Rhode Island FC fell 1-0 at Indy Eleven tonight. Bruno Rendon’s goal was the difference for Indy Eleven, who now move up to 2nd in the Eastern Conference. RIFC are 9th but still only 4 points out of 4th. So while the sky isn’t falling, this was still a disappointing result off the back of a 4-1 win last weekend. Here are my quick takeaways from this one:
Midfield Trio
Khano chose to stick with the same midfield three as last weekend. Hugo, Clay, and Amos once again got the nod with Zach and Pity on the bench. I thought it made sense to stick with it as it worked well against Brooklyn and Indy Eleven have some good creative players that the trio could help negate.
However, there is a tradeoff to playing that way. JJ often looked isolated up top without a number 10 to play off him. Khano did attempt to remedy this by bringing Noah and Pity on for Leo and Amos just under an hour in. It ended up not working, even after Khano brought on more attackers later in the half. Credit to him for really throwing everything he had at Indy but it just wasn’t enough
Quinn to Rendon
Heading into the game, Aodhan Quinn and Bruno Rendon were two obvious players to watch out for. Quinn is on his way to the most assists all time in the USL and Rendon was his team’s top goal scorer this season. Just under ten minutes into the second half, they connected for the game’s lone goal:
Nice ball in from Quinn and an even better finish there from Rendon. It was also some nice movement from the goal scorer to get himself free there. The goal brought Rendon’s tally to 6 in the league this season and Quinn’s assists to 64 in his USL career
Lots of Shots, Few Chances
RIFC finished this one with 20 shots (6 on target) and 33 touches in the opposition box. The problem was, the shots rarely came from good chances and many of them went straight at Indy goalkeeper Eric Dick. You aren’t going to beat him that way.
Possession
I’ve seen a lot of discussion, at least within Tide Talk, about possession and how it affects outcomes. I actually touched on it myself in the Prematch Lookout. But at the end of the day, I think we’re significantly overvaluing its importance. RIFC had 47% of the ball when they went down 1-0 and then finished the game with 54%. Logically this makes sense as RIFC chased the game after being a goal down. But now this is another game that can be put into the category of “had more of the ball, lost the game” when in reality, it isn’t that simple. The real reason RIFC lost was not doing enough when they had the ball to create good chances
Final Thoughts
I’ll be back here later in the week to preview RIFC’s upcoming USL Cup game against Westchester SC. But before then, be sure to check out Timmy’s player ratings and the postmatch pod tomorrow night. They’re always a doozy after a loss. Until then, as always, UP THE TIDE!
Tide Talk 
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