Rhode Island FC came out on top in a 1-0 win over Indy Eleven, in a pivotal result for keeping their playoff hopes alive.

We’re all saying that the last few performances have looked better (and I felt that way tonight – more so in the first half) but I’m not even sure if it’s true, or if we’ve just lowered our expectations.

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter – Rhode Island FC got the three points, which catapulted them ahead of Indy Eleven in the standings and into the eighth and final playoff spot.

Khano rolled out an interesting lineup, but I didn’t have a huge problem with it. He dropped some fan favorites in Maxi Rodriguez and Clay Holstad, in favor of lesser-used players (as of late) in Joe Brito and Noah Fuson. Of course, Khano’s gamble did pay off to some extent, as we did get the result – and it was ultimately a ball from Noah Fuson that led to the game-winning own goal.

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

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 7/10

Koke was perfect between the sticks again, and has conceded just one goal at home since returning from injury at the beginning of August. Koke wasn’t challenged quite to the same extent as he was on Wednesday against Sacramento, but still made two decent saves and was sharp throughout the match.

Karifa Yao (D) – 5/10

Comfortable defending from Karifa Yao, who deserves the same credit as Koke for keeping four clean sheets in their last five home matches. Yao had a bit less to deal with tonight and was the least active of the three defenders, but was solid whenever called upon.

Hugo Bacharach (D) – 7/10

We saw some of Hugo in the midfield, and some of Hugo as a center back. He was excellent again in both positions and racked up a game-high 10 duels won, and second-most defensive contributions (14).

Personally, I do feel that Hugo is most impactful and dynamic when he’s playing as a central defender rather than a holding midfielder (Ryan correctly noted during the match that he “looks like a center back playing in the midfield”). But, again, he really doesn’t miss a beat when he steps into that position, and it enabled Khano to try different things on other areas of the pitch.

Aime Mabika (D) – 7/10

Mabika was everywhere on the pitch as he led all players with 16 defensive contributions (including a game-high five interceptions and nine clearances). This was easily one of his best defensive performances in a Rhode Island shirt.

His sending off was not a red card in my opinion. And if it was, then Mabika made the right call in taking the tactical foul.

He also didn’t attempt many passes at all (only 16) and completed twelve of them, including a bad giveaway earlier in the match.

Joje Kwizera (MF) – 7/10

Indy’s right back had a hard time keeping Kwizera in front of him. Kwizera just kept getting around, getting to the touch line, and oftentimes making a good cutback cross off of it. We often joke that Kwizera only has one move… but why does it matter, if he keeps getting to his spot? Kwizera even had an important defensive intervention after a long back-tracking run.

Overall, he appears to have returned from international duty with Rwanda with some confidence.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 6/10

Zach showed a decent amount of what we’ve been missing in our midfield performances. He not only played the metronome (team-high 31 passes completed, with 89% accuracy) with the departure of Matthew Corcoran, but he also contributed to some tight buildup through the midfield, including his signature triangle passing routines with Noah and other players around the pitch – something that reminded me a lot of last season.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 5/10

Amos brought the intensity from minute one, as always – didn’t make a mark on the match in the same way that Herivaux did.

Frank Nodarse (MF) – 5/10

Perfectly fine return to the starting lineup for Frank. Unfortunately, he was substituted off at half time and appeared to be injured with something in his thigh during the second.

Noah Fuson (MF) – 7/10

We got to see both sides of Noah tonight. He’s still absolutely lacking in confidence and not the same player as last year – as he had the second most lost duels in the match, with eight out of his 12.

On the other hand, Fuson still managed to create a team-high three chances – including the whipped ball across the goalmouth that led to the game-winning own goal from Indy Eleven. He regularly cut inside and looked threatening, even if he regularly lacked the killer instinct or final ball he showed from last year.

If Fuson can string a couple of these performances together, I see no reason why he can’t get back on track.

Joe Brito (F) – 4/10

I understand Khano’s decision to start Brito after his very bright substitute appearance on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, Brito didn’t do enough with the opportunity for me to warrant starting again on Friday against Miami.

He had his moments certainly, but I often thought to myself that Maxi would’ve done more with a given opportunity than what Brito was able to do.

JJ Williams (F) – 4/10

Honestly just a rough game for JJ. His whole job in this system is to bump up all game against the opposing center backs and try to gain possession by winning aerial balls – either to control them himself, or have a teammate pick up the second ball. Well, he won less than 1/2 of his aerial duels tonight (4 out of 9) and, unfortunately, had absolutely no teammates around him to pick up the second balls when he did win.

But even outside of this, JJ’s game was off on Saturday night, as he also completed just 8/22 passes (36%) which is really exceptionally low for any player.

Subs

Clay Holstad (MF) – 6/10

Clay was a halftime sub for the injured Frank Nodarse – we had a chance to use this opportunity to play Clay in the midfield, but, of course, Khano instead opted to bring Amos central and have Clay play right wingback.

I enjoyed that Clay found opportunities to drift centrally without shunning his defensive responsibilities on the wing. Of course, one of these opportunities led to Clay drifting to the other side of the field, where he made the crucial flick-on to Noah Fuson that led to the game-winning goal.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – N/A

Albert Dikwa (F) – N/A

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 5/10

Maxi was mostly decent, but did have a couple of giveaways that led to loud groans from the crowd.

Grant Stoneman (D) – N/A

Incredible double goal-line block/clearance to maintain Rhode Island’s one-goal lead in second half stoppage time.

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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.