Rhode Island FC stumbled over the finish line to clinch a playoff berth with an uninspired 0-0 draw against North Carolina FC on Saturday night.

The performance looked quite a bit like the Rhode Island FC side we came to know from May through August. Admittedly, the team has looked better over the last few weeks and managed to create significantly more offense, but this was more of the same watered-down football we’ve been treated to for most of the season.

Many will point to the absence of JJ Williams – who reappeared on the injury report this week – as the root cause. And it was a significant factor, but I think the conservative substitutions deserve equal scrutiny and attention. For example, bringing Dwayne Atkinson (relentlessly attack-minded forward) on for the injured Amos Shapiro-Thompson in the first half, only to later replace him with Marc Ybarra in the 86th minute. Or failing to have either of Zach Herivaux (integral part of our turn around over the last few weeks) or Maxi Rodriguez on the field for more than 15 minutes.

With the draw, Rhode Island FC officially clinched a playoff spot, and will finish either 7th or 8th in the Eastern Conference – meaning they will face Charleston or Louisville City depending on their final position.

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) – 6/10

A solid three-save performance for Koke Vegas – it started early, with a decent save in the 2nd minute of the match following some sloppy defending on a ball over the top. His final save of the match – probably also his best – was a diving save in the 71st minute on a long distance shot.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

A very good defensive game for Karifa Yao – he led the team with six defensive actions (which is actually relatively low, due to the lack of North Carolina threat) but the majority of them came in significant moments.

I’d love to know what prompted Khano to make the change in the 79th minute to replace Yao with Mabika. I suppose he likely brought Mabika on because of his on-ball abilities, but I never like to see an unforced like-for-like sub in the backline.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 4/10

Stoneman’s distribution is essentially wasted with Dikwa up top, because Dikwa is neither winning the aerial duels, nor running onto the end of any balls over the top. So accordingly, Stoneman’s performance feels pretty pedestrian despite his efforts.

Hamady Diop (D) – 5/10

Similar performance and notes to Stoneman – as both central defenders had over 60 touches, and 10 passes into the final third each. I thought Diop was the better of the two defensively.

I’m still trying to figure out how good Diop is on the ball? He attempted some progressive passes on Saturday night that were certainly the right decision, but appeared to be overhit – although the receiving player ended up controlling them in most cases.

Aldair Sanchez (MF) – 5/10

Not hugely involved in the 2/3rds of the match that he played, but had some promising moments of build up going up the left. I don’t believe Sanchez was able to put a single cross into the box tonight, which is underwhelming. Again – without JJ, there likely wouldn’t have been anyone there to finish it anyway.

Hugo Bacharach (MF) – 6/10

Another strong midfield performance for Hugo. On paper, Hugo had 10 passes into the final third (as did Grant Stoneman and Hamady Diop) and led all RI players with seven duels won. More importantly, he was doing his best Zach Herivaux impression with his ball carrying and progressive passing – which was sharp, and effective tonight.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 5/10

Clay, on the other hand, had a surprisingly quiet performance following one of his best of the season last week.

Frank Nodarse (MF) – 4/10

Knowing that Frank at right wing-back is supposed to be the conservative, stay-at-home defense-first wing-back option, I was a bit disappointed with the level of defending on our right side throughout the match as Frank was occasionally passed through or around. He also has 3 or 4 inches on the man he was mostly marking… why was he 1 for 3 on aerial duels?

Noah Fuson (F) – 6/10

Noah’s best two chances of the match came in the first half. I would’ve liked to see Noah’s first shot – from outside the box – at least be on target. But the defender had him closed down pretty well.

Noah’s second chance, which Dikwa did quite well to set up, was a low shot to the far post which forced the keeper into making a nice save. Overall, I thought Noah still looked fairly sharp, even if not quite to the same level as his previous two performances.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 3/10

Unfortunately, for Chico, I think his shortcomings were really highlighted by his re-insertion into the starting lineup as the main striker in the absence of JJ. His positive contributions that I can remember include: a great backheel flick to setup to Noah for his best goal-scoring opportunity of the night, and an outside-of-the-box shot on target of Dikwa’s own in the second.

Besides those two individual moments, I found Chico’s performance very frustrating. As previously mentioned, he’s not seemingly able to win duels at anywhere near the same rate as JJ (Chico led all RI players with six duels lost), nor make a threatening run in behind to get on the end of a ball either on the ground, or in the air.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (F) – 5/10

Very average contribution, prior to making way due to a head injury in the 37th minute.

Subs

Dwayne Atkinson – 5/10

Atkinson was lively, if not slightly underwhelming in his 50 minute cameo. He failed to contribute much, but did have arguably the best Rhode Island chance of the match early in the second half. The shot was incredibly well-defended, and Atkinson’s “tap-in” shot was blocked.

I will never understand Khano’s decision to take Atkinson off (after subbing him ON in the 37th minute) just to replace him with Marc Ybarra.

Jojea Kwizera – N/A

Just a truly disjointed, uneventful match where I don’t have much to say about any of the substitute performances.

Aime Mabika – N/A

Zachary Herivaux – N/A

Maxi Rodriguez – N/A

Marc Ybarra – 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.