Rhode Island FC have now played Pittsburgh three separate times over the course of two seasons and failed to score a single goal against them. The best (or worst) part is that we play them again next week in the group stage of the Jägermeister Cup… so we’ll have another entry into this so-far sordid tale very shortly.

I’m not even sure what to say at this point… I’m not fully crashing out yet, but we are now officially one third of the way into the USL season and think we can all agree it’s not going at all as we expected for Rhode Island FC. A few short days ago, I thought we were so back… but this result sent me spiraling back to reality.

It’s especially disappointing that I think we all believed that the slow start was due to playing seven matches on the road to start the season, and that we would immediately turn Tidewater into a fortress… instead, we’ve seen only two goals scored over the course of four matches at home, and seen two losses and two draws.

There’s still a lot of time over the summer for things to click into place – for example, we have four home games in June – but with every result we are putting ourselves in a deeper hole in the league standings that we’ll have to dig out of to keep the highly-anticipated home playoff game alive.

For those who are interested – here is a document tracking all player ratings for the season so far.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Koke made two exceptional saves in this match – one early to keep the score 0-0, and one late to keep it a one-goal game.

On the Pittsburgh goal, the commentators charitably offered that the ball may have taken a deflection. I don’t think that it did… but the fact that Koke doesn’t even make a move for the ball (despite being near it) means he was probably heavily screened.

Aime Mabika (D) – 6/10

I thought Mabika was solid again both in and out of possession, but did not reach the same highs from his performance last week. For example, he had a dodgy moment in the 23rd minute where he resisted passing backwards to Koke and instead was dispossessed by the Pittsburgh press in our own third. To be fair, he did recover and win the ball back.

His progressive passing was also not as consistent in this match as it was against Tampa (credit to Pittsburgh, at least partially for this) – but there were some great ones, such as this killer ball to Maxi that should’ve led to a better opportunity:

Grant Stoneman (D) – 7/10

This was a vintage Stoneman match as he was significantly stronger than his average performance for this season so far. So many of our best attacking moves (not that there were that many) started with a creative Stoneman pass – as he led all players with 19 passes into the final third.

This was also his most defensively sound performance of the year so far as he led all Rhode Island FC players with 12 defensive actions, and looked calm and composed doing it. Stoneman also led all players with 10 total duels won (including 3/3 on aerial duels). Of course, he made a goal line clearance late in the game to keep it within one goal, after Koke was beat on a shot.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 6/10

Frank looked very shaky for the first 20 minutes or so, starting at right back for the second consecutive match – but he grew into the game and looked significantly better in both directions for the remainder of the match.

For the first time in what feels like a long time, we saw Frank make some of his marauding runs forward and actually contribute meaningfully to build up. He had a great sequence with Kwizera moving up the right wing, that lead to a volleyed shot for Frank that he nearly equalized on. He would have the next best chance for Rhode Island FC to equalize again, with a headed opportunity in the 62nd minute.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 6/10

Aldair continues to impress in all areas of the pitch. In this match, he had meaningful contributions to build up playing up the left flank, dangerous set piece delivery, a handful of threatening crosses, and made himself very difficult to get past while defending.

He picked up a yellow card for a tactical foul that kept a Pittsburgh player from getting in on goal alone, and Sanchez was fouled himself a game-high four times. Aldair leads the team in fouls drawn and it’s not a coincidence – he’s very clever at getting himself between his man and the ball, and absorbing the contact. In this match, it was effective as he used it to relieve pressure on our defense.

For just 22 years old, Sanchez is a very intelligent footballer and has been one of the brightest parts of our season so far. At the rate he’s going, I’m increasingly thinking there could be an opportunity beyond USL Championship in his future.

Zach Herivaux (MF) – 6/10

Another solid performance from Zach, and I thought it highlighted the difference between he and Amos in the midfield. Zach is very confident on the ball and always looking to progress it whether by dribbling or give and go passing with our attacking players.

Zach has great chemistry with Noah – and was integral in some of the chances that Noah created in this match. I think it’s no coincidence that some of Noah’s trending in the right direction over the last couple of games has occurred with Zach also on the pitch.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 5/10

Another average performance for Maxi where I would argue, again, that we’ve not gotten the ball to him enough to let him make something happen. In typical Maxi fashion, he took his chances when he had them and led them team with four shots (one on target). I’m all on board with this, since we know that shots can create chaos and rebounds in the box.

Unfortunately for Maxi the one shot on target was one of the best opportunities of the game – but he misjudged how much time he had on the ball after a great long pass from Stoneman, and rushed the volleyed shot attempt to make an easy save for the keeper.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 5/10

I would call this a below average performance for Clay, which is still a strong performance by relative USL Championship standards. It honestly just felt like an off night where Clay was a second late and a dollar short to many of his challenges and ideas. There was also an instance where he passed up a couple of safe passes in favor of trying to dribble through three Pittsburgh midfielders, and turned the ball over in our half as a result (which Pittsburgh nearly capitalized on).

To be fair, I’m sure Clay is still exhausted from the run of games that we’ve been on – despite finally having a full week off between matches for the first time in May.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 4/10

It’s getting harder and harder for me to defend and hold my Kwizera stock over the last few matches, as he’s continued his trend of being quite wasteful in the attacking third. While he created two solid chances in this game, I think he wasted many more than that with poor decision-making.

In his biggest moment of the match, the commentator nailed it when she described how Kwizera forcing this chance to his left foot really limited his angle and ability to capitalize on the chance:

Albert Dikwa (F) – 4/10

Dikwa and Kwizera epitomize everything that is not clicking for the team right now. I know there are quality players there in both of them and we just need to get them going, but it’s been painful to watch for the last several matches as they just waste chance after chance with bad decision making, poor first touches, sloppy passing, etc.

Fascinatingly, some of Dikwa’s only positive touches in this match came during build up play in our own half. As others have said, it makes me feel like there’s an invisible barrier in the final third of the pitch, and as soon as our attacking players cross that threshold they just lose all footballing ability.

Noah Fuson (F) – 6/10

I actually thought this was about as lively as Noah has looked all season. He wasn’t perfect by any means – he had some loose touches of his own – but I think he was our largest source of attacking threat in the match.

Most importantly, and true to last-season-Noah form, he was creating chances in a variety of different ways – high crosses, low crosses, cutback crosses, taking on his man and dribbling, flick on’s to other players, etc.

Subs

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (F) – N/A

Joe Brito (F) – 6/10

Brito came on and immediately looked lively and contributed to the attack. He shook things up a bit, which I’ve often criticized him for not doing as an attacking sub when we’re chasing a goal.

Rio Hope-Gund (D) – N/A

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – N/A

Karifa Yao (D) – N/A

It was great to see Yao back out there… until he played a sketchy back pass to Koke almost immediately after subbing on, which was nearly picked up by a Pittsburgh player. Just shaking off some rust, I’m sure.

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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.