97th minute!!! Impressive!! I'm really hoping you guys go through, and beat Honduras... I want to face you guys in Stage 2, barring we don't mess up against Bahamas/BVI.
Puerto Rico vs Jamaica that would be nice... it will probably end up being a big reggae party which ever wins..
Well DR has already put in a complain with FIFA, as espected. LOL DR came with all their excuses for loosing prepared.
I have been reading a lot of good articles about The Puerto Rico Islanders and their coach Colin. The football has really has increased with new talent infusion that Colin has brought in. Now they have to go up against Honduras. Good for them. However isn't the Caribbean Cup a more realistic gold to increase it's profile. I have read that Puerto Rico in not in the next Carribean Cup. Why not?
So when is the qualifier against Honduras? I saw the date somewhere yesterday, but I can't find it today. I think it's in June, but FIFA won't confirm.
Look how disrespectfully de DR Federation president is, first of he grabs the PR gk, Terry Boss and the he start arguing with PR Captain Marco Velez. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaxANJ9GyIs
Well I do think they deserved a home game like at a neutral venue as alot of other teams get em, don't know why DR never got it. Good win tho you guys improved alot and could see you giving Honduras a fight at home, congrats
Its not our fault that DR dint have a venue ready for the first league and forced FIFA to make it a one of game. PR was ready and we should be penalize because the other team wasnt.
Of course not, but what I'm saying is that while it is DR's fault for not having a proper stadium ready, they should have gotten a neutral venue to play in as a "home" game like every other team has gotten. (Belize for example played in Guatemala I believe) I do believe any team that doesn't have a venue ready for a WCQ game should be punished for it like DR did but if FIFA is not gonna punish the other teams for not having one then why should DR be the only one to get this punishment.
PR is a very neitral venue for a DR vs PR game, since there a huge DR population in PR and from what I have been told there was a large chunk of DR fans in the about 6,000 in attendance. Plus for both teams it was probably cheaper to play in PR rather than playing it Miami or New York. Which attendance would have been horrible. A ticket to PR from DR could cost you less than $100
official attendance 8000 http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/prelim...tches/round=250441/match=10000013/report.html
And it's just growing now since the NT hadn't played in so long. I fully expect the attendance to get bigger as the team plays more often.
Did not see any one chearing for DR. It was most definately a "home game" atmosphere for PR This was not the only tie decided with just the one game. It was not FIFA punishing DR it was something DR know about entering the competition and something that would have been agreed upon long before kick-off. The question we had when we were watching "what would have happened if it was tied 1-1, would DR go through on the away goal rule?"
Imagine how many more would have shown up if people only knew the game was been played. Zero press coverage - papers or TV Of all the people I work with here only one knew about the game, and only because her daughters’ soccer practice had been cancelled so the kids could attend the match. 8,000 = official guesstimate number (hence the nicely rounded number). No official counts taken of course. Looked at least that to me, it was certainly more than an "average" islanders game.
Really? That sucks. I remember reading a few things about the game on endi.com, vocero.com, and Primera Hora but I don't know if they mentioned it in their printed version. A few friends and I who aren't in the island were telling everyone we knew about the game, posting about it in message boards and all that stuff to get people to go.
Overall – DR came with a defensive mind, putting lots of players behind the ball and trying to catch PR out on the fast break. It almost came off for them on one or two occasions when PR lost concentration after long spells dominating frustratingly resulting in few chances. PR lacked that clinical passing and finishing in the last ¼ of the field. Something you hope will be ironed out once the season starts and the local players geta few games behind them. In the end it was the better team that won on the night, PR having dominated possession and played a more aggressive attacking game. Colin Clarke has this team set up well, the on the field organization he brought into the Islanders game last season is also evident in this team, all the PR team lack is their playmakers to be a bit more switched on and some clinical finishers up front. Stand out players of the match for PR for me were; 4 – Marco Velez – held the PR defense together, swept up anything extra that came through, looked very comfortable and easily the nicest first touch and most confident on the ball of all playing. 17 – Andres Cabrero – constantly looking to attack the DR defense and work tirelessly to get down the left wing behind the back four to supply crosses into the box. Had the DR right back dizzy by the end of the game. 5 – Noah Delgado – another hard working performance, battled to the end. Had a hard task against the annoying tight one on one marking from DR but coped well.