USSF D-II: Miami, Puerto Rico looking to bounce back

Posted Jun 2, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jun 2, 2010 at 12:18 PM

Two teams looking to rebound from defeats face off in Puerto Rico as the Islanders host Miami FC on Wednesday night.

MIAMI (1-1-5) AT PUERTO RICO (2-3-0): After opening the season with a pair of victories, the Islanders have now lost three straight, including a pair of losses to Carolina and FC Tampa Bay last week. While they have numerous games in hand on the rest of the USL Conference, they need to start taking advantage of them to move off the bottom of the division.

Returning to the Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel should help that. While the Islanders lost at home against the RailHawks they were for large spells the better team, especially in the second half. They will need to tighten up defensively, though, having given up two goals in each of their past two games. David Horst will be available after serving his one-game suspension, but Joseph Salem is out after his red card against the Rowdies.

Miami also lost in its last outing, 3-1 to the league-leading Austin Aztex last Wednesday for its first loss of the season. In order to do so, the Blues will need to try and find some more offensive punch than just Paulo Araujo Jr., who has had a hand in six of the seven goals Miami has scored this season (four goals, two assists). Miami needs more from Christian Gomez, who has only one goal and two assists in six games this season.