Rhode Island FC and Detroit City FC played to a scoreless 0-0 draw at Tidewater on Saturday afternoon.

It’s concerning that this is feeling a lot like 2025 where we can have plenty of the ball – even in the opposition third – but rarely find a way to work it into dangerous areas from there. Rhode Island had their chances in this game but ultimately failed to capitalize, yet again.

Instead, the faithful home fans are sent back to the parking lot having seen the team held scoreless for the 8th time since the stadium opened in May 2025. We managed to pick up a point, doubling our point total and good enough for a 4-way tie in the basement of the Eastern Conference.

I still see a lot of promise in this team, but 0.5 points per game is absolutely unacceptable – and there is not a single game coming up over the next month that you can look at and feel confident about winning.

On a much happier note – amazing call out to both Raising Anchor and Tide Talk from the broadcast team of Ryan Davis and Sean Saint Jacques during this match.

At times we are harsh when speaking about the broadcasts over here at Tide Talk – but I was blown away by the awareness and level of preparedness/research that these two must be doing not only to recognize Tide Talk, but to also demonstrate that they 100% understand and (I hope) appreciate what we’re going for here, too. It was also such a kind gesture for them to shout out our labor of love here.

That’s a 10/10 performance, in my humble opinion.

And grateful to the LEGEND John Morrissey for catching it, too. Not only an outstanding soccer mind, but also a prolific Letterboxd user.

@RIFCPodcast & @TideTalkRI you're famous pic.twitter.com/77bpRMdxmu

— John Morrissey (@USLTactics) April 4, 2026

Unfortunately, back to the game…

Click below if you’re interested in seeing 2026 historical ratings.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Another solid performance from Koke, although the defense was the bigger story. Koke was only forced to make one single save because the defense limited Detroit to just four total shots, and only one on target.

But boy was that one save a big one, on a headed chance for Detroit at the end of the first half.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 5/10

Not an especially busy night on either side of the ball, but overall a perfectly fine performance.

Hamady Diop (D) – 3/10

After a lot of internal litigation, I had to settle for this harsh score for Diop. I’m thrilled to see his first 90-minute performance of the season after starting on the Injury Report, as I think he’s potentially our best defender on the team.

Diop had fine moments in this match; his ball carrying was solid, but his distribution (usually the best part of his game) was a bit off. Then, he had a remarkably poor final 10-15 minutes of this match with multiple giveaways and misread situations – each of which very nearly led to a go-ahead goal for Detroit City FC.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

Good performance for the anchor of our defensive unit. He wasn’t especially busy, but had a handful of calm defensive moments to neutralize Detroit attacks.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 7/10

Let’s just start with the bad; the botched set piece routine at the end of the first half that directly led to DC’s best chance of the night. I am genuinely confused how we let that happen. Right in front of Khano and the RIFC bench, nonetheless.

Otherwise, it was an exceptional defensive performance from Frank – he was constantly breaking up play, causing DCFC turnovers, and pushing the ball forward quickly (he led all players with six interceptions, and 13 total defensive contributions). He also won a game-high 10 duels out of 15 total.

His build-up play left a little something to be desired, but even his contributions around the final third had some moments of genuine flair and promise. He also drew a game-high five fouls. Frank has been our best defender so far this season.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 7/10

Much like Frank Nodarse, Clay was absolutely everywhere when it came to breaking up play and winning the ball back (had a game-high six successful tackles and tied for a game-high seven ball recoveries).

Again, like Frank, I didn’t see as much to like from Clay going forward – and can recall a few Rhode Island counterattacks that he actually harmed more than he helped – but his work rate and defensive contributions were invaluable in keeping this game 0-0.

Grant Stoneman (MF) – 5/10

I’m pretty firmly against playing Stoneman in the midfield – but I actually had 0 issues with this performance. Having a stable, more cat-like defensive-minded player in the middle alongside Clay allowed him to roam freely and have the big impact that he had.

Pity Rodriguez (MF) – 4/10

I’m very high on Pity, but this was his worst performance since arriving at RIFC. To start, only 25 touches and seven accurate passes is too low. Of those seven passes, all except for two were sideways or backwards – which is the opposite of what I love about Pity’s game.

Worst of all, Pity had three shot attempts in the first half that sailed comfortably over the goal. These were solid chances and not a single one forced the goalkeeper to make a save.

When it looks a little bit like me trying to take a shot in rec league, you know something’s not right.

Leo Afonso (F) – 5/10

Decent performance from Leo – but like Pity Rodriguez, it may have been his least dangerous-looking one so far for Rhode Island FC.

I thought his ball-carrying was on display, but his passing in the opposition half was lacking. He was playing wider in this match rather than directly off of JJ / more centrally as we’ve seen previously – so may take some time to settle into a new role.

JJ Williams (F) – 5/10

JJ attempting just one shot in any match is a flaw in our game plan. JJ worked hard to track down the numerous aerial balls, but failed to be especially involved in the attack besides this.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 5/10

Jojea looked pretty good playing on the right wing again in his return from international duty with Rwanda. It wasn’t perfect, but Kwizera consistently ran into and/or carried the ball into space down the right and found the ball often. His decision-making from there in the final third was just ok, but he got himself into dangerous positions.

Subs

Noah Fuson – 5/10

Fuson was decent again coming off the bench – although nothing especially noteworthy.

I did find it curious that Khano brought Noah on for Pity – leading Noah to play more centrally, rather than the wide positions we’ve seen him thrive in over the last two seasons (and this option was available, via a like-for-like sub with Kwizera or Afonso).

Dwayne Atkinson – N/A

Nick Scardina – N/A

---

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.