Friday, October 10, 2008

TAMPA, FL -- The Puerto Rico Islanders have grown a tremendous amount since their inception five years ago. So too has the squad. One player in particular has gone from an unknown 23-year old defender to the face of soccer on the island over that span. Alexis Rivera is the lone remaining player from that inaugural 2004 team that will likely play an active role in the USL-1 Championship game on Fox Soccer Channel Sunday at 7:00 pm ET in Burnaby, BC.

Rivera and Rafael Ortiz, who played just 84 minutes this season, are the only players still with the team from its inaugural campaign. But for all intents and purposes, the dread-locked left back is really the lone remaining active member of a team that has grown from just five wins in its inaugural season to a championship appearance a mere five years later. It took the opposition Vancouver Whitecaps 14 years to finally reach the final in 2006, when they raised the cup.

“Alexis is the meaning of what this franchise is,” said club President Andres Guillemard. “He is the face of soccer here in Puerto Rico. He is great with fans, leaves nothing behind and exemplifies what this franchise is. We are very, very proud of him and the way he’s handled everything throughout the years.”

When the Islanders were conceived in 2004, the national team of Puerto Rico was virtually non-existent. But with the growth of the Islanders and the opportunities it provided its players for experience, the quality of the national team quickly rose. Rivera was there helping guide the way to the point that Puerto Rico nearly qualified for the current group-phase CONCACAF Semifinal Round of World Cup qualifying this past year.

“He is an important player for the national team,” said Guillemard. “Some people become the heart and sole of teams, and with the national team you can say he is the one.”

Guillemard went on to say the recent success led in part by Rivera of club and ‘country’ has been critical for the island’s growth at both levels of the game for the future.

“When the national team tied Honduras in Puerto Rico, we started receiving a lot of calls from players in Europe and the United States wanting to play for Puerto Rico and the Islanders. International victories, be it on the national team or club level, are very important. It gives credibility to our league. After the first couple of games in the CONCACAF Champions League, they called Montreal and us lucky. But they can not say that any more”

Guillemard, however, also contributes a lot of today’s success to the players of that first season and the few after, noting that experienced professionals like Sebastian Rozental, Raul Diaz Arce and Mauricio Salles played important roles in serving as leaders and educators for a group of young players from Puerto Rico and numerous other from nearby Caribbean nations.

“So much experience came with them and gave good character to the team. That character went to the other players. And more importantly, in beginning of a new team, most players are in a position of not knowing what to do. It was a difficult choice for good players to come to Puerto Rico because it was an unknown, but the credibility they had made it easier for others to decide. They have been great ambassadors to island and for the team team, which has made it easier to recruit and has led to players now seeking us out. The circumstances have reversed.”

While most national teams around the globe are buoyed by a national league whose competition fosters the growth of its domestic players, the Islanders have, for the most part, stood alone in Puerto Rico, developing players like Rivera, whose contributions have now created opportunities with the USL-1 side and the national team for players younger than he was when the club was founded.

Young Puerto Rican natives such as 22-year old Kendall Jagdeosingh and 19-year-old Andres Cabrero are among the next generation of players that are beginning to find their way onto the Islanders squad. While Cabrero has seen limited time in USL and Champions League play as a reserve, he is ahead of the curve of many of his peers in North America. Jagdeosingh has quickly become a breakout player for the club, helping lead the offense in both competitions in just his first year with the squad.

“You’ve seen in Puerto Rico the only place in the world where this type of situation of a team carrying soccer and helping a small federation exists, whereas in many other comparable countries it is the federation that has to do the job alone,” said Guillemard. “With no history, it took us this long, and important victories.”

After serving as a team leader the first four seasons, Rivera had to overcome some adversity in 2008. Having undergone a hernia surgery in the offseason, it took the veteran several months to recover. He was unable to contribute to the team in significant fashion until he made his first start in July 27, the club’s 17th game of the campaign. He had been in the lineup of nine previous games, but only saw reserve action in three for a total of 29 minutes.

While the club lost three of its first four games of the year, defender Scott Jones would become a quality stand-in for Rivera to the point that the pair were rotating in the position over the final third of the season as it navigated the congested schedule of competing in USL and the Champions League. Rivera finished the season with only 743 minutes in 12 regular season games, but played the entire 120 minutes of its second leg semifinal match against Rochester, helping guide the club to its first final. While his minutes and games were limited, they proved meaningful for the club as it went 9-1-3 in the 13 USL games he played. The Islanders also limited the opposition to just six goals in those games, posting nine of their 13 shutouts.

It is rare for a defensive player to become the face of a club or country, making it perhaps fitting that his only career assist in regular season play came on the club’s first-ever game-winning goal in a 1-0 defeat of Charleston in 2004. He also had an assist in their first-ever playoff series victory while downing Montreal last year. His only career goal came in their 2005 season opener as he scored the equalizer in a 1-1 draw against the defending champion Montreal.

Having played a key role in their first franchise win and first franchise playoff series victory, the question will be Sunday will be can Rivera help the Islanders once again achieve another club milestone, even if it only comes in a defensive role.

Watch Rivera’s only career USL goal [+]