RIFC came away with a 2-2 draw in El Paso tonight at Southwest University Park. It was a wild game with a lot to talk about. For once, I didn’t have to put too much thought into what my takeaways/points would be. So let’s just get right to it:
An Open Play Goal (they all count)
El Paso started this game on top and consistently got in behind RIFC’s back line. Koke Vegas came up big on a couple of occasions to keep the game level at 0-0 before this happened in the 29th minute:
What can I even say about this? It was an awful mistake from El Paso goalkeeper Jahmali Waite. Credit to Zach Herivaux though for applying the pressure. You may remember he did something similar against the Tampa Bay Rowdies last season, where he pressed the goalkeeper and basically tackled the ball away into the goal.
A lot of the talk coming into this one was that RIFC hadn’t scored from open play in any of their last 4 games. And even though this one was largely due to an error from the opposing team, I’ll take it. As we’ve all been saying for the past few weeks now, a goal is a goal
Vertically Challenged El Paso Equalizes Via Header
RIFC were hoping to take their 1-0 lead into halftime and for awhile it seemed like they would. But in the 44th minute, El Paso equalized in an inexplicable way:
El Paso’s Memo Diaz, who is apparently only 5’7″, scored a header. Against what is allegedly the tallest team in the league. It’s completely inexcusable to me no matter how good the ball in was from Eric Calvillo. As much as it pains me to say, Frank Nodarse needs to do better there. As does Hugo Bacharach. That ball has to be headed out. It was an extremely disappointing way to end the first 45
Wild 2nd Half
It was a 2nd half full of chances and exciting moments for both sides. RIFC hit the post twice in the first 15 minutes, first from a JJ Williams free kick and then from a Noah Fuson shot that came from the best attacking move I can remember the team having all season. And just two minutes after Noah hit the post….
It was another nice attacking move from RIFC, which is something I wasn’t sure I was ever going to type out in one of these blogs. And not only that, it was a second goal from open play. Incredible moment for the boys in amber and blue. However, the 2-1 lead would only last 13 minutes before this happened:
Nothing to say about that one other than it’s extremely unfortunate. When your team generally struggles to score goals, you can’t gift your opponent one at the other end. Sadly, that was really terrible from Clay there.
From this point, it looked like a game that would almost certainly see another goal. Both teams were pushing for a winner deep into stoppage time. But in the end, neither team could get one across the line and it finished as a 2-2 draw
Final Thoughts
This was probably the most entertaining RIFC game of the entire season if you look at it from a neutral point of view. Obviously, we all had fun beating Westchester and Portland 4-1 each in the cup. But there was actually action back and forth and RIFC put forward a very encouraging attacking performance. But the issue here is something I’ve been talking about for the past few weeks now: we’re at the point in the season where the results matter over the performances. Over the last two games, it’s worked in the opposite direction, where RIFC haven’t had great performances but have gotten wins. Here though, it was a case where RIFC had a good performance but ended up only getting a draw. It puts even more importance on Indy Eleven’s game tomorrow night against FC Tulsa. Luckily for us, Tulsa are one of the best teams in the league. But if Indy can somehow get a win, they will move ahead of us and we will be back below the playoff line with 4 games to go
Up Next
The pod will be back again at the usual time, Sunday night at 8:30. There will be a ton to talk about from this one, so be sure to tune in. Timmy will also have his player ratings, which are always fun to dissect and criticize him for. I will be back later next week for a preview of RIFC’s upcoming home matchup with Las Vegas Lights. Until then, as always, UP THE TIDE!
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