2008 Concacaf Champions League (CCL), he also saw his team implode during the return leg against Mexican club Santos Laguna – where Montreal allowed Santos to score the 5 goals they needed to progress to the semi-final.
It seems the Montreal front office decided the team needed a new coaching approach and it was better to do it now early in the season, rather than mid-way through when it might have been too late.
“After having analyzed the situation over the last few months, we have realized that the team was not playing to its level and that the positive results were not there,” said Impact technical director Nick De Santis. “The message was no longer getting through in the locker room.”
Marc Dos Santos, the Impact assistant coach, will now be the interim coach until further notice. Limniatis had a pretty decent run with the team last season but Montreal hasn’t looked like itself since the loss to Santos Laguna in the CCL. Some observers are wondering if Nick DeSantis will be moving back to his old position as head coach. Nick DeSantis is the most successful and longest lasting coach in Impact history. Other than DeSantis, no other coach has been with Montreal for more than 1 year. It remains to be seen if Montreal, with 7 coaches in 10 years, can find another DeSantis to get the Impact back on track.
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Posted by KVD
The Islanders have a bye from league actions this week as they travel to Trinidad & Tobago for the Caribbean Football Union Cup while Minnesota, Cleveland, and Montreal are still on the hunt for their first win of the season.
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Thursday Night
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Rochester Rhinos vs Portland Timbers
In this week’s Fox Soccer Channel featured USL-1 match, the Rochester Rhinos visit Portland for the first meeting of these two teams this season.
With Portland’s strong defense meeting the current success of Rochester, this should be an interesting match to watch. The Timbers have only allowed 1 goal so far this season but have only scored in one game so far. Rochester comes into this match attempting to extend their 4 match undefeated streak. The Rhinos have a 3-1-1 record in Portland, and considering how they are playing so far this season – it will be difficult for the Timbers to get the 3 points.
What to expect: Johnny Menyongar scoring or at least with a few shots on goal, low scoring game, strong Portland defense, Tie.
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Posted by KVD
As the season continues to take shape, this week saw the City Stars get their first point of the season, the Islanders their first loss of the season, and the Rhinos continue their win streak.
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Islanders vs Aztex
The Islanders went to Austin for their first road game last Friday. After striking first and being up 1-0, an underwhelming Islanders had to settle for the 1-1 draw. The Islanders then traveled to Vancouver for their second road game on Sunday, while the Aztex have their first away game this week against Montreal.
For our detailed review of the game go: here
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Posted by KVD
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