If that were not impressive enough, the Islanders also made their debut in the region’s premier club competition, the CONCACAF Champions League. And nor were they there just to make up the numbers. After eliminating Trinidad and Tobago’s San Juan Jabloteh, the Puerto Ricans were handed a preliminary-round draw against Costa Rican powerhouses Alajuelense for a place in the group stage.

Against all the odds, the Tropa Naranja drew the away leg and completed the job on home soil with two late goals, securing a Group D berth alongside Mexican champions Santos Laguna and established outfits Tauro of Panama and Municipal of Guatemala.

Those who predicted the Caribbean side would be just cannon fodder for their section rivals were once again left with egg on their faces. After recording an extraordinary 3-1 home win against the Mexicans, a hitherto unimaginable place in the knockout stages became a realistic goal, which they duly secured in Panama after a memorable 2-2 draw with Tauro.

Mexican Santos Laguna and Municipal from Guatemala tied 4-4 in the last match of the group on Thursday October 30th. With the tie Municipal ended in last place for the group with 6 points, and was unable to cause a triple-tie with the Islanders and Tauro for 2nd place. Had Municipal defeated the Mexicans, and forced the triple-tie, the Islanders would have still won the tie-breaker on account of their lead of 4 away goals among the three teams. Tauro and Municipal had 3 & 2 away goals respectively.

A total of 21,112 fans assisted to the Islanders three CONCACAF Champions League games at home in Bayamón. The 10,112 fans that witnessed the 3-1 win over Santos Laguna on September 23rd was the largest crowd for the Islanders at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium this year. 3,500 fans were present to the 2-1 win over Tauro FC on September 16th; and 7,500 fans were at the 1-0 loss to Municipal in the final home game of the year for the Islanders.

The Islanders will now have to wait for the quarter finals draw on December 10th to find out who will be their opponent in the next round in March 2009. The three potencial opponents include the Mexican teams Atlante FC or Pumas UNAM; and the winner of the last match in Group A between CD Marathon from Honduras and Deportivo Saprissa from Costa Rica on November 5th.

After the Islanders Osei Teleford and Fabrice Noël scored the first goals of the match in the 16′ and 27′ minutes, the Puertoricans allowed the Tauro to come back and tie the game with a controversial penalty kick by Brunette Hay in the 42′ minute, and Hay’s second goal in the 77′.

Despite Tauro’s comeback effort to tie the match, it was not enough to avoid their elimination from the tournament; as the Islanders moved on to the quarterfinal round, ensuring that both USL-1 teams in the tournament advanced to the next round.

In the remaining game of Group D, if Municipal from Guatemala defeats Santos Laguna from Mexico tomorrow; Municipal, Tauro and the Islanders will all be tied with 8 points in the group standings. They would all three be also tied in the head to head tie breaker with 5 points each. The Islanders would then win the away goals tie breaker with 4 goals versus 3 for Tauro and 2 for Municipal.

If Municipal loses or ties Santos, then the Islanders would classify to the quarterfinals on account of their 2-1 win in Puerto Rico over the Tauro on September 16th.

The Islanders got the 6th spot in the Concacaf League of Champions quarterfinals, leaving only two of the eight spots in the knockout round undetermined.

The Islanders defeated Tauro 2-1 at home on the Group D opener on September 16th, and are looking forward to beat Tauro again in the final week, to clinch the 2nd qualifier spot for the Quarter Finals next March.

The Islanders need a win, or a 1-1 (or 2-2…) tie, to move on to the Quarter Finals. A win by Tauro, or a 0-0 tie, will push the Panamanians through to the next round.

The Islanders are winless since October 5th when they defeated the Rochester Rhinos 3-0 in overtime to clinch a spot in the USL Finals. Since then, the Islanders fell 2-1 to the 2008 USL Champions Vancouver Whitecaps in a controversial final, and 1-0 to Municipal from Guatemala in the 5th week of the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Islanders will have most of their players available except for Nigel Henry and Taiwo Atieno who are injured; while Tauro will be shorthanded as they have 4 players unavailable due to accumulation of yellow cards or red cards (Cristian Vega, Jean McClean, Johan Melo and Ricardo Amor) after their last game against Santos Laguna, and Rolando Rojas may be disabled due to an injury. Additionally one of their main strikers Brunet Hay (3 goals in the tournament) may not play due to a disagreement with the club’s owners regarding his contract renewal for next year. Hay missed the last two games due to this dispute with the Tauro management.

In the last game of Group D on Thursday, the already classified Santos Laguna from Mexico will face the already eliminated Municipal from Guatemala, in a game for which the Mexican champion has already advised will be playing with their bench B-team.