ISLANDERS’ HUGO FLYING BLIND
BY GABRIELLE PAESE
gpaese@saf/iuanstarmedia.net
Of The STAR Staff
It's hard to size up a rival you've never seen. But that's what Puerto Rico Islanders coach
Vitor Hugo has had to do this week in preparation for the fledgling soccer team's second match of the season against the Montreal Impact Sunday at 5 p.m. at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium.
A salesman from the team's clothing sponsor, Legea, gave Hugo his only scouting report of how the Impact play.
"I know how they did last season and right now we're going on pure statistics”, said Hugo shortly before Wednesday night's practice at Bayamon's Calcano Alicea sports complex. "It's their first game of the season. This is one we'll just have to play”.
The Islanders showed they can do that in their inaugural match versus the Toronto Lynx, despite losing, 1-0. The winning kick, by Toronto's Ali Gerba, veered off the foot of Puerto Rico's Diego Deering in a mad scramble in front of the Lynx's goal at 9:30 of the first overtime period.
Hugo said the match could have gone either way and was particularly proud of the way his team played.
"Because we didn't have any preseason matches I had my doubts as to how we were going to fare against the other pro teams in the league,” said Hugo, of Brazil. "But when I saw how the match started I was amazed. I knew then we weren't so far from the other teams.”
Against Montreal, Hugo said he has no changes planned.
"Right now I'm still testing out my options and getting a feel for what works,” said Hugo, who has called Puerto Rico home for the past 15 years. "I'm still moving the players around to see what produces the best results.”
After Saturday's match, Lynx coach Duncan Wilde had words of praise for Hugo's young team.
"We didn't think they were going to be able to recruit as high of a caliber of player as they did,” said Lynx coach Duncan Wilde.
Hugo said he had open tryouts in Argentina to select players, although he handpicked those from Brazil, scouring the leagues.
The mix features 11 players who are not from Puerto Rico. Of those who saw action Saturday, Alexis Rivera, Carlos Garay, Mime Ortiz and Hector Rivera are all Puerto Rican. Goalie Andrew Nucifora is from the United States as is Chris Gores (defense).- Javier Novarini, Luis Zuleta, Diego Deering and Martin Zapata are all Argentinian and Mauricio Salles and Edivaldo Juninho Da Silva are from Brazil.
"We have lots of depth, with two players at each position and there's a variety of players. I don't have any who play in the position of others [among the imports],” said Hugo. "I had a group of 30 and then we dropped to 22. If I had more they would gain more experience, but it's not bad for a team in its first year.”
The nucleus of the team's Puerto Rican contingent comes from two main sources: Quintana and Sporting San. Juan, both clubs where Hugo has coached over the years.
Hugo has coached two of the team's young players, Alexis Rivera and Alvaro Torres, since they started in the game at age 9. .
Of the rest of the local group, Angel Mussenden, Mime Ortiz, Joseph Toal all played for Sporting San Juan.
"When I started my coaching plan in Puerto Rico 15 years ago my idea was to start one elite team and make it a travel team in the summers. Since the time I established it in 1994 until 2001 we had played 140 games internationally as tuneups. Some of these players are the product of that work,” said Hugo. "If there was even more of a base in Puerto Rico for soccer, I wouldn't have had to recruit as many [foreign] players [for the Islanders] as I did.
"But I'm confident that the kids who are turning out to watch these matches will be the future of soccer;' said Hugo.
Previous Topic
Index