Rhode Island FC fell 3-1 to Birmingham Legion tonight. It’s the first time they beat RIFC in what was their sixth attempt. It was also only Birmingham’s second win so far in 2026. But the focus here is really how poor RIFC were tonight. It was an awful performance that was tough to watch. Here are my takeaways, where I’ll try my best to find any positives.
Star Wars Night
I have to first say, the team did an awesome job with Star Wars night. Theme nights are hit or miss for me but the team nailed it. The branding around the stadium was great and the performers were fun, albeit kinda silly. Chip got in on the Star Wars theme and the kids zone was the place to be, with both RI Comic Con and the 501st Legion showing up in costume to entertain the kids. Mine had an amazing time and it was the highlight of the night.
Leo Struck Back
It was a terrible start to the game for RIFC, as we conceded within the first five minutes. More on that soon. I said I’d try to find positives and the only thing on the field that went well was this Leo goal to level it at 1-1:
Great pressure there from Clay and JJ to force the turnover and a nice composed finish from Leo. It’s good knowing this team can get goals this season. But tonight the team really fell apart in a different area of the field.
I Find Our Lack Of Defense Disturbing
Let’s just call it what it is. This was an embarrassing defensive performance. It began early with this goal:
It was a nice ball in there from McCartney, but both Diop and Sanchez let their man get free behind them. Tregarthen ended up getting the goal but it just as easily could’ve been Damus.
Then, Birmingham decided they’d like an early 2nd half goal to go with the first half one:
There had to be a miscommunication here, as JJ went for the ball, getting in Koke’s way preventing him from claiming it. That left Kavita with an easy finish. Awful way to start the half. And ten minutes later, Birmingham would have their third:
Damus makes a nice run here in between Diop and Yao. But one of them, probably Yao in this instance, needed to cover this better. You can’t make it that easy for a striker of Damus’s quality.
Final Thoughts
What an atrocious night on the field. The fact that it happened on what was probably the best attended game of the season so far makes it even worse. I’m sure there were plenty of people who came tonight solely due to the Star Wars theme. You may have had a chance of getting some of them to come back if you had a better performance out there. Seasons have ebbs and flows and even the best teams tend to have a bad performance at some point. This needs to be one of those ones that you quickly move on from and don’t allow to become a trend.
As for us at Tide Talk, the postmatch pod will be back tomorrow (Sunday) night and Timmy will have his player ratings, where I’m expecting some ugly numbers. I’ll be back on Friday to preview RIFC’s match with the top of the league and unbeaten Tampa Bay Rowdies. It goes without saying that we’ll need to see a vastly different performance than tonight to avoid embarrassment. No matter what though, I leave you with an UP THE TIDE!
Tide Talk 
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