Rhode Island FC cruised to a comfortable 4-0 win over CD Faialense in the first round of the US Open Cup at Tidewater.

Let’s just say it plainly – Rhode Island FC took care of business and did exactly what they should do against an amateur side. They dominated in possession (74%) and shots (26 – compared to Faialense’s 7), which is exactly what you would expect to see.

This will be a relatively brief blog – but generally I thought that the players from our expected “First XI” largely underwhelmed, while the “reserve” players proved their worth and played hard.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 7/10

Koke faced just one shot on target (which he saved comfortably) and otherwise did well with his distribution. I can’t go higher than a 7 – despite the clean sheet – given the opposition.

Free Jacob Castro and Free Will Meyers?

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 7/10

Aldair made a strong case for himself playing as a fullback, tied for the team lead with four chances created. His best moment was a touch-line cross that he lofted over the goalkeeper, on to Nick Scardina’s head for Rhode Island’s 3rd goal.

Aldair made a strong case for himself to be in consideration to start.

CJ Williams (D) – 8/10

If you had told me that a man whose name ends in “…J Williams” would be the one to finally open up the Chicken flood gates – thanks to his goal on a corner kick in the first half – I would probably have guessed a different first letter of the name. Incredible stuff.

However, due to attendance, the Big Chicken Conspiracy largely lives on…

Anyway, great night for CJ Williams in his debut. He slotted seamlessly into one of the USL Championships best defensive units and hardly put a foot wrong. He played as one of two central defenders in a back four and looked calm and cool on the ball.

Karifa Yao (D) – 7/10

He did Karifa Yao things for 45 minutes.

Dani Rovira (D) – 8/10

Let’s not get carried away with one game against amateur competition, but Rovira put in a very good shift at rightback. He led the team in touches (110) and Duels Won (8) and looked like one of the best players on the pitch – particularly in the first half. He made a great run and showed great composure on his first half left-footed finish to put Rhode Island up 1-0.

Dwayne Atkinson (MF) – 5/10

Dwayne was one of the players who I expected to put on a clinic against CD Faialense. He looked dangerous at times, but ultimately failed to impress in his full 90 minute performance. He did force two saves – one of which was a nice diving save by the Faialense keeper (a great sport, and an absolute legend).

Hugo Bacharach (MF) – 6/10

Thrilled to see Hugo ready to start, after coming off the bench on Saturday. He actually didn’t look 100% match fit and up to game speed yet, but had a solid performance in his 45 minutes. He tied for creating a game-high four chances for Rhode Island, and had the assist in CJ Williams set piece goal in the first half.

Kevin Vang (MF) – 8/10

Everyone puts respect on Kevin Vang’s name for being a native Rhode Islander, but he put in a legitimately very good shift against Faialense. He was spraying the ball all over the place and I was impressed with the precision and weight on a lot of those passes. He led the team with 15 passes into the final third – and of course, played a great chipped ball over the top to Dani Rovira for our opening goal.

Jamin Gogo Peters (MF) – 6/10

Not as impressive of a performance as CJ Williams or Kevin Vang, but Gogo Peters didn’t look out of place playing on the wing either. I thought he had similar contributions to Dwayne Atkinson (which is meant as praise) – and created more chances (3) than either of Noah Fuson or Dwayne Atkinson.

Gogo Peters was unfortunately robbed of a great assist, as Logan Dorsey hit a tap-in off the post in the first half.

Logan Dorsey (F) – 6/10

Busy night for Logan Dorsey following his goal-scoring debut on Saturday. He saw a lot of the ball in and around the Faialense box, but was unfortunately unable to convert. He did create three chances in addition to the three shots that he himself took – but unfortunately missed his clearest chance of the night on a tap-in to a pretty open net, which bounced off the woodwork.

Noah Fuson (F) – 5/10

Another regular first team player who underwhelmed on the night. It wasn’t a particularly bad performance, but after not starting on Saturday I would’ve expected a player of Noah’s quality to come out and dominate this game. It wasn’t for lack of effort, but a lot of his moves and attempts simply weren’t coming off on Tuesday night.

Subs

Clay Holstad – 6/10

Looked good in the midfield for the 2nd half that he played – it wasn’t a particularly busy night to be “in the engine room”, as the ball was pretty stuck in Faialense’s end. He played a beautiful ball over the top (one of his 11 passes into the final third in just 45 minutes) for Nick Scardina that led to our fourth goal of the night.

Frank Nodarse – 7/10

Again – not much to do, but kept a clean sheet and worked well in a partnership with CJ Williams.

Pity Rodriguez – 6/10

Pity starts the move for our third goal, scored by Nick Scardina, and displayed more of his tight, technical dribbling, ability to shield and retain the ball, and creative passing that we saw on Saturday. Sign me up for more, ASAP.

Leo Afonso – 5/10

A brief and relatively quiet cameo for Afonso.

Nick Scardina – 8/10

I’ve been wrongly accused of leading the Anti-Nick Scardina fan club after my comments that he had an underwhelming game on Saturday (which I stand by). The record shows that I’ve been hyping Scardina up all offseason, and am expecting him to be a key piece and have a great season for us.

We saw our first glimpse of that on Tuesday night, as Scardina scored across the Faialense keeper with a header, and then a great run and finish (scored as an Own Goal) to seal the game.

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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.