Tonight's game against the Puerto Rico Islanders (8:00 PM EST, televised on Fox Soccer Channel) is something I've been looking forward to all year. To help get into the game a bit, I did some research on Puerto Rico. There are several interesting things about this team that I thought might be of interest to Crew fans. Specifically... 

Overview 

The Puerto Rico Islanders play in the USL First Division, one level below Major League Soccer. Their opponents in that league are teams like the Minnesota Thunder, Cleveland City Stars, and Rochester Rhinos. They are currently in fourth place in the league, with a record of 11 wins, 5 losses and 8 draws.

Several players on the Puerto Rico lineup have MLS experience, starting with their goalkeeper - former Crew netminder Bill Gaudette. Other players whose names might be familiar include Marco Velez (Toronto), Petter Villegas (Los Angeles), Kyle Veris (Ohio State and Los Angeles), Michael Behonick (MLS pool goalkeeper), and Domenic Mediate (Columbus and DC).

Champions League Achievement 

Puerto Rico advanced to the group stage after beating Toronto 1-0 over two legs. They won the first game 1-0 in Toronto before holding on for a 0-0 draw in the home leg.

Last year, the Islanders also played in the Champions League, and were the darlings of the tournament. They defeated Alajuelense of Costa Rica in a play-in to reach the group stage. They then proceeded to finish second in their group - ahead of Panamanian club Tauro and Guatemalan club Municipal. Once in the elimination rounds, they defeated Honduran club CD Marathon in the quarterfinals before succumbing to Cruz Azul on penalties in the semifinals.

Various accomplishments and trivia 

Entering Tuesday's contest they have not conceded a goal in all competitions since July 25 - a game in which they rested the vast majority of their first-choice players. If we set aside that game as an anomaly, they have not conceded a goal since June 27th - a stretch of 9 games over almost two months.

Player Notes 

Their leading scorer, Cristian Arrieta, is a 30-year old Italian defender with 8 goals to his credit through last weekend. 

Their first-choice forward - Kendall Jagdeosingh, a 23-year-old Trinidadian player from Manzanilla, is suspended for Tuesday's game after being ejected in the 88th minute of the second leg against Toronto.

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