RIFC return home to Centreville Bank Stadium for a mid-week meeting with Detroit City FC on Wednesday night. When the two teams last met at Keyworth in April, a 6th minute Frank Nodarse red card removed any chance of a competitive game. Detroit forward Darren Smith would score in the 17th and 19th minutes to put the game away early. RIFC never got back into it and the game ended 2-0. As for this time around, here is what to look out for from both teams:

Where do I even start? In a season full of lows, RIFC hit a new one last Saturday night when they completely fell apart in the 2nd half at Highmark Stadium and fell 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. I had plenty to say about that immediately following the game. But to sum up the vibes right now, this team has me wondering…..

Heading into this one, the team will be without forward JJ Williams due to his red card in Pittsburgh. It was the perfect way to make sure the team’s meltdown carried over into the next game. This is a team that’s been searching for answers all season and hasn’t found any.

As far as what the answer could be, one of our favorite pastimes here at Tide Talk is to throw out potential formations and lineups. That has become increasingly relevant this season as Khano Smith hasn’t yet found what works. I’m not saying any of us have the definitive solutions, because if we did we’d be getting paid for this stuff instead of just losing sleep over a team we have no financial stake in. But that being said, here is a random lineup I think would be cool to see:

• Goalkeeper
  • Jackson Lee starts with Koke still out. Lee has been a mixed bag this season but is so far down the list on issues with this team currently. He also made a brilliant save on Saturday that will go unnoticed because the game was already over when it happened
• Defense
  • I’ve come out in favor of a back 3/5 previously and even made a nice slide for one of the podcasts around a month ago. The idea behind that was that it best utilized all of the players in the squad. But I’m starting to think a back 4 might work better, regardless of if it leaves certain players on the bench. Here, Mabika and Yao form a strong CB partnership, with Rio being a more defensive RB and Aldair being the more forward thinking fullback on the left
• Midfield
  • Even though it was a brief appearance a few games ago, I’ve fallen in love with Hugo as a 6. I think he has the ability to drop back into the back line when the team needs to be more defensive but also progress the ball forward through passing or taking players on. In front of Hugo, there really are 3 players for 2 spots. I have Amos and Maxi, but Clay could also play in either one of those spots. There are valid arguments for any combination there
• Fowards
  • Jojea Kwizera is the only natural winger this team currently has and has started to look a little better out on the left. Albert Dikwa starts in the middle with JJ Williams out. And Noah Fuson gets pushed out to the right. This is not ideal, but this team doesn’t have the luxury of playing Noah centrally right now. They need more solidity in midfield and moving Noah to the middle would likely take a more traditional midfielder out of that part of the field

KEY TO THE GAME

That’s not a typo. Key, not keys. Normally, I point out a few things RIFC need to do related to the upcoming opponent. But the only key I can give here is this:

This Detroit City team started the season strong with 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in all competitions through the first two months of the season. But since May, they’ve only won twice: a 2-0 league win over Miami FC in June and a 3-0 win over Westchester SC in the Jagermeister Cup last time out. Still, Detroit find themselves 6th in the conference with 21 points from 17 games. That only puts them 5 points ahead of Hartford Athletic who are currently last in the conference.

The only thing that jumps out when you look at the numbers, is Detroit City have the fewest saves per match while also having a pretty good defensive record, conceding 1.3 goals per game (tied for 7th in the league). This indicates they aren’t giving up a lot of quality chances or at the very least, their opponents aren’t getting a lot of shots on target. This bodes well for them against an RIFC team that has scored the joint fewest goals in the league this season.

Players to Watch

• Carlos Saldana (GK)
  • Has split time with Carlos Herrera this season, but has started the past 3 games
• Michael Bryant (CB)
  • Right-sided center back in his 4th season in Detroit. Solid and reliable defender
• Alex Villanueva (MF/DF)
  • 2nd on the team in minutes behind Bryant. 1 goal and 1 assist this season from LWB
• Jeciel Cedeno (MF/FW)
  • Exciting attacking player that came over to Detroit from Oakland Roots last July. 2 goals and 1 assist in the league this season
• Darren Smith (FW)
  • Leads the line. Scored a brace against RIFC in their last meeting. Leads the team with 7 goals and 2 assists but hasn’t scored since May 3rd against Indy Eleven

KEY TO THE GAME

As long as Detroit can continue to limit shots on goal like they have so far this season, they should be in great shape. It would be good for them to get Darren Smith going, but even if his goal-scoring drought continues, they can get goals from elsewhere. Detroit has 5 players with 2 goals each in the league.

After the embarrassment of the back to back derbies and the meltdown last time out against Pittsburgh, I’m just a broken man. I’ve lost my faith in this team being able to get results. On paper, RIFC are a team that are capable of putting forward much better performances. But I can’t ignore what I’ve seen with my own two eyes. I think Detroit gets a goal through Darren Smith and RIFC will yet again struggle to do anything in attack. Again, I hope I’m wrong but it’s hard to feel any other way at the moment.

Up Next

I will have the Riptide Report to give my immediate thoughts on the game, Timmy will have his player ratings, and we will have a Postmatch pod Thursday night. To be honest, I don’t think any of us are looking forward to doing content with this team being as bad as they are currently. But that’s part of the grind. No matter what, we will be here. And no matter what, UP THE TIDE!