Well it hasn't started off with a bang.

A bit gloom and doom but does alot of interesting info.
http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n48/PRSportsBeat0748-en.shtml
mikey

That reporter is a loser who doesn't even know the name of the league.

I've sent a note, attached below, to her. I wouldn't call it a "soccer basher" article but based on this, the sitution does not sound good in PR for soccer in general.

I enjoyed your recent article about the newest United Soccer League (USL) football team, the Puerto Rico Islanders. I found the piece to be informative about the inner workings of Puerto Rican football and the state it is in.

However, I feel that there were some things that needed correction. The USL is an umbrella organization of various leagues, the Islanders will be playing in the A-league. The "A" is considered division II in the United States, division I in Canada, by their respective countries and has produced various players for the National teams of several nations.

The USL primary emphasis has always been on player development. Many USL teams, no matter what division they play in, have established training academies with some of the premier clubs in the world. For example, Atlanta (A-league) has established and working ties with AC Milan. Pittsburgh (a division 3 club) has strong ties to Bayer Leverkusen. Ajax (Belgium) has started a whole program which will play in the lowest division next year with another club scheduled to begin play in 2005. They will then be sponsoring two teams, one in the "A" and other strictly amateur team in addition to the various youth programs they will sponsor.
This commitment to player development should only strengthen the efforts of Puerto Rico to produce a winning football program.

I highly recommend the following links to learn more about the league and it's programs.

www.uslsoccer.com (official site)
www.a-league.com (unofficial site) - perhaps one of the better fan sites on the web.
www.usldisscussions.com (forums)
www.dansoccerzone.com/SoccerGuide (wonderful site detailing the cities of the USL and MLS and their teams)
www.sover.net/~spectrum/ (US soccer history site including a lot of information about the USL)


Thank you for your wonderful article and I hope to read more about the Islanders in the future.

Rob Wilson
Pittsburgh Riverhounds Match Reporter

So Puerto Rico wants to be top 8 in the world. This isn't basketball or baseball where you have only a handful of competitive nations. Puerto Rico will be lucky to be top 8 in CONCACAF!!! It was a fairly negative article, but I'm hoping they can pull it off. The league is a lot different from 1997 and the level of play has improved considerably. I just hope they can field a competitive team. If they go winless at the start of the season they may only last 7 games... a competitive team (around 0.500) and they should be fine. We shall see...

That was a great email Rob. One point though, I think Ajax is in Holland.

No its under my sink -- okay bad joke!!!

Oops - my bad. So much for doing my homework.

Here is her answer to my e-mail:

Robert,

Thanks. I stand corrected. I drew my information from a press conference and
the divisions were not emphasized. I did check the website before writing
the article, but it was not up to date. I obviously didn't do enough
homework. Fortunately, I will be learning a lot about soccer (we don't cover
it here) over the next few months. I really do hope the team is a success
here, because I have two young sons, both of whom play (and love) soccer.
Thanks again,
Gabrielle Paese
assistant sports editor, The San Juan Star

Another soul saved from the horrors of baseball!

One other correction Houndguy-- the Atlanta Silverbacks connection is with Inter (not AC) Milan. Cheers.

Well I work with a few people who live in Puerto Rico and they are very very excited about their new team and the possibilities.

They are very proud of their stadium and hopeful that they can be competitive in the A-league. The tone is optimistic, not as pessimistic as this article sounds.

Do you have any links or photos of the stadium the team will be playing in?

I have sent my buddy an email asking for stadium details and i'll post anything he sends back...

It was cool that you even got a reply back. It sounds like she is willing to give the Islanders a chance -- hopefully they perform well and represent the sport and the A-League well in Puerto Rico!

Stadium...




Crowds at the Salsa Music Festival held in the stadium this past summer...

Is that natural grass or that astro play? It looks really good. I hope they pull a good crowd.

I'm sure Ajax will be happy to find out that they have been relocated to Belgium!

Ok, OK, I get it. Enough already!

By the way - I hate you all.

I believe Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium is grass.

Grass is good...

It's in print now (bottom of the article) so I guess it must be true. Who once said "if a lie is repeated enough, it becomes the truth"???


http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n49/PRSportsBeat0749-en.shtml

The bit that amused me was when it was stated that Ajax plays in Belgium.

I've already sent a letter correcting the correction. I am so