the squads first international appearance. In October 2007, the Islanders came into the CFU Club Championship 2007 with a much stronger squad, which was relatively unchanged from the squad that made it to the semifinals of the USL First Division playoffs and it showed, making it all the way to the tournaments semifinals losing out to Joe Public F.C. 0:1 from a late goal. The entire tournament was played in Trinidad and Tobago, the Islanders headed their group with a 2:2 tied against Harbor View FC, which later became the tournament's champions, and two victories. In this tournament, the team also broke several of their on-field records, it achieved its highest score line, a 10:0 victory over Hitachi Centre SAP FC, in the same game Fabrice Noël scored the team's first ever hat trick with a tally of four goals. This would be the last time the Islanders would play to try to qualify to this incarnation of the confederations top club tournament, since this competition format was abandoned in 2008. 2008–2009 CONCACAF Champions League The team played in the new CONCACAF Champions League, which replaced CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2008–2009. The Islanders were given a chance to qualify as the 2008 CFU Club Championship would be played after the CCL starts, three Caribbean sides would be chosen from last years CFU CC; the Champions, runner-up and the third place team. Since the third place game wasn't played during the tournament the Islanders and San Juan Jabloteh (the 2007 local Trinidad & Tobago League Champions), the two teams that lost in the semifinals, played a Home-Away Series to determine who would take the last spot, which ended in a 1:0 aggregate in favor of the Islanders. The Islanders were later matched up against regional powerhouse L.D. Alajuelense of Costa Rica in the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League. The first leg of the series was played on August 27, 2008 in the Alajuelense home ground, the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto and in front of 900 spectators, the game ended with a hard fought 1:1 draw. The second leg was played on September 3, and it took the Islanders two late goals to come from behind and win the game 2–1; with an aggregate of 3:2, the Islanders advanced to the group stage, being placed in Group D, which included Club Santos Laguna, Tauro F.C., and C.S.D. Municipal. In the