RIFC travel down to the Low Country to take on the Charleston Battery on Saturday night. It’s a big game for RIFC as we would clinch a playoff spot with a win. For Charleston, the game is basically meaningless as they are locked in at 2nd in the Eastern Conference. They will be looking to regain some form and momentum heading into the postseason though, after losing 2-0 to Pittsburgh last weekend. RIFC are of course coming off of a 0-0 draw at home against Loudoun United, which was a game that I’m sure we’d all like to forget. So let’s move forward and take a look at what we can expect heading into this one.

I have to start by mentioning that in this upcoming game, we are welcoming back this man:

That’s right: Tide Talk’s very own Lord of the Tides for last month, Noah Fuson. Noah was unavailable last game due to a bunch of nonsense from the USL, who didn’t overturn his suspension for the two ridiculous yellow cards he received in San Antonio. He was sorely missed last time out and I’m thrilled to see him back. We were in desperate need of the width and creativity that he provides on the field. And given that he’s back for this one, we have to look at where he’s going to line up. This what I would like to see:

There’s a lot to talk about with this lineup but I’ll start with the LWB spot. I feel like I’ve talked about that position so much recently due to players being unavailable. Jojea Kwizera has been away on international duty and it remains to be seen what his availability is going to look like. The last time Kwizera was away, he missed our matchup with Pittsburgh and played the last 30 minutes against Orange County. We could see a similar thing this time around with him providing minutes off the bench. Assuming Kwizera doesn’t start, it leaves us with two likely options: Noah Fuson or Morris Duggan. Duggan got the start at LWB last time out and I wasn’t a fan. Duggan didn’t do anything wrong but I don’t think he fits what we need in that position. I would much rather see Noah start there and give us an attacking threat from out wide.

The next thing to mention with this lineup is that I have Jack Panayotou starting up top with JJ Williams. In the press conference following our last game, Khano Smith said that he hadn’t heard anything yet about Albert Dikwa’s injury. To me that’s a little bit concerning. Without him, I think our best option is to play Jack P. Mark Doyle started up top last game with JJ and the less I say about his performance, the better. Jack P subbed on for Doyle in the 2nd half and did really well in his typical creative role. While I don’t like him playing next to Noah as two number 10s, I do like the idea of Noah playing at LWB and Jack P playing up front.

Lastly, I have to add that although I’m partial to Frank Nodarse, I wouldn’t be that upset if we see Morris Duggan instead of him on the left of our back 3. Duggan showed a lot of his really good qualities in the last match. I would just like to see them from further back in defense.

I think our keys to this game are to be strong defensively and try to hit Charleston on the counter. It’s not going to be easy (more on that shortly) but I think we have enough going forward to hurt Charleston. It’s really going to depend on how well we can defend and how disruptive our midfield can be. If we can spring some transitions and contain their attack, we should be able to have some success and get a result.

As I said earlier, Charleston are currently 2nd in the Eastern Conference. They’re also the 2nd best team in the league on points and have scored the 2nd most goals in the league this season. That’s a lot of 2nds. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which team is ahead of them in all of those categories. But other than Louisville, this is going to be the most difficult team we’ve faced all season. Charleston may have lost to Pittsburgh last weekend but they rested some of their best attacking players. I don’t think we can count on them doing that again here. And even if they do, Charleston have enough depth to be dangerous anyway.

Speaking of that depth and their potent attack, we have to talk about the players we need to look out for. First and foremost is Nick Markanich. Markanich leads the league in goals this season with 28. That’s 11 more than Louisville’s Wilson Harris in 2nd. Markanich’s goal scoring record this season has been recognized overseas, as he is set to move to CD Castellón in Spain’s 2nd division after the season. I wish him all the best but like most USL fans outside of Charleston, I wish he left back in August when the deal was initially struck.

In addition to Markanich, Charleston also have MD Myers. On most other teams, he would be the main star. He has 13 goals this year, which would lead a lot of other teams in the league. And then there’s Juan David Torres who has 12 goal contributions with 6 goals and 6 assists. It’s really impressive how Charleston have built out their squad, especially in attack.

But for all of the talk about Charleston’s attack, their defense is really good too. They’ve conceded 33 goals this season, which is 4th fewest in the league. They’re led by goalkeeper Adam Grinwis and their captain CB Leland Archer. Charleston have kept 13 clean sheets this season with 10 belonging to Grinwis. However, they haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last 6 games, conceding 9 goals in that span. Their last one was a 6-0 win over Orange County on August 24th. There’s a bit of an asterisk with that though because Orange County got a red card in the 5th minute of that game. You’d have to go back to their August 2nd 5-0 win over Indy Eleven for the last clean sheet that was 11 v 11.

I bring all of this up to say that while their defensive record has been really good this season, it hasn’t been as great lately. That’s what provides me with optimism heading into this one. As I said in our section above, I think we should have some opportunities in transition. Charleston have had more possession than their opponents in all but 4 of their games this season and often have more than 60%. I’d expect this trend to continue in this game but that’s something that we’ve shown we’re comfortable with.

Well, I’m going to try. My official prediction for this one is 5-2 RIFC.

Yeah look, this is where I throw out all of what I just wrote in this blog and have some fun. I know I said this is going to be one of our most difficult games this season, but allow me to make a quick comparison. The last time we played a team as good as Charleston, we drew 0-0 at home and then went to their place and won 5-2. Yes, of course I’m talking about Louisville. Last time we played Charleston, we drew 0-0 at home. And now we’re facing them on the road. See where I’m going with this? Honestly, this prediction is really a win-win. If it happens, I look like a genius. If it doesn’t, we can all have a nice laugh.

This is shaping up to be a great game and I can’t wait to see what happens Saturday night. I’ll be back on Monday with the Postmatch Beacon where I’ll either be taking several victory laps or I’ll be laughing at myself for saying something so outrageous. Either way, it should be fun. Until then, UP THE TIDE!