Puerto Rico is on a roll

• by Soccer America , Jan 22, 2008

The games were the first for both teams this year as they begin preparations for the first phase of the 2010 World Cup qualifying that begins next month in the Caribbean.

Taylor Graham, a veteran of MLS clubs Kansas City and New York and now with the USL-1's Seattle Sounders, and Georgia Southern freshman Andres Cabrero scored in the 2-0 win over Bermuda on Wednesday, and former Fresno State star Noah Delgado, now with the Puerto Rico Islanders, struck in the 13th minute to give Puerto Rico a 1-0 win over Bermuda on Friday.

Graham and Delgado are both Americans. Cabrero was born in Puerto Rico. Other players who played for Puerto Rico in Friday's game with ties to the United States included goalie Josh Saunders, who played at Cal, former MetroStar Petter Villegas, who was born in Ecuador and raised in New Jersey, and New York area collegians Richard Martinez (Hofstra), Gadiel Figueroa (Stony Brook) and Kevin Muller (Stony Brook).

Puerto Rico is coached by the Islanders coach Colin Clarke, the former former FC Dallas coach and North Ireland World Cup player. Bermuda is coached by Keith Tucker, the former Howard University coach.

The last time Puerto Rico won as many as two games in a row came in 1993 when it won four consecutive matches at the Shell Caribbean Cup. Its coach was Alfonso Mondelo, who later coached the MetroStars, its technical director was long-time LIU coach Arnie Ramirez, and its star was Chris Armas, who later starred for the USA when FIFA ruled that the tournament was not an "official" competition.

JANUARY FRIENDLIES
Jan. 13
Barbados 3 (Forde 17, Straker 39, Lynch 63) Antigua & Barbuda 2 (Byers 4, 38).
Guyana 1 (Richardson 10) St. Vincent & Grenadines 0.
Costa Rica 0 Sweden 1 (Holmen 48).
Jan. 16
Bermuda 0 Puerto Rico 2 (Graham 47, Cabrero 67).
Jan. 18
Bermuda 0 Puerto Rico 1 (Delgado 13).
Jan. 19
USA 2 (Robinson 15, Donovan pen. 48) Sweden 0.
Jan. 20
Guyana 1 (Beveney 45) Grenada 2 (Langaigne 42, Dennis 70).
Jan. 23
Haiti vs. El Salvador
Jan. 26
Puerto Rico vs. Trinidad & Tobago
Jan. 27
El Salvador vs. Estonia
Jan. 30
El Salvador vs. Estonia
Iran vs. Costa Rica