Rhode Island FC fell in heartbreaking fashion to the New England Revolution on Wednesday night, losing 2-1 in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup.

It was a highly anticipated matchup with the two teams playing just 21 miles apart from each other, and there’s a lot of animosity between the most chronically-online portions of each fanbase (leading to it’s dubbing as “El Toxico”).

It was another great night at Tidewater with over 9,500 in attendance on a Wednesday night. After rewatching the match, I really think Rhode Island FC did enough to win this one. They were imposing their will on the Revolution for a lot of the second half, and the Revs late winner was very much against the run of play.

I’m looking forward to being at the stadium again on Saturday for Monterey Bay, and I actually think this is the more important of the two games… it’s time for Rhode Island FC to start picking up some points in the league and climbing the table.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Jackson Lee (GK) – 4/10

Tough night for Jackson Lee, who is typically so reliable in net. It’s still difficult to say exactly what happened on the cruel, late, game-winning goal for the Revolution.

From what I saw in real-time from right behind the net, and confirmed when rewatching the match, I think Lee let’s the ball go over his head thinking that it’s sailing out of bounds. Of course, instead, it takes a bad bounce off the post and there’s nothing Lee or the defense can do from there.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 5/10

On the first New England goal, Stoneman jumps out of position to make an interception and leaves a huge gap in the back line (not the only time Stoneman did this in this match). His fellow defenders nearly do enough to cover, but the ball still ends up in the back of the net.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 6/10

Frank looked comfortable in his return to the defense, after missing his last league match for a red card suspension. I was most impressed with Nodarse’s ability to win the ball back higher up the field in this match, and he made a couple of nice runs or passes to help spring counter attacks off of those interceptions and ball recoveries.

Rio Hope-Gund (D) – 6/10

I continue to be very impressed with Rio. He’s tough for his opponent to get around, and once he gets the ball he’s calm and composed with it. I’ve been wanting to see him pass a bit more progressively and/or get more involved in the attack – and he did exactly that in some great build up play with Noah Fuson, which directly leads to the Maxi goal early in the second half.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 6/10

This was probably Aldair’s best defensive game for Rhode Island FC, as he had five ball recoveries and two interceptions. He also won six duels – the most of any player in the match.

His crossing was characteristically good as well, as he hit a few early, dangerous crosses into the box for Dikwa.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 8/10

Clay looked like the best player on the field, even amongst MLS competition. He led all players in touches and completed passes, including 14 passes into the final third (the next highest player had seven).

He was spraying the ball all over the place, he was carrying the ball forward and dancing around challenges, and he was winning the ball back constantly. He also broke up some very dangerous counter attacks for the Revolution, and quickly turned them into opportunities for Rhode Island.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 7/10

Maxi said he likes scoring against MLS competition, and he proved it on Wednesday night with the first ever Rhode Island FC goal at Tidewater. It was a great pass from Fuson, but the one-timed finish from Maxi is outstanding.

Besides the goal, Maxi was very good again. He was constantly looking to spring Rhode Island into attack – even dropping back between the center backs to pick up the ball and progress it when it wasn’t moving forward quickly enough.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 6/10

Amos followed up his MoTM performance from last Saturday with another very strong showing in the midfield. Again, if Amos goes in for a 50/50 ball there’s a very good chance that he’s coming out with it – he won 5/6 ground duels and 3/4 tackles on the night.

Amos had a great shot (love the bumper pass from Clay to start this move) that went just barely wide – I’d love to see him get more attempts like this.

I would say he’s done enough in these last two performances to hold down the central midfield role even as other players return to fitness… but given the congested schedule, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Amos and Herivaux continue to split time.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 5/10

Kwizera was very involved in the attack, and with that comes some good and some bad. The good is, he led the team in chances created with four. The bad is, it took a lot of failed or wasted opportunities to create those four chances (or as an anonymous Tide Talk colleague put it – “did he also lead the team in chances destroyed?”).

Kwizera was dispossessed twice and 0/4 on successful dribbles, he was dribbled past twice, and he lost the most duels in the match – going just 2/12 on ground duels.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 4/10

The entire forward unit was underwhelming in attack on Wednesday, but the biggest disappointment for me was Dikwa. All week I was saying to myself that if Dikwa could start, after returning from injury on Saturday, I thought we’d have a good chance of winning.

I wasn’t expecting Dikwa to look like a shell of his healthy self. He was completely uninvolved in the game with just 11 touches. He had an amazing scoring opportunity, off of a great pass from Noah, that was sent well wide of the net – very disappointing.

Noah Fuson (F) – 7/10

Noah was certainly the best of the forwards on the night. He didn’t have a great offensive game either – with not a single one of his six shot attempts being on target – but he created two chances including the Dikwa opportunity above, and of course the great ball to Maxi for our opening goal.

I was more impressed with Fuson’s ability and willingness to defend in this match. He led all Rhode Island FC players with five clearances including three headed clearances, and was tied with Frank Nodarse leading all Rhode Island FC players with eight total defensive actions.

Subs

Joseph Brito (F) – 4/10

I’m not trying to go after Joe Brito, but once he came on for Dikwa I never really felt like we were going to score again. 5 touches and 1/4 accurate passes in 30 minutes is not enough.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 5/10

Zach was fine but looked a tiny bit rusty at times. He looked so dangerous at Westchester a couple of weeks ago – think he just needs some consistent minutes at central midfield.

Aime Mabika (D) – 5/10

Can confirm: he is tall.

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – 5/10

Also fine from Taimu. None of the subs dramatically impacted the game but were mostly all servicable.

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Rating Scale:

• 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 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.