With over two years of inactivity at the international level, Puerto Rico had sunk to a lowly ranking of 196 of 207 prior to a recent return to action with successful warm-up friendlies against Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago. The seeds of a renaissance were planted in 2004 with the birth of the Puerto Rico Islanders USL First Division side. Now, as Puerto Rico heads toward World Cup qualifying, the island’s top club team and National Team are on the cusp of becoming regional powers.
The Islanders have created a professional atmosphere for the sport on the island, which had previously been a hotbed for baseball, basketball and boxing. With the team’s performance reaching new heights each year and crowds reaching five figures as they made their 2007 run to the USL First Division Semifinals, it has quickly become a new soccer hotbed, attracting players from across the league who are looking at the American territory as an opportunity to play internationally due to the depth of the American squad.
In preparation for their First Round of their World Cup Qualifying campaign, a March 26 match in Puerto Rico against the 164th-ranked Dominican Republic, the new-look Puerto Rican squad traveled to Bermuda, ranked 146, just a few weeks ago and came away with a pair of victories. They posted a 2-0 win in their first game with Graham providing the winner two minutes into the second half to give the side their first victory since January 23, 1994, a span of nearly 14 years to the day.
Six-year USL veteran Noah Delgado, who has spent the last three years with the Islanders, provided the lone goal 13 minutes into the rematch two days later for their second win. It was the first time Puerto Rico had posted consecutive victories since the team had won four in a row in the 1993 Caribbean Cup.
While the losses may have been deflating for Bermuda, they may also be deceptive. With the close nature of the matches against an opponent clearly underrated in the FIFA ranking system due to their inactivity, Bermuda may be able to take a ray of light out of their performances.
Buoyed by a similar model in which their top club team is a member of the USL Second Division, many of Bermuda’s National Team players are quickly accumulating experience from playing against opposition far greater than they had previously been exposed to in their home nation. In just their first year of competition in the league, the Bermuda Hogges went from an 0-8-1 start to the season to a 3-6-2 finish to the second half of their campaign as they continued to learn and grow throughout the year. Nine of the 14 who saw action for Bermuda in the second fixture played for the Hogges inaugural side, including USL Second Division All-League honoree Stephen Astwood.
“Bermuda played well,” said Clarke. “Bermuda is still growing. Having just entered a USL program is great, but with the inhabitants being about 60,000 things are limited for them. They played two good games, but they are limited because of the numbers.”
Puerto Rico then played host to 78th ranked Trinidad & Tobago, a participant in the last World Cup, and earned a 2-2 draw. Chris Megaloudis, who played two seasons with Brooklyn and Westchester in the Premier Development League, opened the scoring for the Islanders 21 minutes in.
“The game went great. The 2-2 score was a good result considering they were in the last World Cup,” said Clarke, who is hoping to get in another friendly before their World Cup Qualifier showdown with the Dominican Republic. “Some big names weren’t there for them, but they’ve been together for a while. We were disappointed we didn’t win the game, but it gave us confidence coming off the games against Bermuda, who were weaker. The result bodes well for the future and we are excited how things went and want to keep it going forward.”
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