RIFC fell 2-1 in Miami tonight. It was an incredibly frustrating result. Perhaps there was an early sign of how things would go when the ESPN app didn’t have the broadcast on until 8 minutes into the game. I have another way to watch, so I was doing that for the start. But most people had to miss the beginning of the game due to the issue. As for the actual game on the field…..
It’s Not 2024
This isn’t your 2024 Miami FC team. I tried to allude to that in the prematch blog. Still, RIFC needed to start this game better. Miami looked good pressing early on and RIFC responded by playing the ball long way too often. It wasn’t working, particularly because there was no JJ Williams after his red card last weekend.
Miami were able to take the lead in the 22nd minute on this scrappy goal:
It was a great switch from left to right initially by Milesi and an even better….cross? from Tunbridge. Regardless, you have to feel that someone in white needed to do better to clear it away before Rocha put it in. Disappointing
Ndongo Nightmare
If going into half down 1-0 wasn’t bad enough, things got worse early in the second half. Former RIFC forward Mathieu Ndongo banged this one in to give his team a 2-0 lead:
Great touch and even better finish there from Ndongo. And credit to him for not really celebrating out of respect to his former team. But it has to be said that Frank Nodarse needed to get out there quicker and put Ndongo under more pressure. Poor defending
Busy Impact Not Enough
Dwayne Atkinson came on in the 64th minute and scored pretty much immediately to make it 2-1:
Nice pullback from Noah (who also came in off the bench) and a perfectly placed finish there from Busy. But as good as it was to see an instant impact from some subs, it just wasn’t enough. A Hugo red card in the 80th minute didn’t help things. And despite 67% possession and 14 shots (4 on target) in the 2nd half, RIFC couldn’t find a second goal and came away from this game with nothing
Felipe Revenge Game
I usually keep these to three main takeaways but I had to add one more tonight. As I mentioned in the Prematch Lookout, Felipe Rodriguez was going to be in goal for Miami FC in this one with typical starter Eloy Room away on international duty. The last time RIFC saw Rodriguez was in the infamous 8-1 RIFC win to close out the 2024 regular season. It’s very clear to me that Felipe remembered that game well. He was fired up for this one and made some fantastic saves. He also showboated a bit in the second half. It was a clear man of the match performance for the young goalkeeper
Final Thoughts
There’s no sugarcoating it: this was a bad loss. While this isn’t “your grandfather’s Miami FC” as commentator Ryan Davis put it, this is a team RIFC should be beating. I just don’t understand what the strategy was in this one. The lineup made perfect sense to me but playing the ball long into the channels rather than through Clay and Hugo in the middle was baffling. It just didn’t work. The team did look more decisive in the final third and finished the game with 20 shots (7 on target). But it isn’t enough when you can’t convert. If the problem with the attack last season was a lack of chance creation, this season it’s the inability to put your chances away.
I’ll be back here Tuesday to preview the Open Cup match against Hartford Athletic. Before that though, be sure to tune in to the podcast tomorrow (Sunday) night at 8:30, where there will be plenty of venting about this awful result. Timmy will also have his player ratings tomorrow, which I suspect will be full of 3s and 4s. Despite the frustration of this game, I’ll always stick with the team. And thus, I’ll still leave you with an UP THE TIDE!
Tide Talk 
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