A truly strange game. Another loss and another shutout are the headlines but I’m honestly not too upset about it. I thought it was a fine performance by a team who held one of the best offenses in the league to almost nothing.

A wonder goal or lucky cross, depending on how you view it, is the difference on a night where RIFC will probably feel hard done by.

While this is hopefully my last week doing these ratings, it’s been a pleasure making you all angry these past two weeks.

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

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 4

On a night where you only surrender one goal to one of the hottest offenses in the league, it’s a good one. However, with the angle and distance that Koke was beaten from, I know he’d want this one back.

Karifa Yao (D) – 5

A performance where Karifa wasn’t really bothered much at the back. Was mostly tidy in possession at 86% passing accuracy. Just odd seeing a Karifa Yao stat line with just one duel, one clearance and zero tackles or interceptions.

Hugo Bacharach (D) – 8

Hugo was absolutely HOOPIN Saturday night. Led the match in touches, duels won 15/22 duels and defensive actions with 17(!!!). A shot, and a completed dribble round out an outrageous performance from Hugo. Vamos.

Aime Mabika (D) – 6

Third most touches on the team and almost 90% passing accuracy is a very standard Aime Mabika game at this point. His willingness to both drive with the ball and try and pass through the lines came out more in the second half but never got us truly going.

Aldair Sanchez (MF) – 7

Nice to see Aldair back after his suspension. His three tackles were tied or second most on the night and his 5/5 ground duels won emphasize an underrated part of his game. He seemed to be the only RIFC player capable of getting a cross past the first defender, creating two chances on the night. If he doesn’t slip on the breakaway, we could have been looking at one of the performances of the season (there are not many to choose from tbh).

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 5

Looked a bit rusty at times but nice to see Herivaux get 75+ minutes into his legs. Got himself into 17 duels, winning 8. He also managed to create a chance and progress the ball nicely with 5 passes into the final third. Hopefully just the start from a player we’ve missed this season.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 4

Tidy as always but didn’t get into the game much. Ended the match with 39 touches – only JJ and Amos had less from the starting crew.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 5

Free Clay Holstad

Maxi Rodriguez (F) – 7

I’ll get shit for this but I thought Maxi was fantastic. Besides Hugo, our next best player on the night. He was constantly looking for space, demanding the ball (his 78 touches were second most on RIFC) and was the only player on RIFC reliably progressing the ball into attack (10 passes into the final third). One key pass, five of six accurate long balls and four of four on ground duels round out a strong midfield performance from Rodriguez.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (F) – 5

Another workmanlike performance from Amos covering a ton of ground on the pitch. However with just 14 accurate passes on the night, he wasn’t able to impose himself on this one.

JJ Williams (F) – 4

A tough night for JJ, often going 2 or 3 on one against some of the largest center backs in the league. Always willing to battle but only winning 5 of 14 duels is a tough night in the office for JJ.

Subs

Dwayne Atkinson – 5

Busy got busy. A constant nuisance up top, he made life much more difficult for Louisville winning four of his five duels and going two for two on dribbles. Will we see him start Wednesday?

Noah Fuson – 3

I’m not even typing out my rationale. Typing that number has ruined my day.

Joe Brito – N/A

Grant Stoneman – N/A

Mathieu Ndongo – 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.