Rhode Island FC advanced to the semifinals in the Jägermeister Cup with a 1-0 win over Birmingham Legion FC on a rainy Wednesday night at Tidewater.

Prepare yourself for a blog written purely on vibes and eye test from Section 116. With a midweek game, the name of the game is quick turnaround for the blog posts, so I can’t conduct my standard rewatch for this one. Feel free to come at me in a comment section of your choosing (WordPress, Reddit, Discord, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… you name it).

And as for the aforementioned vibes from 116? Immaculate. Not the first time that we’ve seen it at Tidewater, but Defiance 1636 took the opportunity with the relatively empty stadium and the inclement weather to take it up a notch, rather than be discouraged by it. It all started with a fantastic Tide Talk live show at High Motor Bar and Grill, followed by a short march to Tidewater.

I recognize that this wasn’t an especially strong performance from the team, but at this point – and especially in a knockout cup game – the result is all that really matters. With as few wins as we’ve seen at Tidewater this season… I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. To be fair, there were a handful of Rhode Island scoring chances, which is more than we can say for a lot of matches.

I’m not even sure at this point if Khano was rotating in favor of the Hartford match this coming weekend, or if he actually thought he was putting out our strongest lineup… but in the end, the firepower off the bench from JJ, Dwayne Atkinson, and Noah was enough to get the job done.

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

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Is it crazy to say that we’re never conceding again with Koke back in net? It was another strong performance from Koke – and his third consecutive clean sheet – where he wasn’t asked to do a tremendous amount, saving the only two shots on target that Birmingham had.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

The entire defensive unit was rock solid on Wednesday night. Yao was characteristically reliable as he led the team with seven defensive actions and winning eight out of his nine total duels.

Hugo Bacharach (D) – 7/10

Hugo was exceptional as well, as he continued the trend of being stout defensively and contributing significantly to build up play with his signature carries into the midfield. On paper, nothing jumps off the stat sheet (besides losing more than 50% of his duels) but by the eye test this looked like another strong Hugo performance in a rapidly-growing list of them.

Aime Mabika (D) – 7/10

Aime Mabika did essentially everything that Yao and Hugo did well – but also added in some strong forward passing out of the backline. This was one of Mabika’s best performances in a Rhode Island shirt, as he won the most duels in the match (11/13) and led all players with 97% pass accuracy.

Aldair Sanchez (MF) – 5/10

Aldair had an average game, but didn’t offer much in attack. It’s as much the team’s fault as it is his, but I do miss his optimism from the first half of the season when he would let a cross fly from anywhere, any time. He seems much more hesitant now, recognizing that oftentimes there’s only one or two Rhode Island FC players in the box who are significantly outnumbered by the opponent.

Matthew Corcoran (MF) – 6/10

Corcoran led the team in touches, accurate passes, and passes into the final third. It’s obvious why Khano brought him in, as Corcoran enables Khano to play the possession style game that he clearly wants the team to play.

I think Corcoran is smooth on the ball, and I love how he keeps it moving from side to side and waits for the right moment to attempt a ball forward. The more ambitious forward passes that he attempted didn’t always come off tonight, but I’m not really upset with him for trying to make something happen.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 5/10

A decent showing from Ybarra – he does a similar job as Corcoran, but Corcoran does a better job of making himself available and following his passes to oftentimes immediately receive the ball back.

Ybarra did lead the team with two chances created, but these numbers are generally padded by his taking the set pieces – even when the delivery isn’t anything special, these are generally some of the only times we’re creating any threat on goal at all these days.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 4/10

Say it with me. He 👏 is 👏 not 👏 a 👏 wingback.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 5/10

Maxi did have the second most passes into the final third (11) of all players – and it’s not his fault that there’s nothing happening at all once he gets the ball there. He also chipped in with two shots on target and two successful dribbles – a solid game from Maxi all around. He was one of the only players with a positive impact in the final third in the first 70 minutes of the match, even if the moments were few and far between.

He did have a long distance shot that forced the Birmingham keeper into a very good save early in the second half.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 5/10

It was a strange role for Kwizera tonight as he played slightly more conservatively – 74 touches (4th most on the team) and a 90% pass accuracy is very uncharacteristic for Kwizera.

I know others will feel that he was wasteful with his opportunities, but I appreciate that he’s always willing to take his man on – with varying degrees of success (he was 2/5 on dribbles on the night). He took two shots – one of which narrowly missed the net, and was involved in a couple of our only scoring chances in the first half.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 4/10

The service was poor, yes, but Dikwa didn’t do enough to get himself on the ball, nor enough with the few opportunities that he did have on the ball. For example, in the 69th minute Maxi slipped Dikwa into the box for a one-on-one with the keeper that you’d expect to see a striker of his caliber score – although the keeper did well to save it.

Subs

JJ Williams – 6/10

It bears repeating – I’m not sure if Khano was rotating here or really just doesn’t know what the best lineup is anymore, but the offense immediately looked significantly better once JJ came on. He has to start on Saturday at Hartford.

All that it takes to spring an attack is JJ taking the ball out of the air with his head, or his chest, and redirect it to another attacking player making a run – and he did it multiple times in this match.

Dwayne Atkinson – 7/10

What a goal and what a moment that was for Busy Atkinson, in just his second match for Rhode Island FC.

What made it all the better is that, based on his cameo in the previous match, I think everyone in the crowd could feel that a moment of absolute brilliance was coming while watching him chase down that long ball.

Scoring in front of 116. Kissing the badge. One of the most special moments that we’ve had at Tidewater so far.

Zach Herivaux – N/A

Just going to be honest – Zach played 20 minutes at right centerback on the opposite side of the field from me.

He got an assist on Atkinson’s goal, but let’s be honest… Atkinson did all of the heavy lifting here.

Noah Fuson – N/A

Clay Holstad – N/A

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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.