Down goes the Mexican champion! Go Islanders Go!!! Video Summary(in Spanish): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUNR3cor4U
CONCACAF Champions League Puerto Rico shocks Santos Laguna 3:1 in rain to take control of Champions League™ Group D Photos by Joaquin Hernandez9/23/2008 - BAYAMON, Puerto Rico – The Puerto Rico Islanders continued the unbeaten run of the second-division United Soccer Leagues teams, beating Club Santos Laguna 3:1 Tuesday night to take control of Group D in the CONCACAF Champions League™. With the game played in a deluge, Osei Telesford scored with a deflected shot in the 15th minute and insurances tallies by Noah Delgado in the 38th and Edwin Miranda in the 50th gave the Islanders six points, three ahead of Santos after two rounds. Heavy rain, which started just before the opening kickoff and continued steadily through first half, formed puddles by the third minute. Large areas of standing water quickly developed from end to end, causing the ball to skid to a sudden halt or stop with a splash. The storm was part of a tropical disturbance that had inundated Puerto Rico with about two feet (60 centimeters) Sunday and Monday, and resulted in the deaths of four people on the island. The rain abated Tuesday afternoon, but resumed just as the match started. The Islanders were playing two days after winning the regular season title in the USL First Division, essentially the second tier of North American soccer. They and fellow USL side Montreal have remained unbeaten in seven Champions League™ matches, both getting a victory and a draw in the Preliminary Round and both winning their group openers last week. It was the second victory for the Islanders over heavily favored opponent. In the Preliminary Round, Puerto Rico eliminated two-time CONCACAF champion LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica on 3:2 aggregate. Despite the conditions, Puerto Rico took the initiative from the opening kickoff, earning three corners in quick succession in the ninth minute. With the field worsening, Puerto Rico pushed ahead again with Petter Villegas getting a shot that Santos goalkeeper Miguel Becerra was able to block. Telesford headed the rebound downward and Jose Patlan tried to clear it with his right leg but the ball deflected off his right shin into the goal. The conditions appeared to influence the second goal, Jonathan Steele appearing to shoot from outside the area. But the ball slashed to a stop in front of Delgado, who turned and shot inside the far post from 13 yards. The rain abated by the second half and Miranda consolidated Puerto Rico’s lead with a 25-yard, right-footed drive that skipped inside the left post. Christian Benitez gave Santos some consolation with a goal in the 71st, but it cost the Mexican side Peralta Oribe and manager Daniel Guzman. Puerto Rico goalkeeper William Gaudette tried to stop Santos from retrieving the ball out of the net, resulting in Oribe knocking him down by putting his hand in Gaudette’s face. American referee Mark Geiger cautioned Guadette and sent off Oribe, drawing protests from Guzman, who soon followed his striker.
Thanks to the efforts of Puerto Rico, Charleston, and Montreal this year, the "lack of quality" argument against a USL/MLS Promotion/Relegation system in North America has vanished. Now, if someone could just figure out that pesky money thing..... Way to go P.R.!
Its really too bad it was pouring rain cause it probably turned a few thousand fans away. It could have easily been a walkup crowd of 10k or even a sellout. As it was close to 7k stood in the pouring rain in a looooong line to get a shot at getting inside. I missed the first goal but my god the roars from the crowd were huge and unmistakably soccer ooh and ahhs of missed close shots. I love the feeling of getting into the stadium to a really rawkuss crowd!!! PROPS to the PR fans for singing "ai yay ya yai, canta no llores" to the Mexicans down 3 goals to none at one point in the game. It was awsome!!!
I had a lot of fun watching the second half. Big congratulations, guys! I don't give a crap about the rain. If anything, it made it more fun to watch.
Amen Stonesean. And if it were up to me, I would say call a nation wide march/sit in/ boycott by all the major Ultras groups of the USL/MLS against the ownership of their respective clubs. And seriously I beleive thats what it would finally take to get those "suits" to finally cough up the dogh and make it happen, the thought of loosing soo much crowd revenue would overbear the thought of spending "soo much of their preccious millions togethor" in a joint effort ta finally "MAKE A PROPER FOOTBALL SYSTEM IN THE US OF A!!!!!!"