Rhode Island FC vs. Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Player Ratings - 08/08/2026

Rhode Island FC defeated Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 2-0 at Tidewater on Saturday night - exacting their revenge for the 2024 USL Championship Final after a long, 20-month wait.

It was a very professional team win against a Colorado side whose season has been on a similar trajectory to ours, and who have won five of their last eight matches. Both teams had moments where they looked more dangerous, but the quality coming off Rhode Island's bench proved too much for Colorado to handle. I'm especially impressed with Rhode Island FC's relative composure in the face of an appalling six yellow cards.

I'm quick to call out Khano's substitutions when they go wrong (as they did last week), so I want to be sure to give credit when they go right. Candidly, I didn't even like the changes in real time as they were being made - but they certainly worked in our favor, as we put together our most dangerous stretch of the night starting right around when the substitutions happened.

For the second straight home match, I got to enjoy this one with my Dad - who made the two-hour drive down just for some Dune Brothers and the match. My first thought was that he's becoming something of a good luck charm at Tidewater... but, in fact, I think it's worth highlighting that we have not lost at home for over three months, and have picked up 11 out of a possible 15 points in our last five home matches.

Click below to see 2026 player historical ratings.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) - 7/10

This is more like a 6.5 performance, rounded up because it was a nice bounce back performance from Koke after... whatever that was last week. Most importantly, you absolutely love to see a clean sheet at home. Koke made four saves on the night - mostly ones you would expect him to make, but a couple were relatively difficult.

There was probably one (maybe two) that I think he could and should have caught, but instead deflected and spilled into a pretty dangerous area.

Aldair Sanchez (D) - 5/10

There weren't too many questions asked of Aldair on either side of the ball, but it was a competent shift. He did put one ball on an absolute plate for JJ Williams in the 34th minute, following some nice build up play with Tsukada and Noah Fuson. The cross was so inch-perfect, it was actually quite shocking not to see it in the back of the net.

Frank Nodarse (D) - 7/10

Another fantastic performance in central defense for Frank. He led all players with 15 defensive contributions, and he made his presence known all throughout the Rhode Island half. He wasn't only frustrating the Colorado offense with his three blocked shots (all coming around the top of the 18-yard box), but also regularly stepping up to intercept and recover the ball.

Grant Stoneman (D) - 6/10

Not as flashy of a game as Frank, but nearly an equally good defensive performance from Stoneman. There were a couple of periods - one in particular comes to mind in the first half - when we were absorbing a lot of Colorado pressure, and it felt like Stoneman was the one getting a head or a limb to every ball and clearing it to safety.

Nick Scardina (D) - 7/10

An all around great game from Scardina (again), but especially his first half block/goal line clearance on a shot from a very dangerous area, following a diving Koke save.

Defiance 1636 Player of the Year voting opened this past week. Of course, I'm going to wait until the last possible second to submit my nominations so that I am working off the largest possible sample size.

BUT - all I'm saying is, Nicky the Fish, you have my attention. I am looking (respectfully).

Hugo Bacharach (MF) - 6/10

Speaking of having my attention for the Player of the Year voting... Hugo was fantastic - as always - at breaking up play, leading all outfield players with seven ball recoveries. But his usual build up and ball progression abilities were stifled pretty well by Colorado Springs.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) - 5/10

No player makes me want to get out of my seat and pump my fist more than Amos (highest Fist Pumps per 90 in the league?), every time he makes a challenge or wins a 50/50 ball. Much like Hugo, Colorado did not give much room or opportunity for Amos to shine as far as ball progression and/or jumping into the attack.

Noah Fuson (MF) - 6/10

Another performance with a couple of bright moments for Noah, even if he still appears to be a shell of the player that we've seen get hot in both 2024 and 2025. We saw flashes of vintage Noah build-up play, drifting out wide and working with the wingers and the fullbacks to get the ball into dangerous positions.

Noah's best moment came in the 17th minute as he took down a cross-field pass, created some space for himself, and played in a great half space cross to JJ Williams that ended up demanding a goal-line clearance from Colorado.

Yutaro Tsukada (F) - 6/10

A promising display from Tsukada in his first start, following a couple moments of quality in his debut last week.

Candidly, I didn't think Tsukada was having all that much impact on the game, but of course he opened the scoring in the 69th minute with a great, scrappy goal. His late run into the box is completely unmarked, and he gets a nice initial shot out of it - it's deflected by a Colorado Springs defender, but Tsukada follows his own shot and cleans up the rebound.

JJ Williams (F) - 6/10

JJ's hold up play was a bit underwhelming tonight, but he did manage to get up five shots - which is exactly what you want for JJ. There were two great headed opportunities in the first half (at least one of which JJ would tell you he 100% should have scored). He also scored a headed goal on a set piece which was disallowed by the referee - a genuinely bad mistake, in my opinion.

Finally, JJ scores the insurance goal to go up 2-0 in second half stoppage time. It's a tidy finish, but given the positioning and circumstances leading up to the goal, this should be like shooting practice for a striker of JJ's caliber.

Jojea Kwizera (F) - 5/10

Given the season that Jojea is having, I really expect to see him create some chances or get some shots of his own off. He did well to take on and beat his man a couple of times, but rarely was able to get down to "his office" along the end line and make something happen with it.

Subs

Pity Rodriguez - 6/10

While he didn't have as much of an impact as Leo, the offense instantly looked more competent once Pity came on. His creativity and build up play led to multiple counter-attacks and chances created during his almost-30 minute cameo.

Pity also plays the cutback cross to Tsukada that leads to the opening goal (although, not credited with an assist since the initial shot takes a deflection).

Leo Afonso - 7/10

Our most important attacking player on the night. The offense came alive when Leo and Pity came on in the 63rd minute.

Leo, in particular, had three huge moments:

1. An interception followed by a great dribble into the attacking third, to play Pity into the Colorado Springs box and set up Tsukada's game-winning goal.
2. A 3-on-2 with JJ Williams and Pity Rodriguez in the 73rd minute. Afonso opts to shoot and doesn't get quite enough on the shot. My first thought was it was a bit selfish - after watching it back, I think shooting was the right choice, he just didn't catch it quite right.
3. Finally, in second half stoppage time, Leo contests for an aerial ball, chases down the Colorado defender (forcing a pass back to the goalkeeper), and then keeps running to close down the goalkeeper, getting a deflection and forcing the turnover to JJ Williams right at the top of the box - which JJ scores.

Leo does get credited for the assist on JJ's goal, but I'm much more impressed with the dirty work leading to the goal than the fact that he got a toe to that ball.

Dwayne Atkinson - N/A

Busy got bailed out by having fewer than 10 touches here, because I thought the performance was pretty poor.

CJ Williams - N/A

Dani Rovira - N/A

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.