USL News Release

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

TAMPA, FL – The inaugural edition of the CONCACAF Champions League opens Tuesday night with three Preliminary Round games, but the attention on Wednesday will turn toward the historic moment when the Montreal Impact and Puerto Rico Islanders become the first USL teams to participate in a CONCACAF club championship event. Montreal hosts Nicaragua’s Real Esteli and Puerto Rico visits Costa Rica’s famed Alajuelense.

As part of Fox Soccer Channel’s calendar of 11 Preliminary Round matches that will be broadcast, Wednesday’s two matches featuring Montreal and Puerto Rico will be shown live with Montreal kicking off at 8:00 pm ET and Puerto Rico at 10:00 pm. Puerto Rico’s second leg match at home will also air Wednesday, September 3 on delay at 11:00 pm.

Wednesday night’s matches will mark the first time since the 1996 Seattle Sounders of the then independent A-League (now USL First Division). The Sounders defeated Transvaal (Suriname) 10-0 in Seattle to advance. In the final round, they lost to Communicaciones (Guatemala) 2-0, Nexaca (Mexico) 4-1, and Cruz Azul (Mexico) 11-0, to finish 4th and last. Cruz Azul (Mexico) won the round and took the title.

Montreal comes into their match against Real Esteli having won four of their last five in the USL First Division and have won their last three contests at home. They currently sit seventh in the table with a 9-10-4 record, but are only five points back of third place in what has been arguably the tightest table in league history.

Participation in the CONCACAF club championship event is perhaps overdue for the Impact, who have arguably been the nation’s best side over the years, winning USL-1 titles in 1994 and 2004 in addition to finishing as the regular season champions on five occasions (2005-06, 1995-07). They have finished within the top three in the league regular season since 2003, finishing third last season and second in 2003 and 2004.

Long known as defensive stalwarts in the USL First Division, the Impact have continued the tradition in anonymity near the bottom of the table, currently ranked second in the league in fewest goals allowed per game at 0.96 behind Puerto Rico’s mark of 0.88. The Impact’s scoring rate of 1.09, however, has been what has kept the club from its usual heights. The strike rate has increased though in the past month, jumping to two goals per match so far for the month of August through five games.

Leading the attack for August has been Tony Donatelli (three goals, assist), Roberto Brown (two goals, assist) and newcomer Felix Brillant (two goals, assist). In goal, Matt Jordan currently ranks first in the league in goals against average at 0.809.

Puerto Rico is arguably the fastest-improving club in the region, growing from an expansion franchise in the USL First Division in 2004 to the third-best club in the Caribbean in just four short years. Their fifth anniversary campaign has become a magnificent celebration with a steady presence as the USL-1 leaders and as participants in the Champions League.

The Islanders have risen to the top of USL-1 with the league’s best offense and defense. Their average scoring rate of 1.58 per game leads Atlanta (1.40) and Rochester (1.24) by significant margins. Along with Montreal, the Islanders are one of two clubs that have allowed less than one goal per game this season.

Puerto Rico’s current form has been extremely impressive, going unbeaten in their last six at 4-0-2. The Islanders are currently 6-3-3 in league play away from home, but have not lost in their last eight games on the road (6-0-2), an amazing feat for any USL-1 side. The run includes six straight games on the road from an opening 1-0 loss July 4 to local rival Miami, who rank third in defense, followed by five consecutive victories beginning July 6 with a 1-0 win over Montreal and ending with a July 27 victory at Minnesota 3-2. The streak also featured a 3-1 win July 12 over then league leading Charleston, who has since won their US Open Cup Semifinal and will face DC United for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Championship September 3.

Leading the way for the Islanders is goalkeeper Bill Gaudette, who currently ranks second in the league in goals against average at 0.913 behind Montreal’s Matt Jordan, and midfielder Jonathan Steele, the current league leader in assists with 10. Steele’s efforts, along with Noah Delgado (three goals, four assists) at midfield have led to a consistent sharing of the scoring burden among several players for the Islanders with Fabrice Noel (6), Josh Hansen (5) and Taiwo Atieno (4) scoring at least four goals each. Defender Cristian Arrieta has been providing at both ends, contributing five goals.

Team Profile: Real Estelí FC (courtesy CONCACAF.com)

The road to the CONCACAF Champions League™ was long, but the berth was well worth the trouble for Nicaragua’s Real Estelí FC.

Estelí was the penultimate team to earn a berth in the tournament after beating Deportivo Walter Ferreti 1-0 on aggregate in the two-leg final of the Nicaraguan Clausura in early July. After tying Walter Ferreti, 0-0, in the first leg at home at Estadio Independencia, Estelí stole the second leg in dramatic fashion on Elmer Mejia’s goal with just five minutes left in extra time. Had Real Estelí not defeated Ferreti, the two sides would have squared off one more time to determine which Nicaraguan outfit was to represent the country in the Champions League. But the Clausura victory, coupled with their 2007 Apertura triumph, gave Real Estelí a championship sweep of the two seasons and the honor as Nicaragua’s sole representative.

Estelí ran away with the 2007 Apertura losing only once in 18 games and recording an impressive plus-32 goal differential. The battle for the Clausura, though, was much tighter with just six points separating the top four clubs. Estelí finished fourth with a respectable record of 10W-3D-5L. Its defeat of first place Diriangén FC set up the showdown with Walter Ferreti in the Clausura championship.

At stake is a spot in the group stage and matches against Mexico’s Atlante FC, CD Olimpia of Honduras and either Trinidad and Tobago’s Joe Public or the USA’s New England Revolution. The group stage gets underway with either Real Estelí or the Impact hosting either Joe Public or the Revolution on September 17.

The Impact’s appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League will be the first for a Canadian club in a CONCACAF club tournament since the Toronto Serbian White Eagles in 1975.

Estelí’s strong play continues a run of success in recent years. Since 1986, the club, based in northern city of Esteli, has finished in the top five of Nicaragua’s first division each season. But it hasn’t been able to parlay its consistent play into a spot in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup finals. A spot in the second round of qualifying in 2004 is the furthest the club has reached in seven CONCACAF Champions’ Cup qualifying campaigns.

Founded in 1960, Estelí FC did not win a National Championship for the first 30 years of their existence but since 1990 have captured seven titles (1991, 1999, 2003, 2003 Apertura, 2004 Clausura, 2007 Apertura, 2008 Clausura). The 2003 championship began, likely, the greatest period in the history of the club as Estelí went on an astounding 38-game unbeaten streak, starting with a 3-0 home win over Diriangén on 11 May 2003 in the second leg of the 2003 championship final. It finally ended where it started with a 1-0 home defeat on 18 July, 2004 to Diriangén, but not before Estelí captured the 2003 Apertura title and the 2004 Clausura championship. Later that year, Estelí made history in Nicaraguan and Central American football by eliminating favorites Real CD España of Honduras in the first round of the UNCAF Copa Interclubes. That marked the first time a Nicaraguan club advanced to the second round of that tournament. Estelí will look to repeat that feat and make more history at the expense of the Impact in the CONCACAF Champions League. ™

Team Profile: Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (courtesy CONCACAF.com)

When Liga Deportiva Alajuelense enters the CONCACAF Champions League™ this August, they will stand out as one of a handful of giants in the competition. LD Alajuelense bring a fearsome record to the tournament, hailing from one of CONCACAF’s most well known leagues and one of only seven teams in the field to have ever won the prestigious CONCACAF Champions Cup™ (the forerunner to the new CONCACAF Champions League™).

Alajuelense compete in the Primera Division de Costa Rica, the top-flight league in the Central American nation and home to five of the last 15 continental champions. The soccer year in Costa Rica is broken up into two seasons; the Invierno (Winter) and Verano (Summer) with a new champion crowned in each. Costa Rica was granted two spots in this year’s Champions League, to be given to the winners of the most recent Invierno and Verano seasons. However, as three-time Champions Cup victors Deportivo Saprissa won both tournaments, Alajuelense joined the field after finishing second in the 2008 Verano Tournament.

Costa Rica has established itself as a footballing powerhouse in the CONCACAF region, and much of this prowess is probably owed to their rich footballing history; which dates back over a century. Soccer was originally brought to the nation in the late 1800’s by English industrialists eager to capitalize on the abundance of coffee in the area. After watching the children of these English entrepreneurs play the game in the many plazas in an around the capital of San Jose, the Costa Rican people began to organize teams of their own. One of these teams was called Once de Abril and when seven players broke free from this side to form a new team in 1919, one of CONCACAF’s most historic sides was born. Like many of the regions other top teams, Alajuelense quickly became a pioneer for the sport in Costa Rica. Two years after the club was formed they joined six other teams to create the first unified national league. Domestic success did not immediately come to Alajuelense, as it took the club seven years to win their first championship and another 11 years to win a second, but when the club does find success it usually finds it in droves. In all, Alajuelense has amassed 24 national league titles, including a run of four straight in the early 2000’s (2000, 2001, 20002, 2003) and 17 sub-titles (runner-ups), while having never been relegated from the First Division. It is an impressive track record, which might explain why the club estimates that 40 percent of the Costa Rican population would consider themselves amongst the Liguistas (fans of Alajuelense).

For Alajuelense, football success has not been confined to their domestic league either. Built on four pillars symbolized by their lion mascot, Value, Strength, Dynamism and Fidelity, the club has been crowned champions of Central America once (winning the Torneo Interclubes de UNCAF in 2002) and continental champions twice (winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup™ in 1986 and 2004). In fact, the club was the first Costa Rican team to ever win the continental prize and set off an era that has seen the nation win six titles since 1986. Still, success at home and abroad has proven elusive for Alajuelense in recent years and they will be eager to seize the opportunity to add some new hardware to their trophy case.

After their 2004 Champions Cup™ triumph with a Primera Division title in 2005, Alajuelense has been unable to win any further championships; domestic or international. If the team is to prove victorious in the CONCACAF Champions League™ they will have to do so without departed leading scorer Winston Parks. Parks left the club in 2008 for Romania, thus leaving a large gap in the Alajuelense attack. The goal-scoring burden will now likely fall on the shoulders of Salvadorian midfielder Eliseo Quintanilla and Costa Rican U-20 Pablo Herrera. Both players were among the leading scorers for Alajuelense in the 2008 Verano and Quintanilla is fresh off scoring two goals in a recent FIFA World Cup qualification match, which saw his native El Salvador turn over a heavily favored Panama. Supporting these two midfielders will be a cast of players with international and club experience, lead by defender Rudy Dawson Forbes and likely goalkeeper, Wardy Alfaro Pizarro who accompanied Costa Rica to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Germany.

PRELIMINARY ROUND SCHEDULE

Date	Visitor	Home	Time (ET)
Aug 26	New England Revolution (USA)	Joe Public (T&T)	8:00
Aug 26	Chivas USA (USA)	Tauro FC (Panama)	8:00
Aug 26	Cruz Azul (Mexico)	Hankook Verdes (Belize)	10:00
Aug 27	Real Esteli (Nicaragua)	Montreal Impact (Canada)	8:00
Aug 27	Puerto Rico Islanders (PR)	LD Alajuelense (Costa Rica)	10:00
Aug 27	CD Marathon (Honduras)	AD Isidro Metapan (El Salvador)	10:00
Aug 28	Pumas UNAM (Mexico)	Harbour View (Jamaica)	8:00
Aug 28	San Francisco FC (Panama)	Deportivo Jalapa (Guatemala)	10:00
Second Leg Matches
Sept 2	Joe Public (T&T)	New England Revolution (USA)	8:00
Sept 2	Tauro FC (Panama)	Chivas USA (USA)	10:00
Sept 2	Montreal Impact (Canada)	Real Esteli (Nicaragua)	8:00
Sept 3	LD Alajuelense (Costa Rica)	Puerto Rico Islanders (PR)	8:00
Sept 3	Hankook Verdes (Belize)	Cruz Azul (Mexico)	8:00
Sept 3	AD Isidro Metapan (El Salvador)	CD Marathon (Honduras)	10:00
Sept 4	Deportivo Jalapa (Guatemala)	San Francisco FC (Panama)	8:00
Sept 4	Harbour View (Jamaica)	Pumas UNAM (Mexico)	10:00

Fox Soccer Channel Broadcast Schedule [+] 

GROUP STAGE PARTICIPANTS  (Sept 16 – Oct 30)

Group A	Group B
DC United (USA)	Houston Dynamo (USA)
Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica)	CD Luis Angel Firpo (El Salvador)
Cruz Azul or Hankook Verdes	Harbour View or Pumas UNAM
AD Isidro Metapan or CD Marathon	Deportivo Jalapa or San Francisco FC
Group C	Group D
Atlante FC (Mexico)	CSD Municipal (Guatemala)
CD Olimpia (Honduras)	Club Santos Laguna (Mexico)
Joe Public or New England Revolution	Chivas USA or Tauro FC
Montreal Impact or Real Esteli FC	LD Alajuelense or Puerto Rico Islanders