ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands - Puerto Rico continued their perfect run in League C Group D on Thursday with a 3-1 away victory over the British Virgin Islands at the A.O. Shirley Recreation Ground.
But the win was not nearly as straightforward as last summer’s encounter, when El Huracan Azul cruised to a 6-0 win over the British Virgin Islands at home.
Puerto Rico peppered the VGB goal early with mostly harmless long-range efforts, and it was actually the hosts who struck first thanks to a neatly converted penalty from Tyler Forbes in the 36th minute.
Leandro Antonetti responded with a low free kick past VGB GK Daniel Gilford in the 44th minute to even things up heading into halftime.
On the other end of the break, Puerto Rico seized control thanks to a Daniel Vega blast into the bottom left corner just seconds after the restart.
The visitors would maintain control over the flow of the second half, but there was no further scoring until the 94th minute when Ian Silva added an insurance goal with a close-range header to officially seal the deal for Puerto Rico.
El Huracan Azul now has nine points from three matches and extended their already insurmountable lead to seven points with just one match left to play.
The campaign ends for the VGB with two draws and two defeats, a sign of improvement over the previous campaign in a difficult group.
