Rhode Island FC took on Birmingham Legion FC in Alabama on Wednesday night in what I would argue was the biggest match of the season so far. Birmingham Legion FC sat in 5th place in the Eastern Conference on 27 points. Their form has been up and down this season, but they have lost two of their last three games against very tough opponents (Louisville City FC and Charleston Battery), before winning on Saturday against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. RIFC entered the match in 9th place with 22 points in the midst of climbing the table thanks to a five game unbeaten streak and having scored 16 goals in their last five games (compared to 11 goals in their first 13 league matches).

RIFC went on to win the game 3-1 in a remarkably professional performance for their second consecutive road win, and fourth win in their last five matches. Besides the one chance that Birmingham did score, the Rhode Island FC defense was outstanding from start to finish – blocking seven out of Birmingham’s 13 shots, and allowing just three shots on target. For the time being, the victory puts Rhode Island in 8th place in the Eastern Conference standings – jumping ahead of their next opponent, North Carolina FC – and just one win away from ascending to 5th place.

Here are my player ratings for Rhode Island FC vs. Birmingham Legion FC on Wednesday, July 17th, 2024.

My rating scale is as follows:

• 1/10 – Abysmal. You might as well have me on the pitch.
• 2/10 – Very bad
• 3/10 – Bad
• 4/10 – Below Average
• 5/10 – Average. The player didn’t necessarily stand out, but did their job.
• 6/10 – Good
• 7/10 – Very good
• 8/10 – Great
• 9/10 – Outstanding
• 10/10 – Transcendent performance. Watch out, because Real Madrid may come knocking.

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Koke made two diving saves in the first half to help preserve a 1-0 lead. The team also benefitted greatly from his distribution in this game, with 62% accuracy on his long balls – well above his season average of 46%. He didn’t have much to do in the second half thanks to RIFC’s strong defending and better controlling of the ball. I don’t believe there’s anything he could’ve done differently to stop Kasim’s beautiful curling shot.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 7/10

Nodarse did have one mistimed tackle that led to a dangerous Birmingham chance in the first half – something I felt was more common from him earlier in the season – but he grew in to the game and ended up having a very strong match. He and Yao tied for the team lead in defensive actions with 10 each – five of Nodarse’s were interceptions!

Karifa Yao (D) – 8/10

I think Birmingham Legion FC’s attacking players will be seeing Yao in their nightmares tonight. I thought it was one of his best 90 minute shifts for the club. He led all players in the match with nine clearances – and you could feel it. Every time there was a loose ball in our box, Yao was there to clean it up.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 7/10

Statistically it was a quieter game for Stoneman than Nodarse and Yao, but I thought he dealt with Birmingham flawlessly whenever he was called upon. If his two previous substitute appearances could be considered slightly shaky, this game gave me a lot of confidence that he belongs in this back three.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 4/10

It kills me to do it. Clay is without a doubt one of the best players at the club… but according to the rating scale, there’s no denying that he was below average in this match. Clay has played the most minutes of anyone at the club, so the excuse of tired legs and needing a rest certainly applies here. But he did have one poor pass, in particular, that was intercepted and initiated the sequence leading to Birmingham Legion’s lone goal.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 5/10

It was a bit of a mixed bag for Ybarra against Birmingham. He had a very uncharacteristic loose touch early in the first half leading to not only a turnover, but also a yellow card for Ybarra as he pulled back the player who picked up the ball. I think it was a combination of a tactical foul and some frustration in the heat of the moment.

In his defense, Ybarra has started all 19 games for the club this season and is second only to Clay Holstad in minutes played (by 3 minutes). One sign of potential tired legs here was that two of his corner kicks in the second half, which have been lethal as of late, were underhit and cleared at the near post by the first man. Surely he will benefit from the 10-day rest before our next match, and I’m willing to bet he comes out looking sharper than ever.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 5/10

Kwizera continued his run of good form in this match, even if he did not have a direct goal contribution (as he has in three of the last five matches). He was active on both ends of the pitch – and had a great recovery in the attacking third that led to a very dangerous chance for Karifa Yao when the score was tied 1-1. Kwizera was 0/6 on his crosses for the night, but they weren’t bad crosses so much as they were well defended.

Noah Fuson (MF) – 7/10

This was the most comfortable and impactful that any player not named Jack P. has looked playing in the number 10 position for RIFC. His contribution was immediate when he scored just one minute in to the game. The goal came off of a throw-in by Turnbull that Dikwa cleverly chested down to Noah, who was in a great position. He had another very good scoring chance about 15 minutes later, off of another clever headed pass by Dikwa. His link up play with Dikwa and the wide midfielders was clicking all game long.

Stephen Turnbull (MF) – 7/10

Turnbull was as effective as ever playing on the right flank. He was especially difficult for attacking players to get past, as he won seven out of his 11 total ground duels. He also made a great play leading up to his assist on our third goal of the night. Brito played a blind ball out of the attacking corner that actually could’ve led to a counter attack for Birmingham – but Turnbull picked up possession at the top of the box, somehow sucked in three Birmingham players, and did some nifty footwork to lay the ball off to Herivaux.

JJ Williams (F) – 5/10

Frankly, I thought this was a rough game for JJ. He did not have his usual impact holding up play with his back to goal and fighting for 50/50 balls. This season, he has generally won about 50% of his ground and aerial duels, while in this match he had just a 10% success rate on ground duels. He did draw zero fouls in this game, which I thought was uncharitable by the referee – and JJ’s frustration was visible.

Despite it all, just minutes before being subbed off, he flipped the narrative on his performance for this game: he made a fantastic interception, which he dribbled in to — and then back out of — the Birmingham box, before playing a beautiful blind backheeled pass to assist Zach Herivaux for his first goal of the season.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 8/10

This was one of Chico’s best games in a Rhode Island shirt. Last match, he proved that he is the clinical finisher and clean up man that we thought we were signing. In this match, he proved that he has much more in his arsenal than just goals. This was arguably the most involved we’ve seen Dikwa in build up play, and the most active we’ve seen him as a distributor and creator for the team. He set up scoring opportunities for his teammates numerous times throughout the game. Most notably, within the first 20 minutes of the game he used both his chest and his head to create great chances for Noah Fuson (one of which was scored).

His game was so good that we can ignore the odd decision to dive after successfully dribbling around the keeper – which led to him getting a very unnecessary yellow card.

Subs

Zachary Herivaux (MF) (63rd minute) – 8/10

The whole game flipped on its head when Herivaux subbed on. One of his first touches of the game was putting the ball in the back of the net to put RIFC up 2-1. Sure, JJ Williams made the goal happen with his interception and backheeled pass, but Herivaux made the run to be in the right position, and slotted it home. Less than 10 minutes later, he curled a ball past the goalkeeper and in to the right side of the goal. Perhaps the keeper could have done better on both goals, but Herivaux did everything right by being in a position to shoot, and putting both shots on target.

Joe Brito (MF) (72nd minute) – 6/10

It was a competent substitute appearance from Brito. For his time on the pitch Rhode Island was seeing out the game with a two goal lead, and Brito did nothing to upset that. For the second game in a row, I thought he showed some fairly clever and effective play in the attacking third to take some time off of the clock.

Collin Smith (MF) (84th minute) – 5/10

Similar to my notes for Brito and Doyle – the game was won by the time Collin Smith came on, but nonetheless he did his part in maintaining that lead and seeing out the last 13 minutes of the match.

Mark Doyle (F) (84th minute) – 5/10

Doyle’s appearance was brief and he was not especially involved in the game with just nine touches. He was a fresh set of legs to apply some pressure on the Birmingham backline, and I thought he did perfectly fine.

Something in the back of my head still tells me that Doyle can be an impactful player for us if he could get some consistent minutes. There’s still plenty of season to go!