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Puerto Rico
Nickname(s)	El Huracán Azul; (The Blue Hurricane)
Association	Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol
Confederation	CONCACAF; (North America)
Head coach	Colin Clarke
Captain	Marco Vélez
Top scorer	Raphel Ortiz (4)
Home stadium	Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel
FIFA code	PUR
FIFA ranking	165
Highest FIFA ranking	97 (March 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking	202 (November 2004)
Elo ranking	186
Home colours	Away colours
First international
	Cuba 1 - 1 Puerto Rico ; (Cuba; November 12, 1940)
Biggest win
	Puerto Rico 4 - 0 Cayman Islands ; (Georgetown, Guyana; March 14, 1993)
Biggest defeat
	Neth. Antilles 15 - 0 Puerto Rico ; (Venezuela; January 15, 1959)
World Cup
Appearances	0
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Appearances	0

The Puerto Rico national football team is the national team of Puerto Rico and is controlled by Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol. Puerto Rico's national football team is a member of the Caribbean Football Union, part of the CONCACAF. Recently the team entered the qualification for the 2010 World Cup, advancing to the second round by defeating the Dominican Republic.

[edit] History

[edit] 1940-1992

Puerto Rico's first international match was against Cuba in which they drew 1-1. They did not record a win until a 3-0 result in 1970 against The Bahamas. In 1972 Puerto Rico recorded a 1-0 win against Panama in a friendly. Wins between the 80's and 90's were mainly against The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Martinique.^[1]

[edit] Chris Armas Years (1993-1994)

Chris Armas played for Puerto Rico in the 1993 Shell Caribbean Cup. In the tournament Puerto Rico established a 4 game win streak as well as not conceding a goal in those 4 games.^[1] The competition was not then recognized by FIFA and so his five matches were classed as friendlies. He was therefore later allowed to switch his allegiance to the USA,^[2] for whom he has since been capped over fifty times.

[edit] 1995-2007

Puerto Rico did not record a win, and had only 4 draws. During this time the team almost dropped all the way down in the FIFA Rankings as they went to 202.^[1]

[edit] 2008-Present

Over the past few years Puerto Rico has begun to emerge as a contender again like they were in the 90's. In 2008 during qualifiers they tied the Caribbean powerhouse Trinidad and Tobago. They also won for the first time since 1994 when they beat the Dominican Republic. Although they lost the first leg 4:0 to Central American powerhouse Honduras, they fought to a 2:2 tie on the home leg. Puerto Rico has announced plans that would allow them to participate in the next editions of the Caribbean Cup and Gold Cup.^[3]

[edit] Tournament Results

[edit] CONCACAF Championship

1963 - Did not enter
1965 - Did not enter
1967 - Did not enter
1969 - Did not enter
1971 - Did not enter
1973 - Did not qualify
1977 - Did not enter
1981 - Did not enter
1985 - Did not qualify
1989 - Did not qualify

[edit] Caribbean Cup

1989 - Did not enter
1991 - Group Stage
1992 - Did not enter
1993 - Quarterfinals
1994 - Preliminary Round
1995 - Group Stage
1996 - Did not enter
1997 - Withdrew
1998 - Group Stage
1999 - Group Stage
2001 - Preliminary Round
2005 - Group Stage
2007 - Did not enter
2008 - Did not enter
2010 -

[edit] Gold Cup

1991 - Did not enter
1993 - Did not enter
1996 - Did not qualify
1998 - Did not enter
2000 - Did not qualify
2003 - Did not enter
2005 - Did not qualify
2007 - Did not enter
2009 - Did not enter
2011 -

[edit] Pan American Games

1951 - 1975 - Did not compete
1979 - Round 2 (5th Place)
1983 - 2007 - Did not compete
2011 -

[edit] Central American and Caribbean Games

1946 - 2006 - Did not compete
2010 -

[edit] World Cup

1950 - 2010 - Did not qualify

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification

After a very long absence, the Puerto Rican national team re-emerged on Jan. 16, 2008, with a 2-0 victory in a friendly against Bermuda. This friendly was played in preparation for a World Cup Qualifier against the Dominican Republic scheduled for the 26th of March, 2008. Until this two-game sweep against the Bermuda national team, Puerto Rico's most recent victory was 1-0 against Barbados in 1994. The second game of this friendly series was won by Puerto Rico, with a score of 1-0. Following this the team participated in the last preparatory game before participating in a CONCACAF qualificatory. This game was against Trinidad and Tobago, a team that had participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The final outcome was a 2-2 draw, Puerto Rico scored the first two goals in the game's first half, and on the second half Trinidad and Tobago tied the game with a goal in the closing minutes of the period.^[4] During Puerto Rico's opponent during the first round of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF First Round was the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico advanced to the second round by defeating the Dominican Republic by 1-0. Their opponent during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF Second Round was Honduras who won the first game of the series by 4-0. Puerto Rico concluded their participation with a 2-2 draw against Honduras.^[5]

[edit] Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against Honduras on 14 June 2008. Caps and goals correct as of July 2009.

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Terry Boss	1 September 1981 (1981-09-01) (age 28)	3	0	Seattle Sounders FC
18	GK	Gabriel Tañón	4 January 1986 (1986-01-04) (age 23)	0	0	Sevilla FC

2	DF	Steven Ehrichs	11 September 1989 (1989-09-11) (age 20)	2	0	Hofstra University
3	DF	Christopher Gores	23 September 1977 (1977-09-23) (age 32)	8	0	Gigantes de Carolina
4	DF	Marco Velez	26 June 1980 (1980-06-26) (age 29)	8	0	Puerto Rico Islanders
6	DF	Richard Martínez	2 April 1988 (1988-04-02) (age 21)	5	0	Long Island Rough Riders
12	DF	Scott Horta	3 October 1988 (1988-10-03) (age 21)	2	0	Towson University
	DF	Kevin Muller	22 April 1987 (1987-04-22) (age 22)	3	0	Stony Brook University
	DF	Alexis Rivera Curet	29 October 1982 (1982-10-29) (age 27)	4	0	Puerto Rico Islanders

8	MF	Raphel Ortiz	30 November 1975 (1975-11-30) (age 34)	9	4	Sevilla FC
5	MF	Noah Delgado	30 December 1979 (1979-12-30) (age 29)	5	1	Puerto Rico Islanders
10	MF	Petter Villegas	15 November 1975 (1975-11-15) (age 34)	6	2	Puerto Rico Islanders
11	MF	Carlos Astondoa	28 April 1981 (1981-04-28) (age 28)	4	1	Gigantes de Carolina
13	MF	Danny Irizarry	9 September 1986 (1986-09-09) (age 23)	0	0	Ohio State University
14	MF	Isaac Nieves	6 January 1982 (1982-01-06) (age 27)	4	1	Sevilla FC
	MF	Carlos Morales	11 September 1982 (1982-09-11) (age 27)	0	0	Gigantes de Carolina
16	MF	Joshua Villalobos	13 November 1985 (1985-11-13) (age 24)	2	0	Furman University
17	MF	Andrés Cabrero	4 January 1989 (1989-01-04) (age 20)	6	1	Puerto Rico Islanders

15	FW	Michael Caro	8 May 1985 (1985-05-08) (age 24)	2	0	Christopher Newport University
9	FW	Chris Megaloudis	23 November 1982 (1982-11-23) (age 27)	5	2	Sevilla FC
7	FW	Gadiel Figueroa	11 June 1986 (1986-06-11) (age 23)	5	0	Sevilla FC
	FW	Eloy Matos	10 April 1985 (1985-04-10) (age 24)	3	0	Atletico de San Juan FC^[6]

[edit] Recent results and upcoming fixtures

Date	Tournament	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
15 June, 2008	2010 FIFA Qualifiers	Bayamon	Honduras	2:2	Chris Megaloudis, Petter Villegas
4 June, 2008	2010 FIFA Qualifiers	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	0:4
27 March, 2008	2010 FIFA Qualifiers	Bayamon	Dominican Republic	1:0	Petter Villegas
27 January, 2008	Friendly	Bayamon	Trinidad and Tobago	2:2	Chris Megaloudis, Petter Villegas
18 January, 2008	Friendly	Hamilton	Bermuda	1:0	Noah Delgado
16 January, 2008	Friendly	Hamilton	Bermuda	2:0	Taylor Graham, Andrés Cabrero^[7]