We’re back. It’s been a long 112 days since RIFC last took the field in a competitive match. We all know how that one ended up and to be honest with you all, I’m still not completely over it. But this is where we get to turn the page. We get to start anew. We get to dream. And perhaps best of all, we get to come together once again to support our guys in amber and blue. So without further ado, let’s take a look ahead at what’s to come this Saturday and moving forward this season.

It’s been a pretty great offseason for RIFC, with some big business being done early. If you haven’t been keeping up date with what’s been going on and especially if you haven’t been keeping up with all of the glorious Tide Talk content, all I have to say to you is:

There’s been plenty of content to keep you up to date and the best place to start is with Tide Talk’s Offseason Tracker, perfectly set up by Ryan. There, you’ll find links to all of our offseason content, including blogs on new signings and departures as well as some more general info.

But to quickly summarize the offseason:

Overall I would give the offseason a B+/A-. The only things keeping this from being an A+ is that we weren’t able to get a direct replacement for Morris Duggan at CB and we weren’t able to add depth to the forward position. On the latter, that can be a difficult thing to do with Albert Dikwa and JJ Williams both in the squad. I would imagine it would be hard to convince a player to sign to be a third choice number 9. And it’s also difficult to go into the loan market, as teams likely wouldn’t want to loan a player to a team that wouldn’t give him much playing time. But I don’t think not having a third choice striker is that big of a problem.

So, what does this mean for our season opener on Saturday? It’s always a guessing game predicting a starting 11. Heading into the first match of the season though? That is probably the most difficult. But here is what I have:

This is pretty similar to what we saw last season. The changes are:

• Nodarse to the left side of the back 3
• New signing Maxi Rodriguez into the midfield 3
• Clay Holstad to right wingback

On Frank to the back line, this makes the most sense with the departure of Morris Duggan, who returned to his parent club Minnesota United (and is doing brilliantly I might add). Without a left-footed ball playing CB, moving Frank from RWB and putting him back a more natural position in the back line just makes sense.

As for Maxi, not much really needs to be said about that. He’s one of the best midfielders in the league and one of the biggest signings of the offseason league-wide. Maxi should help a lot with creativity from the midfield, which is something the team was really lacking last season.

And as for the most controversial choice, Holstad at RWB, I think this is a situation where Khano Smith needs to use Clay’s versatility to the team’s advantage. This was done at times last season, especially early on. We saw Clay in the back line and out wide when required. The addition of Maxi Rodriguez allows us to utilize Clay’s versatility more and I think the RWB position is probably the biggest question mark heading into the season. The team signed Dani Rovira from the Pittsburgh Riverhounds but he wasn’t a nailed on starter there and I don’t think the RWB job is immediately his. That being said, the word is that Grant Stoneman is injured and may or may not play on Saturday. If he is out, I would expect Clay to take his spot in the back line and Rovira to get the start at RWB.

Overall, I see the team being slightly more possession based this season than last year. Khano tried to implement a possession style right from the start last season and it didn’t really ever come to fruition. We were at our best when we turned to our 3 man midfield of Ybarra, Herivaux and Holstad. They were able to create turnovers in midfield and get the ball quickly forward to Noah Fuson to create attacking opportunities. This season, with the addition of Maxi, we should have more creativity from the midfield and be better able to break teams down when we are controlling possession. I can’t wait to see how this plays out on Saturday night.

The Charleston Battery come into this game having lost their first game of the season last weekend at home against Louisville City. It was the marquee matchup in week 1 of the USL Championship season. I said last year heading into the playoffs that Charleston were a better team than Louisville, despite finishing 2nd in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. I still believe it now even after this loss to open the season. It was a close matchup that ended up being decided by a dubious red card and a long-range speculative shot that went in. The red card was for an “elbow” from Charleston’s Arturo Rodriguez, who came on in the 63rd and got the card in the 70th. Louisville scored the winning goal 6 minutes later on an Adrien Perez shot that was inexplicably let in by new starting goalkeeper Luis Zamudio.

So heading into this game, I would expect Charleston to be out for revenge. They were pretty hard done by in their last game. But arguably more importantly, the last time these two teams met was in Charleston for the Eastern Conference Finals last year. We all know how that went:

But as I said earlier, it’s a new season. So as much as our previous meeting might give some extra motivation to the Battery, it’s more important to note that they’ve undergone some significant changes since then. 6 players who appeared in their match last weekend against Louisville played in last year’s Eastern Conference Final. Only 3 players started both games. You can contrast that with RIFC, who should have 9 (possibly 8 depending on health) starters from the Eastern Conference Final starting on Saturday. Here are some of Charleston’s significant losses from last season:

• FW Nick Markanich (CD Castellon)
• MF Jay Chapman (Detroit City FC)
• GK Adam Grinwis (Retired)

Markanich won the golden boot last season, banging in 28 goals. This form brought interest from abroad and it was announced in late August of last year that he would be moving to CD Castellon of Spain’s Segunda Division in January. It was always going to be near impossible to replace him, but Charleston did really well to bring in Cal Jennings from the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Jennings is a proven goal scorer in this league and is certainly one to watch out for on Saturday.

Chapman arrived from Hartford Athletic in August of last year and appeared 15 times including the playoffs, with 10 starts. He often partnered with Aaron Molloy in a double pivot in central midfield. It was a partnership that worked well, but Chapman has left for Detroit City FC. Charleston have brought in Nanan Houssou from New Mexico United as a replacement. It will probably take a little bit of time for him to adjust to a new partnership with Molloy. However, with Molloy’s experience and ability, the adjustment shouldn’t be too difficult.

You would think that losing the golden boot winner from last year would be the most significant loss, but I would argue that losing Adam Grinwis to retirement could prove to be the biggest loss for Charleston Battery. Grinwis was a solid shot stopper and experienced goalkeeper. He has been replaced with Luis Zamudio, whose last consistent run of starts was in 2022 with Loudoun United. Zamudio was with Colorado Springs Switchbacks last season but only appeared once in a US Open Cup loss. And as I mentioned earlier, he gave up a really bad goal that ended up costing his team the game. Now, I would agree with the argument that it was just one mistake in his first start. Charleston coach Ben Pirmann seems to have confidence in him based on some comments from the broadcast. But it’s hard to not feel a little bit of concern after that performance.

Playing at Charleston to open up the season is really tough. However, it is also maybe a good thing to get this game out of the way early. I think it’ll be a closely contested game and I can see this one ending in a 1-1 draw. If I had to guess, I’d have Charleston scoring through Cal Jennings with an assist from Juan David Torres (can’t believe I got this far into the blog without mentioning him). Torres is one of the most dangerous creative players in the league and will be Charleston’s key man this season. I think RIFC scores through JJ Williams with Maxi Rodriguez marking his debut with an assist.

My excitement is through the roof for this game. As of right now, I’m not sure where I’ll be watching from. But wherever I end up, I will be glued to the screen. It’s going to be fascinating to see how this team comes out of the gates after a slow start last year. I know personally I’m going to give them less leeway this season early on, as the team is no longer a first year expansion side and most of the squad has returned.

I will be back here on the blog with the next Prematch Lookout as we look ahead to RIFC’s next matchup at Phoenix Rising. I guess this is the part where I break the news that there will not be a Postmatch Beacon this year. Timmy will be back with his player ratings after each game. And if you want to hear my thoughts, tune in to the Quahog Corner on X (Twitter) Monday nights at 9pm as I join Kevin to break down the game and go on various rants. And with that, I will leave you with just a nice, casual…..UP THE TIDE!