In the 2nd game of the group stage of the Jägermeister Cup, RIFC took down the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0. Bob Lilley teams are always tough to play against and this was no different. After losing to Pittsburgh 1-0 last weekend at home, it was great to turn it around here and come away with the 3 points. Here are my quick takeaways from this one:
We Scored against Pittsburgh!
RIFC got off the mark against the Riverhounds for the first time after failing to score in their first 3 meetings. It came in the 19th minute and was produced by the two most maligned RIFC players of late: Albert Dikwa and Jojea Kwizera. Dikwa was where you want him to be (the center of the box) and played a nice backheel to set up Kwizera for a finish with his weaker right foot.
As great as it was to finally score against Pittsburgh, it was even better to see it come from Dikwa and Kwizera connecting. We need better performances out of both players and hopefully the goal is a sign of things to come.
Sloppy Game
Title says it all here. The first half alone saw 24 fouls and 4 yellow cards, 3 of which were for RIFC. The game ended with 42 fouls, evenly distributed between both sides. Aside from the fouls, RIFC didn’t look good on the ball and only completed 70% of their passes. They also didn’t create many chances outside of the goal in the first half. Overall, it wasn’t a great game to watch from a neutral point of view but I’ll take the result. In a cup game especially, I care more about getting the result than the overall performance. Things still do need to improve though as we move forward this season.
Jägermeister Cup Standings
With this result, RIFC stay in first place of Group 4. When this game kicked off, I was a bit concerned that Hartford Athletic would be in first by the end of the night, having won their 2nd game in the competition over Westchester SC earlier today. But after RIFC’s win, both teams are on 6 points. After looking at the tiebreakers, a favorite pastime of mine, it appears RIFC are ahead of Hartford due to conceding fewer goals. It’s a great position to be in, with matchups at home against Portland and Hartford still to come. Hartford have a home game against Detroit in addition to their matchup in Rhode Island.
Up Next
RIFC are back in action Saturday at home against Miami FC. Before then, we’ll have the Postmatch Pod tomorrow night as well as Timmy’s Player Ratings to close the book on this one. I’ll be back here to preview the game against an improved Miami FC team later in the week. Until then, UP THE TIDE!
Tide Talk 
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