It’s a second consecutive Friday night out on the road for RIFC as they are set to take on El Paso Locomotive, with kickoff at 9:00 pm. With only 5 games left in the season and playoff spots still up for grabs in both conferences, points are at a premium. It’s time to get straight to the point. So without further ado, here’s what you need to know about both teams heading into Friday night:

Team News

• Availability
  • Four players showed up on RIFC’s availability report ahead of last week’s match against Miami FC: Aime Mabika, Rio Hope-Gund, Amos Shapiro-Thompson and Maxi Rodriguez. Mabika was out due to red card suspension but the other three players were presumably out injured. I wouldn’t expect Rio to be in the squad, as even before he was out injured he wasn’t getting into the team. Amos and Maxi are the ones to watch here. Amos limped off after the game two weeks ago, so it wasn’t a huge surprise that he wasn’t available last week. Maxi on the other hand was a bit surprising. Hopefully it was only a knock and he’ll be back available for this one
• Diop full debut?
  • New CB Hamady Diop made his debut last week in a 15 minute cameo off the bench. He looked solid but nothing really jumped out. With RIFC’s strong depth at CB, especially with Mabika expected to be available again, it’ll be interesting to see if Diop comes right into the 11. I think it’s possible given some of the versatility of RIFC’s other defenders. Hugo Bacharach and Frank Nodarse come to mind, as Hugo can step into midfield and Frank can play out wide on the right if need be. I could definitely see Hugo in the midfield if Amos and Maxi are still out, while Frank at RWB admittedly seems like a pipe dream at this point

• Jäger Cup runs empty
  • RIFC fought to a tough 0-0 draw against Sacramento FC in the Jägermeister Cup semifinal, but completely blew it on penalties, falling 3-0
• They all count
  • An own goal from Indy Eleven’s James Musa was the difference. In typical RIFC fashion, the defense was strong but the attack struggled to get things going. Noah Fuson did play a good ball across the box though that helped create the own goal. So credit to him for that
• 3 points in the 305
  • Similar to the previous week’s game against Indy Eleven, all it took was one goal. This one came from a well taken penalty by Jojea Kwizera. JJ Williams drew the foul in the box and Kwizera stepped up to bury the pk. RIFC’s defense did the rest and kept Miami FC at bay

The Big Question

Can RIFC score from open play?

A slight change from the usual “is RIFC going to score a goal in this game?”. The last time RIFC scored a goal from open play (not including the own goal of course) was 5 games ago in the 1-0 win over Charleston Battery. It was the JJ Williams header from close range off of a nice cross from Maxi Rodriguez. Since then, RIFC lost 1-0 to Lou City and then had the 3 results we just went over. If the team could find any way to get some consistent goal scoring, they would be extremely difficult to beat. RIFC are currently tied for 3rd in fewest goals conceded this season. Lou City and Sacramento are joint top with 19 goals conceded and RIFC and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds are next with 24. As we all know however, the issue is that RIFC are dead last in goals scored, with only 18 this season. And they haven’t scored more than one goal from open play in a game since June 27th against Portland Hearts of Pine in the Jägermeister Cup. If you exclude League One competition, it goes all the way back to the 3-0 win over Tampa Bay on May 17th. Strong defense can serve the team well if they do end up making the playoffs but something has to give when it comes to the attack

The Story So Far

El Paso currently sit 6th in the Western Conference with 32 points from 24 games. The fight for positioning in the middle of the conference is pretty tight, with 7 points separating San Antonio (36) in 4th from Orange County (29) in 9th. So form towards the end of the season becomes that much more important. We’ll get to El Paso’s recent form shortly. But before that, I have to point out that they’ve been the epitome of average this season. In their 24 games, they’ve won 8, drawn 8 and lost 8. El Paso are also right in the middle of the league in goals conceded, sitting 13th with 35. As for the attack, they’re tied with two other teams for 8th most goals scored with 37. Given these numbers, they seem like a lock for a mid-table finish. But as we’ll see, recent form hasn’t helped them.

• Loss to Loudoun
  • El Paso went down early in this one, conceding in the 3rd and 12th minute to go down 2-0. They were awarded a penalty in the 66th minute but Amando Moreno’s attempt was saved. Arturo Ortiz would score for El Paso on the ensuing corner kick to bring it to 2-1. But less than 10 minutes later, Ortiz was sent off for his second yellow card. El Paso won the game by the numbers, with better possession, shots, shots on target, and chances created but where it mattered on the score sheet, they couldn’t get it done
• Another Red in North Carolina
  • El Paso got a red card for the 2nd week in a row, this time in the 14th minute from defender Wahab Ackwei. It was a similar shoulder to shoulder outside the box challenge that saw Aime Mabika get his red card for RIFC against Indy Eleven. North Carolina took advantage of being a man up and Evan Conway scored deep in first half stoppage time to help secure their 1-0 win and a 2nd consecutive El Paso loss
• Charleston Too Good
  • El Paso lost their 3rd consecutive game, falling 2-0 to the Charleston Battery. Cal Jennings scored an early penalty in the 5th minute and MD Myers scored in the 2nd half to seal the victory for the Battery. El Paso created some chances but yet again failed to score and came away with nothing

The Big Question

Can El Paso get the locomotive back on the tracks and finish their chances?

This is an El Paso team that is certainly capable of scoring goals. As I mentioned earlier, they’re in the top half of the league in goals scored this season. The issue over the past few games is they haven’t been converting their chances. If they don’t start to do so, they can quickly fall down the standings in a tight Western Conference. They’ll look to Wilmer Cabrera Jr (son of El Paso manager Wilmer Cabrera) who leads the team in goal contributions with 14 (10g, 4a). However, Cabrera hasn’t had a goal contribution since August 2nd, when he provided 2 assists in a 6-0 drubbing of Las Vegas Lights. Forward Amando Moreno has also been important, with 11 goals contributions in 2025 (7g, 4a). He too hasn’t done much since the Las Vegas game though with one goal contribution since then, a goal against 10-man Phoenix Rising on August 31st. Both players need to get back on track in order for El Paso to end this 3 game losing run.

I’m going with a 2-0 RIFC win in this one. As we’ve seen, El Paso have struggled to score recently despite creating ample chances to do so. I think they’ll find it harder to create chances against an RIFC team that has one of the best defenses in the league. On the other end, I think RIFC can get at a defense that features RIFC alum Kofi Twumasi (nothing against Kofi, just had to mention he’s there). I’m fully aware that predicting RIFC to score more than one goal in a game is bold (to put it lightly), as they haven’t done so in the league since June 14th against North Carolina FC. But hey, it’s my blog and I can do what I want.

Up Next

As always, I’ll be back here with the Riptide Report following the game Friday night. It’ll obviously be a late one as the game won’t end until around 11pm. It’s been a grind this season, not just for us fans watching the team but also for all the content creators out there. I really appreciate everyone who checks out anything we do here at Tide Talk. It helps make what we do feel like it’s worth it. Until next time, UP THE TIDE!