The Tide Chart – July 2026

Welcome back to The Tide Chart, Rhode Island FC faithful. A regular feature on the AWARD-WINNING platform that is Tide Talk. 

June handed us just two matches and then a World Cup break that stopped play for three full weeks, so this edition of The Tide Chart covers both June and July together. In seven matches across those two months, The Tide had 4 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. It was an impressive run of games that included a first ever win at Loudoun, a joyous (and rain-soaked) derby victory, a first ever league win over defending champions Pittsburgh, and back-to-back clean sheets to close July out. 

More importantly, we've climbed from 9th in the Eastern Conference to 6th, sitting on 22 points from 15 matches with a +7 goal difference (4th best in the East) and at least a game in hand on most of the teams around us. Almost all of that climb happened in the final two weeks of July, which shows just how tightly packed the Eastern Conference standings are, and always seems to be.

That positive momentum meant it was easier for me to identify the Rising Tide candidates for this blog, and more difficult to find Falling Tide candidates. That’s a problem I love to have, and I can only hope the remainder of the season sees many more of those. 

But before we get to the tides, I have to briefly talk about Clay Holstad. Ryan already wrote a great blog earlier this week that sums up the fan sentiment nicely, but I need to say my piece as well. 

As you surely already know, Clay Holstad is going to FC Dallas on loan for the rest of 2026, with an option to buy at the end of it. He's the first player in Rhode Island FC history to move to MLS, and if you've read or watched my content for any length of time you know what he's meant to me. He's been my favorite player since the very first match I watched this club play. He has 96 appearances for the team, second most in club history. Nearly 7,500 minutes. He’s appeared in all but five matches this club has ever played. 10 goals, 8 assists, and every one of those goals seemed to be an absolute banger from outside the box. Just check out this highlight reel of Clay’s goals that fellow Tide Talk contributor Tyler Hatch made:

I own a Holstad kit (something Matt Kerwin reminds me of daily now) and that kit has now earned the status as a collector’s item as a result of Clay’s move to MLS. It stings deeply to see him go, but this is exactly what you want for a player who gave this club (and its fans) everything from day one. I hope he goes to Dallas and never has a reason to come back. Give them hell, Clay.

Alright. To the tides.

Rising Tide 📈

Hugo Bacharach

When coming up with my candidates for this blog, I typically start by thinking about who has stood out (good or bad) before diving into the numbers. Hugo wasn't originally on my shortlist when I started putting this together, largely because he’s usually performing at a high clip. But by the time I'd finished going through the numbers he was the easiest call on the board.

Hugo has had a great stretch of games. He scored RIFC's only goal against Orange County on July 4th off a corner, and four days later in Sacramento he threw himself at a beautiful Amos Shapiro-Thompson cross and buried a diving header at the back post. Back-to-back matches with a goal, and in both cases he was the only Rhode Island player to find the net. He was also the man who flicked on Clay's long throw for JJ's opener at Loudoun back on the 13th of June.

Then came Pittsburgh, and Hugo put in a monster shift. 22 duels contested. 19 of them won. That's a club record for a single match (h/t Tyler). 11 of 13 aerial duels, 5 tackles, 5 clearances, 7 passes into the final third, and one foul committed against three drawn. An 8.4 FotMob rating, and a man amongst boys operating in a midfield that had been stripped down to the studs due to injuries. Check out the clip below for a full breakdown from the latest Tide Talk show.

And just as I was typing this draft, he was even named to the USL Championship Team of the Week. Well earned!

The partnership he's building with Amos grows by the match, and will continue to be crucial given the news of Clay’s departure from the club. We’ll need Hugo to continue to play at a high level if this team is to continue its march up the standings. 

Frank Nodarse

Back in May, it looked like Frank was losing the RB starting spot to Nick Scardina, playing a combined 22 minutes across the last two matches in May. Since then, he’s had a renaissance playing wherever Khano can put him across the back line. 

On July 18th in the derby against Hartford he met a Jojea Kwizera in-swinging corner and scored the only goal of the match. It was his first of the season and the ninth of his RIFC career, which makes him the highest scoring defender in club history. (Defiance 1636 President Ervin Vargas was also keen to point out that Frank is the top scorer in derby history with two goals now.) He led the team with 2 shots on target and had 6 touches inside Hartford's box, made 4 defensive recoveries and had 6 clearances in that match. The USL noticed and named him to the Week 19/20 Team of the Week. That's his third (!!) weekly honor of 2026 and his sixth career selection with this club.

Then in Pittsburgh, with Karifa Yao unavailable and the squad held together with tape, Khano moved him inside to center back and he led every player on the pitch with 14 defensive contributions and 11 clearances. Second clean sheet in a row.

The Reserves, especially Dani Rovira

This one is a group entry, with a particular focus on a guy that we essentially wrote off as being a contributor to this team.

Look at what Khano had to work with in Pittsburgh. Six players on the availability report, five of them being key contributors when healthy. Only six players on the bench instead of the full seven allowed, and two of them were goalkeepers. Clay gone, Zachary Herivaux recovering from his surgery, Karifa Yao out, Leo Afonso out, Hamady Diop nowhere to be seen. That is not a squad you take to the defending champions' place and expect to win at. And yet they won 1-0 without ever really looking like losing.

Which brings me to Dani Rovira, who almost nobody talked about until recently unless in a joking light. Through the middle of June he had zero league appearances this season. He rarely even made matchday squads. Since the break he's appeared in every match, even starting against Brooklyn, and against Hartford he created a quality chance for JJ within minutes of entering. He's a natural fullback and this club is currently asking him to play central midfield, which tells you both how thin we are and how much the staff trusts him not to let the team down in an unfamiliar role. He isn't tearing the league up, nor is he earning a ton of playing time yet. But the point is he's been handed a job he wasn't signed to do and he's done it competently, earning trust from fans and the coaching staff along the way.

Depth players getting a run out and not costing you anything is how good seasons survive bad injury luck. I hope Dani has earned the right to more playing time once our available roster returns closer to full strength.

Falling Tide 📉

Zachary Herivaux

The club confirmed on July 21st that Zachary sustained an ankle injury in June, had surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is expected back in 2-6 weeks.

Really unfortunate for a guy who seems to be hurt quite often and who had already started the season with a long injury layoff after the opening match.  The team had a three week break where most of the squad was able to rest and reset. Zachary came out the other side of it needing surgery. (Or perhaps the surgery was during the break. It’s hard to tell from the way the announcement was worded.) That is brutal luck, and it's brutal luck for a player who has had more than his share of it already.

I'm not putting him here as a criticism of his play. He’s a great player and is even more important to the team now that Clay is leaving. But this is the Falling Tide in its most literal sense. He had six league appearances before the break and he now has an ankle that needed an operation, and the timing could not have been worse. 

Get well, Zachary. We need you back, probably more than we've needed you at any point since you got here.

Noah Fuson

It hurts to write this again. I had Noah in this section in March and I had him here again in April, and I hoped I'd be able to leave him out of it for good.

The July 25th performance in Pittsburgh was the low point. Timmy gave him a 3 out of 10 for the second time this season, describing loose touches and slow decision making in the final third before Noah was withdrawn for CJ Williams. He’s been getting decent playing time as of late, largely out of necessity, but he hasn’t exactly lit it up.

I made an argument back in April that I increasingly believe to be true. The version of Noah Fuson we all carry around in our heads was built in the second half of 2024, when he was genuinely excellent. Everything since then has been something else. I wondered then whether that stretch was the outlier rather than the standard, and nothing in June or July gave me a reason to change my mind. He's still this club's all-time assist leader. He's still someone who has given a lot to make RIFC what it is. But the fact is that we have gotten very little from him these past two seasons. 

I'd still love to be proven wrong on this. I keep saying that. 

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The Horizon Ahead

We're in the heart of the schedule and hurting for reinforcements, and the club has already made one move worth talking about. Osman Foyo arrived from AFC Wimbledon on July 23rd on a multi-year deal, a 21 year old Dutch forward who is listed at 6'4" and plays like it.

Full breakdown in my write-up on the signing can be found here.

Khano described him as "an attack-minded player that will bring speed and physicality to our attack," and that's the part that has me interested. We have spent this entire season with an attack that essentially runs through JJ Williams being the biggest, strongest presence in the box, and no real answer for what happens when he isn't available or isn't finding space. No real answer for how we’ll even manage to score goals when JJ can't play. 

Foyo is not a like-for-like replacement for anyone, but he is another large, quick body who can occupy defenders in the areas where this team creates its best chances. He's young enough that there's real development still to come, and he arrives at a club that could really use another dynamic and complimentary skillset to bolster the attack.

The midfield is still the position that most needs addressing, however. This was the case before the Clay news and is even more so after it. But this is an attack that has quietly climbed to 4th in the league in goals per game (2^nd in the East), and adding a player with Foyo's physical profile has the potential to unlock even more. I'm cautiously optimistic. 

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One more bit of housekeeping before I wrap up, and this one is a thank you. As referenced at the start of this blog, Tide Talk was just named the Valley Breeze's Voice of the Valley favorite “influencer”, full page spread and all. That happened because people who read this blog and listen to the show took the time to nominate and vote. We appreciate everyone who watches, reads, follows, and engages with us. A star above the badge, thanks in part to you.

Up The Tide! 🌊