Puerto Rico Islanders Tickets

Puerto Rico Islanders
Puerto Rico Islanders is a Puerto Rican professional soccer team, founded in 2003. The team is a member of the USL First Division, the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.

The Stadium
They currently play at Juan Ram?n Loubriel Stadium in Bayam?n, Puerto Rico. The team is currently coached by Colin Clarke. The team's colors are orange, navy blue and white.

History
In 1995, a team called the Puerto Rico Islanders joined the USISL, now the United Soccer Leagues (USL), was founded by Joe Serralta and other Puerto Rican businessmen.

The team played only 7 games and then Serralta decided to move the franchise to Houston, Texas on June 1, changing its name to the Houston Force, due to problems with the Puerto Rican Football Federation and bad attendance number. The Force folded after one game in Houston.

First A-League Season
The team played their first A-League season, now the USL First Division, in 2004. The original squad was composed of a large number of local Puerto Rican players and a contingency of foreign players composed of Americans, Brazilians, Salvadoran and Argentinians completed this first squad, the team was headed by Brazilian coach Vitor Hugo Barros who was replace several games into the season by Argentinian Hugo Hern?n Maradona, brother of the legendary Diego Armando Maradona.

First League Game
The team played its first league game in April 17, 2004 against the Toronto Lynx at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium; the Islanders lost 1-0 in front of a reported 6,000 fans.

The Islanders had their first victory on January 15, 2004 against the Charleston Battery with a score of 1-0 at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium.

The Steady Progress
The Islanders opened their 2006 season with a mix of new players to create one of the strongest lineups in the clubs short history in a serious attempt to take the USL Div. 1 title for the first time.

Formed under the management of then head coach Jorge Alvial, the 2006 Islanders had a record of 3-2-1 up to early June, when Alvial put in his resignation to become a scout for the English club Chelsea.

The club lumbered across the last half of the season barely making the playoffs, under the new head coach Toribio Rojas, Jorge Alvial's assistant coach.

In the final game of the season, against Miami on September 10, 2006, attracted a record crowd of nearly 11,000 fans. A draw was sufficient for the Islanders to qualify in front of Seattle and Atlanta but early in the second half Miami took the lead.

It was not until the 43rd minute of the second half that the Islanders equalized with a Arturo Norambuena penalty.The team came into the season on a high; they had just played a preseason tournament against MLS teams and achieved very successful results.

The squad was considered serious contenders for the title. After one early success, the team took a turn for the worst. The Islanders went into the playoffs with an air of confidence but facing powerhouse Montreal, passing the quarterfinals seemed very difficult. After a 2:3 lost in Montreal the team came back at home with the 3:0 victory, winning the series 5:3.

Recent Achievement
On August 8, 2008, the Islanders defeated Rochester Rhinos four goals to none. This victory placed the team in the top of the league's standing for the first time in the club's history.