Rhode Island FC fell on penalties Tuesday night against the New England Revolution in the US Open Cup Round of 32. It was an incredible night at Tidewater though regardless of the result. Some of it had to do with the play on the field and some with the environment at the stadium. As always, here are my main takeaways:
Battle of the SGs
Before getting into the game on the field, I have to touch on the battle in the stands. It was really different seeing a battle of two supporter’s groups behind each of the goals. Coming into this one, there was a lot of chatter online about how many fans the Revs were bringing for their “home section” at Tidewater. In the interest of fairness, I have to say that the Revs brought more fans than I expected. However, it was clear who the real winners were.
Defiance 1636 completely outclassed whatever the Revs fans call themselves (they have multiple SGs). Defiance brought constant noise while the Revs fans would stay silent for 10 minutes at a time between chants. I am happy for them though that they were able to experience having a section in a real soccer stadium. It’ll be the best “home” atmosphere they’ll have all season. And it wasn’t because of their fans. Hopefully they can take some inspiration from Defiance back with them to Gillette and learn to bring the energy for the entire 90 (or in this case 120).
2nd Half Drama
After a mundane first half, the game came to life early on in the second. Unfortunately, it was due to the Revs being on the front foot and getting this goal from Diego Fagundez:
Not much to say about that one other than that maybe RIFC defenders could’ve been more alert there to block off the shooting opportunity. But overall it was a well worked goal.
RIFC pushed hard for an equalizer but as time went on it started to feel like it wasn’t to be. Thankfully, JJ Williams had other ideas:
JJ absolutely beasted Tanner Beason. It was a deserved equalizer that sent the stadium into raptures and the game into extra time. What. A. Moment.
PK Heartbreak
I have to admit that when it went to penalties, I wasn’t confident in RIFC getting through. The team’s only shootout win was in Charleston in the playoffs last year. Outside of that, every one has been awful. That trend would unfortunately continue Tuesday night as after Hamady Diop converted RIFC’s first penalty, they had three in a row saved from Jojea Kwizera, Leo Afonso, and JJ Williams. You do have to give some credit to Revs goalkeeper Donovan Parisian for making the saves. I didn’t feel like any of the penalties were really poorly taken so he deserves props. It’s just unfortunate that this one went to PKs as RIFC played well in extra time and could’ve come away winners.
Managing Minutes
I had to add a bonus takeaway here to talk about the lineup and substitutions. Khano elected to rotate the starting 11 a bit more than I expected coming in. Six normal starters (Diop, Nodarse, Bacharach, Kwizera, Afonso, Williams) were dropped from the starting 11. Khano obviously did this to manage his player’s minutes after all six of them started and went at least 70 minutes on Saturday in Lexington.
Hugo Bacharach came in at halftime for Amos Shapiro-Thompson, who likely was in a minutes restriction having just come back from injury. Interestingly, Khano made a triple substitution just a few minutes after the Revs goal, bringing on attackers Kwizera, Afonso and Williams. It’s worth noting they were preparing to come in before the goal was scored so I’m not really sure why they didn’t just come in at halftime instead of getting ready just 5 minutes into the half. Diop would make his way in about 15 minutes later with Nodarse coming on early in the first half of extra time.
RIFC were much better after the substitutions, especially the triple change. This begs the question: in this type of game, is it better to take your best players out early or save them for later in the game? It’s an interesting debate but in this case I’m in agreement with how Khano handled it. The team got to halftime at 0-0, which was a success. You know there’s a chance the game goes to extra time, which means another 30+ minutes get tacked on. It’s unrealistic to expect the guys who started on Saturday to play a full 120 minutes. Given that, I’d rather have my best players out there later in the game than starting them and pulling them early. It very nearly paid off.
Final Thoughts
As I said at the top, despite the result it was an awesome night at Tidewater. Seeing how fantastic our support was and how tenacious the players were on the field made it all worth it. I also have to shout out the couple people who stopped me on the way in and came up to me in the stadium to tell me they’re fans of Tide Talk and the blogs. It means a lot to me and all of us here. While I’d be writing these blogs no matter what, it’s always validating to hear that people actually enjoy and appreciate what we do.
Matt and Ryan will be back with the postmatch pod Wednesday night. Timmy will have his player ratings as well, which just like this blog are going to be a bit late. It’s about time I get to sleep so as always, I leave you with…UP THE TIDE!
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