RIFC fell 2-1 to New Mexico United to close out the 2025 regular season. It was a hard game to call coming in, as New Mexico had nothing to play for and RIFC had already qualified for the playoffs. It turned out to be a strange and at times frustrating watch. RIFC have now finished the season on 38 points with 29 goals scored and 29 goals conceded. There will be plenty of time later to talk about the regular season as a whole so for now, here are my quick takeaways from a weird night in Albuquerque:
Safe Lineup and a Bizarre Tribute
I’m sneaking two things into one header here but hey, it’s the last game of the regular season so I can do what I want. RIFC came out with what I’m calling a “safe” lineup that looked something like this:
Notably, this lineup is missing Amos, Yao, Stoneman, and JJ. Busy was also not in the squad at all. I’m not going to pretend to know the fitness of all of the players but we do know that Amos came off with a head injury last game and JJ has been dealing with something as well, having missed out last week entirely. However, the other absences make this seem like Khano was being more cautious about fitness vs caring about the result. I can see his point of view here but I disagree with it. Of course, the players on the field were always going to try to win. But I would’ve much rather seen the approach of starting what has recently become your starting 11 and maybe taking players off early if need be.
As for the bizarre tribute, New Mexico United chose to honor forward Daniel Bruce who is retiring after the season. Bruce is the last remaining player from New Mexico’s inaugural 2019 season and is undoubtedly a club legend. Giving him a tribute is fully warranted, but it’s the way it was done that I think was pretty ridiculous. Bruce, who is injured, got the start and New Mexico immediately kicked the ball out of play. They then proceeded to do a 7 minute tribute with him getting interviewed on the field before subbing him out for their usual forward Greg Hurst. 9 minutes were then added on for first half stoppage time. I really don’t understand why he needed to get one last start instead of just honoring him with a ceremony either before kickoff or at halftime. I’ve never seen anything like it.
First Half Defense Torched and a Set Piece Goal
After the strange opening tribute, New Mexico clearly looked like the better side and consistently found themselves behind RIFC’s back line. So it was not surprising that New Mexico got the scoring started in the 21st minute:
This was a brilliant example of quickly going direct from back to front. RIFC would get back into the game with this 38th minute goal that ended up being credited to Hugo:
It was a great ball from Noah from the set piece and finally, Aime Mabika got on the end of an attacking header. He’s only one of, if not the tallest outfield player in the league. I didn’t understand why the goal was credited to Hugo initially, but after several replays, I saw that Mabika’s header did in fact appear to go off of Hugo’s shoulder on the way in. And as much as it would’ve been great to see Mabika get his first goal, Hugo deserves it after his actual first goal was taken out of the record books because of the Las Vegas forfeit.
Also, have to point out that based on his celebration Albert Dikwa may need a new nickname:
While Hugo ended up being in the right place at the right time on the goal, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the 43rd minute and gave away this penalty that ended up sending the game to the half at 2-1:
Was This a Friendly?
The second half saw both teams have some chances but we wouldn’t see any go in. I already mentioned Khano’s decision with the starting 11 making it seem like the team wasn’t really going for it. And the second half substitutions solidified that take for me. JJ Williams did come on at halftime and get his 45 minutes. And Maxi and Zach came on at the hour mark, which makes some sense. But Dani Rovira and Mathieu Ndongo both got minutes, coming on in the 77th. No offense to either player but they’ve barely been a part of the team all season. Ndongo only had one prior appearance (9 minutes against Louisville) and he was only on the bench for that game because Dikwa was out injured. This was Rovira’s 7th appearance on the season, all coming off the bench. It’s clear that from a coaching perspective, this team wasn’t set up with the intention of securing 7th.
I don’t blame the players, who put forth plenty of effort. But I just find it frustrating that apparently just qualifying for the playoffs was all that mattered. Of course, the team could still finish 7th. That will happen if Detroit draw or lose to Tampa Bay tomorrow night. If they win, they will jump ahead of RIFC, who will finish 8th. 7th means a trip to Charleston and 8th means a trip to Louisville. We should know where RIFC are going next weekend by around 9:30 pm tomorrow.
Up Next
Timmy will have his player ratings following this bizarre game. And the podcast will be at the usual 8:30 pm time on Sunday. I will be back here later next week to preview RIFC’s first round playoff match. Until then, UP THE TIDE!
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