It's hard being an expansion team.
The Puerto Rico Islanders lost their second consecutive game at home, this time to A-League veterans Montreal Impact, by a score of 2-0 in front of 8,747 fans at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
Montreal dominated the game throughout. The Impact were disciplined on defense, controlled possession of the ball, and attacked with ease from every angle. Eduardo Sebrango, Patrick Leduc, and Mauro Biello led the Montreal attack and wore down the Puerto Rican defense. This trio was the key to the Impact offense on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Islanders were not able to break through the Montreal wall of defense. Alexis Rivera and Raphel "Mime" Ortiz tried unsuccessfully to generate danger while Martin A. Zapata was not able to run the way he did against the Lynx. Mauricio had chances, but no shots really tested Impact goalie Greg Sutton of Montreal.
Despite Montreal's dominance, both goals would come on penalty shots.
By the 30th minute Patrick Leduc and Eduardo Sebrango had already said hello to the Puerto Rico defense. In the 4th minute Leduc hit the crossbar hard from about 10-15 feet away. Later a wicked Leduc pass to Sebrango put Nucifora's goal in danger again, resulting in a corner kick. Time and time again Eduardo and Patrick combined to create offensive power, yet no goals showed up on the scoreboard.
Puerto Rico finally began to move the ball and take it away from Montreal at about the 25th minute mark. The problem was, six minutes later Sebrango showed up again. He penetrated through the right side, got away from a Puerto Rico defenseman, and sent a cross that Javier Novarini could not head away properly. The ball landed on Mauro Biello in the penalty box; he tried to shoot it and slipped. Referee Joe Carrucio, very close to the play, apparently thought Javier Novarini fouled Biello and called the penalty kick. The crowd boos were in full force, but the referee had position on the play.
Biello shot the penalty, but Nucifora guessed correctly, moved to his right and swatted it out. However, Eduardo Sebrango alertly charged ahead and headed the rebound into the net. It was the 32nd minute, and the score was now 1-0. That would be all scoring in the first half.
In the second half Puerto Rico came out determined to get the equalizer while Montreal was set on neutralizing any incoming enemy fire.
The Islanders' plans were shattered immediately after the restart. Javier Novarini, one of its defensemen, was shown a red card in the 50th minute after an ugly, hard tackle on Leduc. Novarini was shown a yellow early on a handball. Curiously, Novarini got the worst of the crash as he hobbled badly off the pitch. Even if the injury was not serious, he will not play against Syracuse on Thursday because of the ejection.
The Isles were kind of able to cope with the man down situation, but could not cope with what happened next. In the 55th minute, David Fronimadis was able to penetrate into the penalty box on the right. As he moved to his left to get a play, Islander defender Christopher Gores took him down. Leduc would not miss the ensuing penalty kick and put up the 2-0 on the board.
After that, Montreal tightened and went into score maintenance mode. They had a couple of counter attacks that did not really threaten Nucifora's goal. Puerto Rico tried hard to get a goal. Luis Zuleta, Diego Deering, and even Michael Mourelo, getting his first action this season, had chances but it was Mauricio in the last five minutes of the game who came closest with two headers right over the crossbar. Unfortunately, Puerto Rico came up empty again on the scoring end.
It was another heartbreaking loss showing how hard the road will be to success for the Islanders. Coach Victor Hugo Barros understands that and the patience needed to get through the turbulence of starting out:
"We have a disadvantage in this championship, coming in as a new team without an already solidified base. Once we are set we will see things happening for us. We have four Argentinians, two Brazilians, a US player... all coming from different places and teams. We need to really know each other and learn to work like an orchestra of master musicians. It will take time. The fans must stay calm. Our boys work hard, give their all and do what they have to. If people stay with us we will get very far. We are just starting"
He added: "If this were our third year playing like that then it's a problem"
Nick Desantis, Head Coach of the Impact, was happy about his team's performance. "We played very strong defensively, we created chances... I'm very happy... we knew we were playing against a team that's very technical and they were. We had composure and we were patient"
He also talked about the plan this year to improve on the offensive side: "The last two years we were a very defensive-minded team. We didn't score many goals and this year we want to improve on that; and we've been working in our training time in our offensive play... and I think today we've shown signs of that."
As for the play of Leduc, Biello, and Sebrango, Desantis talked about Biello's and Sebrango's experience and reliability, and also praised Leduc's play on Sunday: "He is coming into his own... today (Sunday) he played a great game, controlled the middle of the field, scored, and had chances"
Desantis was impressed by the potential of the Islanders: "(Mauricio), (Zapata), (Juninho) can put a lot of teams in trouble... overall this team is just going to keep getting better. They got quality players... (Alexis Rivera)... and (Gores) in the back also. I think once they start winning and gaining confidence in themselves then I think they will just get better."
"They just played a hard game and I think in the A-League if they want results they are going to have to keep playing that style. Good technical team with a physical style"
Words of wisdom and encouragement indeed for the Islanders, who play this next Thursday against the Salty Dogs.
MON: Sutton, Gervais, Braz, Fronimadis, Ze Roberto, DiTullio, Biello (Ribeiro, m.76), Grande (Selaidopoulos, m.86), Leduc, Sebrango, and Budalic (Bailey, m.61)
PRI: Nucifora, Novarini, Zuleta, Gores, A. Rivera, Deering, Ortiz, H. Rivera (Mussenden, m. 82), Juninho (Mourelo, m. 63), Zapata, and Mauricio
GOALS:
M. 32 SEBRANGO (MON 1-0)
M. 55 LEDUC (MON 2-0, PK)
CARDS:
Yellow:
MON: Grande, DiTullio
PRI: A. Rivera, Novarini, Gores
Red:
Novarini (PRI)
Attendance: 8,747
Officials: Joe Carrucio (R), Antonio Lopez, Jimmy Tosado, and Jesus Lebron
