Rhode Island FC and Detroit City FC drew 0-0 tonight at Centreville Bank Stadium. Overall it was a good performance but a not so good result for RIFC. As for the weather, which for whatever reason I’ve decided to talk about in these blogs this year, it was cold but pretty easily manageable. A lack of rain helped. As did the gloves provided for the gate giveaway with Santoro Oil. Much more useful than the winter beanie we got in the summer last year. But…on to the game.
Tactical Tweaks
The big question coming into this one was who was going to play next to Clay in midfield with Amos and Zach injured and Hugo suspended. My hope was to see Frank start there but I knew that was always a pipe dream. We did see Frank move to midfield for the last 10 minutes or so, so maybe Khano reads the blog and threw me a bone (definitely not 😂). It ended up being Grant Stoneman to start as I predicted. He played there once or twice last year so it wasn’t surprising.
What ended up catching my eye even more though was what Khano ended up doing on the right with Frank and Jojea. At times, it looked like Frank was a RCB in a back 3 and he would occasionally step into the midfield. More often though, he looked like a traditional RB. I thought Frank’s positioning was spot on throughout the game. It allowed Jojea to stay further forward ahead of him in his best position on the right wing. Late in the second half it was Busy in Jojea’s spot and it worked the same until Frank moved to midfield. Good stuff from Khano and the staff.
Firing Blanks
This was a game that RIFC should have taken 3 points from. Detroit didn’t offer much in this one outside of some good pressing to start the 2nd half and some chances that came from some RIFC mistakes. The reason RIFC only came away with a point was their inability to trouble Detroit’s goalkeeper.
RIFC had 14 shots in this game but only 2 of them were on target. And according to Fotmob, the team created zero big chances. It’s become something of a trend early on this season. It’s great to see the team taking shots this year, but if you can’t get them on target, it’s all for nothing. Pity had a few chances tonight but shot over. Grant Stoneman also took a speculative shot from outside the box that was somewhat close but still not on target. There were other chances too that went awry. Overall, it was really frustrating.
Awesome Shout-out
Early in the second half, word started to make its way to us here at Tide Talk that we were mentioned on the broadcast along with Raising Anchor (or “Raising the Anchor”). I couldn’t quite believe it but USL podcaster and legend John Morrissey shared it on X, so I had verifiable proof before doing my usual late night rewatch.
I really can’t describe how awesome of a moment this is for us. Which kind of isn’t great because as a blogger I’m supposed to be at least somewhat good with words. But I’ll try anyway.
We don’t create any of our content to get recognition. We do it because we love this team and live and die with every touch of the ball. At times, especially last season, it can wear on you a bit. At least it did for me. So getting a shout-out like this just feels so validating. Major props to Sean Saint Jacques and Ryan Davis for the kind words tonight. It nearly, nearly, makes up for the frustrating result.
Final Thoughts
As always, Tide Talk will be back tomorrow night with the podcast to go over everything that went on in this one. Timmy will also have his player ratings and I’ll be judging him harshly on how he talks about Frank. His rating is guaranteed to be too low. As for myself, I’ll be back later this week to my preview RIFC’s trip to Lexington next weekend. Until then, UP THE TIDE!
Tide Talk 
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