Rhode Island FC picked up a point tonight with a 1-1 draw against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Was it a good point? How was the performance? What was the weather like? Will I stop asking questions? Find out below with my 3 takeaways from the game:
Same Weather, New 11
It was another wet and rainy night at Tidewater. But what else is new? It feels like every home game this year we’ve had weather like this. To be fair, the rain held up during the game for the most part. But anything other than a clear night at Tidewater is what we’ve come to expect. What did change tonight though was the starting 11 and particularly the setup in midfield.
Khano made three changes, bringing Grant Stoneman, Amos Shapiro-Thompson, and Zach Herivaux in for Karifa Yao, Clay Holstad, and Pity Rodriguez. Grant for Karifa was a like for like swap. It was Amos and Zach coming in that changed the composition of the midfield. Instead of a double pivot, Hugo was on his own shielding the back line with Zach and Amos ahead of him. I thought it was an interesting change that had mixed results. I’m not convinced that it’s the way to go going forward but it is probably the best way to get both Amos and Zach on the field.
Losing the Man
RIFC looked solid for the first 25 minutes or so and created some decent chances. But they weren’t able to take advantage and then were made to pay in the 29th minute:
This was poor marking from RIFC. The main culprit here is probably Frank, but in any event there were three defenders marking two attackers, leaving Dolabella open at the far post. You can’t make mistakes like that against a team as good as Tampa Bay.
JJ is Inevitable
The game went to halftime 1-0 and the Rowdies looked like they were trying to kill the game off even before the second half started. It just got worse in the last 45 with players going down and restarts taking forever. For a long time it worked and it felt like this would be a 1-0 Tampa Bay win. But as the heading says here, JJ is Inevitable.
It was a great cross from Scardina and an even better header here from JJ. Pinpoint accuracy and trademark JJ power. It’s awesome to see how JJ is starting to consistently come through for us. We’ve seen him play like this for certain periods in previous seasons but it’s great to see him in form early. Long may it continue.
Final Thoughts
I think this was a good performance overall from the boys in bay blue. Especially against a team as good as the Rowdies. I think they showed tonight why they’re the best team in the league so far this year. To come away with a point is fine by me, especially since I predicted a 1-1 in the Prematch Lookout. I was finally right on a prediction. It only happens once or twice a year.
As for what’s going on at Tide Talk, we’ll of course have the postmatch podcast tomorrow night and Timmy will give his player ratings. I’m anxious to see if Timmy will give a 2 to a certain player, as I told him he should up in 205. Something tells me he won’t.
As always, thank you for reading and consuming any of our content here at Tide Talk. For me, it makes me feel like these aren’t just the ravings of a mad man. Although maybe they are sometimes. UP THE TIDE!
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