Rhode Island FC ground out a 1-0 win on the road at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC to stay top of Group 4 in the Jägermeister Cup.

Was it pretty? No. Did we solve any of the problems we’ve been seeing over the last several weeks with our lack of scoring chances? Not at all. Do I care right now? Absolutely not.

It was a truly despicable game of football with 42 total fouls committed (think about it – this means the whistle was blown, roughly, every two minutes on average). Pittsburgh out-passed and out-possessed us by a significant margin, and had more than double the number of shots. But in the end, the only number that matters is the score.

Matt Hands covered this in his Riptide Report, but we currently sit atop Group 4, and will move on to the knockout stages of the competition if we take care of business against Portland and Hartford at home over the next two months.

The worst part is, since this was a cup game, we still have to play our second league matchup with Pittsburgh in August. More Lilley-ball… hooray.

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

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Trains – 7/10

It almost seems unfair that the Riverhounds, who play such a boring brand of football, should get such a beautiful backdrop. Nonetheless, at least it gave me something interesting to watch for a few minutes at the start of the second half.

Bobby Bacala would’ve loved it. Spoiler alert for an episode that came out 18 years ago.

Jackson Lee (GK) – 7/10

A five-save clean sheet on the road is just what the doctor ordered for Jackson after his last showing against the Revs in the Open Cup. None of the saves were especially high difficulty (he’s already made several better this season), but he was ready whenever called upon.

Here was a dangerous cross for Pittsburgh that Jackson did well to get a hand on. Fortunately, it spilled into a crowd of Rhode Island FC players.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 6/10

Bob Lilley and his team really clogged up the pitch (it’s essentially their entire team identity), so none of our players looked particularly good in possession – and it shows with Stoneman’s 72% pass accuracy. But he and Frank were rock solid as the two central defenders, as they led the team with 13 defensive actions each, and combined for 16 total clearances (8 each).

Stoneman had a great recovery run in the 53rd minute where he chased down Augi Williams as he was free on goal, and Stoneman cleared the ball out for a throw in.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 7/10

Nodarse returned as a central defender in this match, after playing right back for the last couple – and he played like he wants to compete and hold on to that spot in central defense over Mabika and Karifa Yao. It looks like some competition is exactly what this back line needed.

Frank used his height to his advantage in this match, as he somehow was the only Rhode Island FC player to win more than ONE aerial duel, winning 7 out of 9.

Rio Hope-Gund (D) – 6/10

Not that Rio looked tired before, but he looked either refreshed and/or hungry from his back-to-back games out of the starting XI (for standard rotation). He continued his run of solid defensive play and, again, barely set a foot wrong all night.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 5/10

Another solid performance from Aldair, especially on the defensive end, but nothing much of note to mention.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 6/10

Mighty Mouse did what Mighty Mouse does. He led all players with three successful tackles, he chipped in defensively, and most importantly had endless energy for pressing when Pittsburgh had the ball.

We also saw Amos take our one corner kick for this match, which I can’t remember seeing previously – typically Sanchez or Rodriguez is taking these depending on the side. It was caught by the goalkeeper.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 5/10

Maxi managed seven passes into the final third in just over 60 minutes of play – out of just 17 total completed passes. So once again, Maxi was pushing the ball forward (as is his role in this system), but – with how infrequently we had the ball in Pittsburgh’s half, we really didn’t give him much of a chance to create.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 5/10

With Rhode Island having just 39% of the possession, there were limited opportunities for Clay to pick up the ball and progress it through the midfield. So not only was it a quieter match for him, he also won only 30% of his ground duels (3/10).

But it’s still a 5/10 for me, because he’s Clay Holstad and he did Clay Holstad things.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 6/10

I don’t know that this performance will have the Kwizera-doubters in shambles, but it was a step in the right direction. Outside of his well-taken, game-winning goal, Kwizera put in a couple of decent crosses and actually contributed more defensively than I can remember seeing over the last few games from him (same number of defensive actions as Amos, for the record).

Albert Dikwa (F) – 6/10

Ok… the offensive output is still not quite there, but no one can deny that Dikwa worked his ass off. He may have lost 16 duels (1/9 on aerial duels), but he was fouled a game-high eight times. For reference, in our previous four matches, no player was fouled more than four times. So he may not have been winning the duels against Pittsburgh big center backs, but he was not making it easy for them either – as he was constantly winning free kicks in attacking positions and relieving pressure by winning them in our own half.

Even Chico’s backheel flick to Kwizera to score the game-winning goal starts with him battling for an aerial ball and creating some chaos at the top of the Pittsburgh box. Goal contributions are exactly what those two need to get their seasons rolling.

Noah Fuson (F) – 4/10

Noah wasn’t hugely involved in this match – with his 30 touches, he was dispossessed twice, completed just seven passes, and had no touches in the opposition box.

Subs

Zach Herivaux (MF) – 6/10

Herivaux came on and gave our midfield a new look when he replaced Amos Shapiro-Thompson. Zach immediately jumped into the attack and was involved in our play in the final third, which is something Amos rarely does.

Joe Brito (F) – 6/10

I said out loud at The Guild that THIS is the exact situation where I like deploying Brito; when we are holding on to a lead. Brito is exceptional at holding on to the ball and wasting time, while never missing opportunities to spring an attack.

The clip below is textbook Brito – refusing to quit on a play, and getting a shot out of it which leads to a corner opportunity for Rhode Island.

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – N/A, minimal involvement

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

After a bit of a shakey cameo last weekend, it was nice seeing Yao sub on and look like his old self as he helped secure the clean sheet. He got involved right away with four headed clearances in just 17 minutes played.

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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.