Rhode Island FC scored three goals in the second half to secure a 4-1 victory over Brooklyn FC at Tidewater on Saturday night.

This is exactly the kind of performance we should be seeing at home against a team of Brooklyn’s quality. This is something the Rhode Island fans can go home feeling excited about, and wanting to see more of.

Will Rhode Island FC go on to build on this performance next week? Frankly, it’s hard for me to feel confident that they will. The whiplash in quality and results from this team is difficult to keep up with and has been for over a year now. It feels more like a coin flip than consistently improving performances. Obviously I’m happy with what I saw tonight – I want to see more of it.

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

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Would have loved to see a clean sheet for Koke here, as he and the defense were focused and switched on all night. They conceded an awkward goal in the 62nd minute, which was surely meant to be a cross. Otherwise, perfect on the night (although, wasn’t asked to do a whole lot).

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 7/10

I don’t know if only playing 45 minutes at Portland really counts as a “rest”, but Aldair sure looked refreshed in this performance. He was arguably the strongest performer out of the back four that limited Brooklyn to just four total shots, and only one on target.

Hamady Diop (D) – 6/10

Solid bounce-back performance from Diop – not that it could’ve gotten much worse than last weekend at Portland. Diop looked much more like his normal, reliable self from 2025, and was more conservative with his passing (leading to an 82% pass accuracy, compared to 71% in the previous match).

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

Yao and Diop did well to handle any Brooklyn threat that did make its way into our box. There wasn’t an incredible amount to do, but they were ready when called upon.

Nick Scardina (D) – 7/10

Scardina rightfully earned his first league start since March, following his assist on the equalizing goal against Tampa and being one of the few players who looked alright against Portland last weekend.

Nicky the Fish continues to impress with aggressive play on both sides of the ball, and was rewarded for his efforts with a beautiful give-and-go (and give again?) one-timed cross that JJ Williams thumps into the back of the net in the 82nd minute. Scardina made it look relatively easy, but it’s a pretty acrobatic cross from him.

For every bit as impactful as Aldair was on the left, Scardina was just as good on the right.

Hugo Bacharach (MF) – 7/10

Hugo was relentless in his breaking up play against Brooklyn. He also looked a lot more composed going forward and progressing the ball, whether through the runs he was making, progressive passing, or his dribbling.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 7/10

Clay is credited with an assist for sending the ball out wide to Jojea for his second goal of the night – but Clay’s best contributions won’t show up on the scoresheet; Clay was ruthless in build up play, with his long throws and long balls causing problems for Brooklyn all night. He was good on the counter as well, as he generated a great chance for Leo Afonso in the 55th minute. I repeat it regularly, but he has the best vision (and ability) to play those lofted, cross field balls out from the backfield.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 6/10

I’d be willing to say this may be the best attacking performance we’ve seen out of Amos. He created two chances, including his assist on Jojea’s goal to open the scoring.

More importantly, I thought he was smart and reliable in his control of the ball in the attacking third, and knew when to press, when to keep pushing, when to send it out wide, and when to simply recycle. As always, he’s also impossible to knock off the ball and goes 100% into every 50/50 ball.

Leo Afonso (F) – 5/10

Leo had a couple of threatening moments, but certainly the least dangerous out of our attacking trio. Of course, that’s a pretty high threshold considering the other two each had a pair of goals.

JJ Williams (F) – 8/10

Even before the goals came in the 82nd and 85th minute, JJ was having a big night. He led all players with 12 duels won (including 6/8 aerial duels), including a team-high four headed defensive clearances. He easily could’ve scored a couple of goals in the first half – as he had one headed chance caught on the goal line, and another hit off the crossbar.

In the 82nd minute, he had an absolutely thunderous one-timed finish off of a cross from Nick Scardina. His old friend, Jackson Lee (who had a good game, despite ultimately conceding four goals), barely even had a moment to flinch with how quickly that ball sailed past him.

Barely two minutes later, JJ strikes again with a headed finish off a corner kick. That’s right, folks: another major blow has been dealt to Big Chicken.

Andrew Quadros was quick to point out that Big Chicken would love to give away free chicken on Memorial Day… a day when many folks already have food/cookout plans already lined up.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 8/10

My favorite part of Jojea’s opening goal is that we’ve all been dogging on Khano for the planned swap of Jojea and Leo Afonso around the 35th minute that we’ve seen for the last few games.

Well, tonight they made the switch – we all visibly rolled our eyes and audibly groaned – and with Jojea’s first involvement, he takes one touch and lashes a ball into the bottom right corner with his stronger left foot.

Then, the pair started the second half with Leo on the right and Kwizera on the left. They switched back around the 70th minute, and Kwizera quickly gets an opportunity to cut inside and sends a beautiful curling shot (again, with his left foot) into the back of the net to re-claim the lead.

Score: Khano – 2, Tide Talk – 0

As for Jojea… he has now scored more goals than the ’24 and ’25 USL seasons combined. He has having a fantastic season, right in lockstep with JJ Williams – each with five league goals.

Subs

Pity Rodriguez – 5/10

Not much to report on here – but found it interesting that he was deployed on the left instead of centrally, as we’ve seen previously.

Zachary Herivaux – 5/10

Herivaux was decent, but booked for simulation in the 76th minute. In real time, I was positive he was fouled in the box. After seeing the replay in-stadium, it looked like he went down anticipating contact that never came.

Noah Fuson – 6/10

I certainly have questions about the set piece defending from Brooklyn, but credit to Noah nonetheless for a good delivery on JJ’s second goal.

Grant Stoneman – N/A

Frank Nodarse – N/A

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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.