The Riptide Report: Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Rhode Island FC - 8/15/2026

Rhode Island FC fell 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies tonight. Second half goals from Conner Antley and Louis Perez helped secure all three points for the Rowdies. The loss drops RIFC to 7th after Indy Eleven won tonight. For Tampa Bay, they just keep cruising in the league and are well on their way to a Player's Shield. Here's my quick reaction to tonight's loss:

Klein, Foyo, and the Curious case of Hamady Diop

One of the two new signings made the squad tonight. And it wasn't the one I wrote about in the Prematch Lookout. I expected Osman Foyo to be on the bench tonight after the team posted on Thursday that he had arrived. But instead, it was new loan signing Eric Klein who made the squad. The wait for Foyo will continue at least another week. Klein ended up coming on in the 73rd minute but didn't make an impact other than receiving a yellow only a few minutes after entering the game.

As for Hamady Diop, it feels odd that he hasn't played in back to back weeks now after coming back for a late substitute appearance against Birmingham Legion. He wasn't listed on the availability report either for the second straight week. It's possible he has something going on that's making him unavailable even if he isn't listen on the report. But Khano said it was a coach's decision not to play Diop last week. Still something to watch as far as I'm concerned.

Tampa Bay Bangers

RIFC were lucky not to go down 1-0 early when Evan Conway hit the post in the 5th minute from point blank range. They then did well to just hang on and get it to the half at 0-0. And for the first ten minutes of the second half, the Rowdies were putting a lot of pressure on RIFC's back line and probably should have scored there too. But eventually the breakthrough came from Conner Antley in the 61st and Louis Perez would seal it stoppage time with these goals:

I honestly don't know if there's much we could have done on either goal. Antley did well to get past a sliding Tsukada and bury his chance at the far post. And it was great work from Cicerone to chip it to Perez for that rocket to seal it. The Rowdies were just too good tonight.

Suspect Subs

I have to say I was not a fan of Khano's substitutions in this one. It's something that overall I'm less critical on but tonight it was frustrating. In the 67th minute we saw Leo, Pity, and Busy come on for Noah, Aldair, and Yutaro. I have two problems with this. The lesser of the two is that Aldair should not be coming off when we don't have another left back option. Jojea Kwizera isn't a left back yet he's been put back there recently when Aldair has been subbed out. But the bigger issue for me was taking off Yutaro. He was by far the best player for RIFC all night. It's hard to imagine it was a fitness issue as both Khano and Yutaro said after last week's game that he was fit enough to go a full 90. I just don't understand it. It probably wouldn't have changed the outcome but still, you can't be taking off your best player there.

"Tarps Off"

There's just no way I can finish this blog without bringing this up. The Tampa Bay broadcast was obsessed with kids taking their shirts off in the stands. The whole "tarps off" thing has become a trend and I have no issue with it being mentioned once or twice. After all, the kids were just having fun and you need young fans to grow the game. But during the second half it felt like it was nonstop. The camera kept showing the kids in the stands and the announcers kept making reference to when one of them took their shirt off to join the kids during a recent game. They even cut to showing the "viral moment" as they described it and nearly missed a Tsukada chance on goal. Probably the most cringey thing I've seen on a USL broadcast. Embarrassing.

What a disappointing game that was. I was full of excitement throughout the day. RIFC usually show up in these games against the best teams. But it just never looked like we had a chance. Playing the best team in the league was always going to be really tough but I just wish we put up a better fight.

We'll be back with the Postmatch Pod tomorrow as always. We'll also have Player Ratings eventually, so long as Timmy doesn't get roughed up too badly at Fight Club Sound and Fury (iykyk). I'll be back here on Friday to preview RIFC's upcoming game against Monterey Bay at Tidewater. Until then, UP THE TIDE!