NEW YORK CITY, NY (CMC) – Caribbean club champions Puerto Rico Islanders advanced to the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, although they suffered a 2-1 defeat against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday on home soil. Trinidad & Tobago Pro League club San Juan Jabloteh were not so fortunate, and were eliminated, after Mexican side Santos Laguna routed them in a 5-0 home victory.
In Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the Islanders delivered the biggest upset of the competition when they eliminated the Los Angeles Galaxy of United States Major League Soccer fame.
Islanders won the series 5-3 on aggregate, following a 4-1 victory at the Home Depot Center in the United States last week.
Barbadian referee Trevor Taylor was in charge of the match and in the thick of the action when he awarded a 32nd-minute penalty to the Islanders.
David Foley put the Puerto Rican side ahead, when he calmly slotted home, after wrong-footing Galaxy and Jamaica goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
The Galaxy found the equaliser just five minutes later. An attack from the MLS side was thwarted, and an attempted clearance ricocheted off Marco Velez past the flat-footed Islanders net-minder Bill Gaudette and into his own goal.
The two sides produced end-to-end action in the second half, and there were several robust midfield scraps before Galaxy got the consolation winner.
Edson Buddle saw his initial shot from the top of the penalty box deflect off a defender delightfully onto the boots of teammate Sean Franklin, lurking on the right of the penalty spot. Franklin then spun to his left and unleashed a rasping shot through the packed area past the despairing Gaudette in the six minutes before time expired.
The Islanders will play in Group-D with Olimpia of Honduras, Mexico’s Toluca, and either Club Fas of El Salvador, or Xelaju of Guatemala.
In Torreon, Mexico, Jabloteh were eliminated, after Santos made their place safe with a 6-0 aggregate score, having won the first leg 1-0 last week in Trinidad.
Jabloteh suffered an immediate setback, when Jose Adolfo Reyes Machado broke the offside trap, and slipped a delicate right-footed lob past the advancing Cleon John to open the scoring.
John had a busy night between the sticks, and saved the T&TPFL side from a heavier loss. His memorable moment came when he stopped a penalty in the 31st minute from Oribe Peralta.
Jabloteh defender Robert Primus was fortunate to have lasted the entire match, as he was guilty of several tough tackles, and brought Peralta down in the box to gift the penalty.
Peralta strode confidently to the spot, fired powerfully to John’s right, but the Jabloteh custodian was equal to the shot, and was alert enough to deny a second attempt, giving the T&T side a glimmer of hope going in 1-0 down at halftime.
This all disappeared, when Rodolfo Salinas hammered home from the top of the box moments after the resumption to double the Santos lead.
Carlos Darwin Quintero got into the action in the 72nd minute, when he tapped-in from inside the six-yard box, and Machado found himself unmarked around the penalty spot and added his second in the 79th minute.
The demolition was completed when Arnulfo Gonzalez Navarro came off the bench, when he scored in the 82nd minute unchallenged from just outside the 18-yard box.
Santos move into Group-B, joining the Columbus Crew and Municipal (Guatemala), with either Brujas (Costa Rica), or Joe Public (Trinidad and Tobago) to round out the group yesterday.