Welcome back to the likely final 2024 edition of The Tide Chart! As always, the goal here is to highlight the biggest shifts in player form over the past month.
October was a strong month for our beloved club, which secured a spot in the USL Championship playoffs in its inaugural season. While Rhode Island missed the chance to host a first-round playoff match due to a tiebreaker with Indy Eleven, they closed the season with four wins and two draws after a challenging road trip in mid-September. With the team peaking (and healthy) at just the right time, this impressive run has Rhode Island fans feeling optimistic about the playoffs.
Last month, I mentioned it was still tough to get a clear sense of this RIFC team. We knew what they could look like at their best but we didn’t always know when that version of the team would show up. After a great final stretch of the season, Rhode Island fans should have a high degree of confidence that their team is going to be very difficult to knock out of the playoffs. And with this momentum, it’s not unrealistic to think they could make a deep run—maybe even lift a trophy in November. The first challenge, however, will be against a team Rhode Island hasn’t beaten this season, so revenge will be on the mind come this weekend.
More to come at Tide Talk about the playoffs, but for now let’s dive into The Tide Chart for October. A quick reminder: a “rising tide” doesn’t necessarily mean a player is performing great, nor does a “falling tide” mean they’re underperforming. This is all about player form relative to last month and general expectations.
Rising Tide 📈
Noah Fuson
Landing in the Rising Tide section for the second straight month, the club’s “Player of the Year” honoree picked up 3 goals and 2 assists in October. Those assists helped him clinch the USL Championship’s Golden Playmaker award for most assists in the league. Noah’s importance to Rhode Island’s playoff chances can’t be overstated. He’s playing like a man on a mission, peaking at the perfect time. As our top offensive weapon, he’ll need to keep this momentum if RIFC hopes to make a deep playoff run.
Noah Fuson did miss one game in October due to a bullshit red card and it was clear on that day just how much his absence was felt. (In fairness, we were also missing Jojea Kwizera in that match, meaning the team was down its top two creative threats.) He’s been such a joy to watch and here’s to hoping we get to see him four more times before this season wraps up.
There are so many great highlights I could share here from Fuson’s month of October, but let’s take a look at this beautiful finish after a lovely give-and-go with Ybarra.
JJ Williams
JJ has been a hot topic among RIFC fans all season. A skilled player who contributes in ways beyond the traditional striker role, JJ’s holdup play, combination play, and aerial ability make him invaluable. But heading into the final stretch, many felt he needed to add a few goals for confidence heading into the playoffs. And in October, he delivered.
Thanks in part to an injury sidelining Chico Dikwa, JJ earned all 4 starts during the month of October, In that time, he had 6 goal contributions including 4 goals and 2 assists. It should also be noted that he played the full 90 minutes in the first three October games, then subbed out of the Miami game early in the second half when the match was well out of hand and after having already bagged a hat trick in the first half alone. There were fitness concerns for a large part of the season but JJ is at full health and strength at the right time.
This is a player who is happy, hungry, and full of confidence. With Dikwa likely back to full health, Khano has a tough decision to make about who he starts against Indy Eleven. The Fuson-Williams pairing has been lethal, and moving Fuson to accommodate Chico and JJ is probably not a wise move considering the form that Fuson is in. My guess? We’ll see Noah and JJ starting, with Dikwa as the most super of super subs.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that Rhode Island FINALLY scored its first PK of the season in the very last game on the schedule. After misses by Dikwa and Fuson in their previous attempts, it was a welcome relief to see JJ take the ball and bury it without hesitation. That alone makes him the top choice should RIFC earn a playoff penalty.
Mark Ybarra
After seeing some instability with his minutes in the second half of the season, Marc Ybarra has re-entrenched himself as an every-game starter. A key development late this season was Coach Khano unlocking the midfield by pairing Ybarra and Herivaux with Defiance 1636’s Player of the Year, Clay Holstad, forming a balanced and complementary trio that allows all three players to do what they do best. As a result, they’re all playing great ball right now but Ybarra gets the nod for this section of the blog considering his playing time seemed to be at risk in August and early September.
I’d be remiss not to include Ybarra’s first and only goal this season: a pure goalscorer’s finish against Miami FC. Calm and collected, just as Ybarra has looked all season long.
Falling Tide 📉
I had a tough time with the Falling Tide section this month. We largely saw a pretty entrenched starting XI, with the few changes being due to suspension or injury. Those who didn’t get much time in October are the same players who already saw their playing time slip away heading into September. This is a good thing in that Khano has found a core group of starting and rotating players that have been producing results at the most important time of the year. Without rehashing the same points and players as last month, here are some players who didn’t have quite as profound an impact as they did previously.
Stephen Turnbull
Turnbull had a respectable October, though standout plays were few. What stuck out to me the most is how often he was subbed off early or even left off the starting XI. It’s unclear whether Coach Khano was holding back his minutes for rest, or if Khano is seeing something in his play that warrants others getting more time. It’s also possible that Khano simply wanted to give other players opportunities to play in the right wingback spot just to have some additional experience there if needed in the playoffs. (Hello, Nodarse 👋) Either way, Turnbull hasn’t played past the 70th minute since September 15 and also failed to start in the season finale.
These facts alone dont have me too worried as my guess is that the slight drop in playing time has more to do with keeping him fresh, but it does raise a couple questions considering his play over the past month or two has been solid but not spectacular. Here’s to hoping that Turnbull cranks up the dial and turns into that shithousing menace in the playoffs that we have come to love this year.
Gabi Alves
Gabi was also in the Falling Tide section of the August Tide Chart as he struggled to get playing time after returning from injury. Since then, he played in only two matches in early September and wasn’t on the field in the final six games. In fact, Alves only made the game sheet once during that time—the Loudoun match on October 13, when Khano used only three of his five substitutions.
Gabi is a talented player who has been edged out of the rotation once the team solidified the 3-5-2 formation. He’s not explosive enough in the attack, and with only three available CB spots in the formation, he hasn’t been able to secure a spot in a crowded field of solid defenders. It’ll be interesting to see if Gabi sticks around next season or if he’ll look for a system that better suits his skill set. At this point, it’s unlikely we’ll see him on the field again this year.
Albert Dikwa
Chico’s season has had its highs and lows, finishing with a team-high 10 goals plus 4 assists—solid numbers but not quite what fans expected after last year’s standout season. His 14 goal contributions are second only to Fuson’s 18 (8 G, 10 A). I think the issue is that our expectations were sky high for the reigning Golden Boot and league MVP after his 20 goals and one assist last year.. He played a ho-hum 37 minutes against Tampa Bay before leaving due to injury, missed two games, and returned as a sub in the home finale, where he netted a goal on a smooth finish but then bungled a great cross from Jack P 20 minutes later. Injuries and inconsistency played a main character in the story of his 2024 season, but there’s no denying that Chico’s talent can be game-changing.
As mentioned earlier, it’s going to be fascinating to see what Coach Khano does with Dikwa for the first playoff game. It’s possible Dikwa isn’t fully match-fit given his time off, which may make the decision easier. But if we’re to go far, we need Chico at his best.
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It’s been a memorable inaugural season both for the club and for Tide Talk as a whole. This is likely the final Tide Chart of the year, with between one and four games left in the season (please let it be four.) That said, I’m sure this won’t be my last blog for the year. Lots of good content is coming.
Comment below or on socials to share your thoughts. And don’t forget to follow The Pre- and Post-Match Beacon blogs written by Matt H, Player Ratings by Timmy S, and the Pre-Match Essentials Reddit post by Patrick M. Lastly, subscribe to our newsletter on our website to help fill that RIFC-sized void between matches. We’ll also be sure to have some fantastic offseason content to keep you busy in those miserable winter months before our first season at Tidewater.
As always… Up The Tide!
AND LFG RHODE ISLAND!!
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