Hartford Athletic tasted defeat for the first time in the 2026 season last Wednesday, dropping a US Open Cup fixture to RIFC by a score of 2-0.
With the first loss of the season on the board, here are three thoughts on the Latics.
1 - You can only rotate so much before it catches up with you
Brendan Burke has never been shy about giving younger or less experienced players a chance during his time in Hartford. Mamadou Dieng started the second game of the 2024 season, when he had turned 20 just the month before. In 2025, TJ Presthus was just 22 – and had zero prior professional experience – when he played 90 minutes in Hartford’s second game of that season. Ian Shaul, Spencer Gordon, Owen Presthus, Pele Ousmanou, Paul Walters, Dantouma Toure, Adewale Obalola, Jack Panayotou, Griffin Tomas, Greg Monroe and Kauan Ribeiro are all players who have seen the pitch before their 21st birthday, or made their professional debut under Burke, or both.
So it’s no surprise that in 2026, Burke has been willing to hand minutes to young players, or those who are untested. Gordon is back – and seeing more minutes – and Galen Flynn, Jack Loura, Enzo Carvalho and Sean Canada have all made their professional debuts, and Abdullah Taofeek figures to do so soon as well.
But this season is also different. Many of the players who got minutes in 2024 or 2025 were loans or highly prized acquisitions like Dieng who were brought in with a view to a future sale. In 2026, Burke has given meaningful minutes to 25-day contract players Loura and Flynn, as well as Gordon, who is on an Academy Contract.
Some of that is certainly down to necessity. Emmanuel Samadia is still not with the team, and Michee Ngalina, Samuel Careaga, Barry Coffey, Adewale Obalola, Sebastian Anderson and Baboucarr Njie have all missed games through injury.
The result has been that through their first five games of the season, Hartford had rotated heavily, using every player on the roster who was both in the country and healthy has been on the pitch at some point. And they have also managed to get results anyway, winning three and drawing two of their first five games in all competitions.
And Burke had, ahead of the cup game, clearly signaled that he intended to give these players a chance, and that Hartford would not field their strongest side in Pawtucket. He reiterated that perspective after the game, emphasizing his belief that the side he selected could easily have gotten a result.
“There’s a reason we did what we did Wednesday," Burke told The Blazing Musket. "That wasn’t a mistake. We thought we might be able to get a result with that group.”
And Hartford were frankly not all that far away from a result. While RIFC were certainly on top in the first half, in the second half, the game was basically even. Hartford had three chances to put the ball in the back of the neat, with two goal-line clearances, and one excellent save from Koke Vegas being required to deny them. On the game, RIFC maintained just a slight edge by expected goals (1.14-0.95), and it’s not hard to imagine how things might have gone a little differently on another night.
The rotation may have just about caught up to the Latics over the last week, but it remains an encouraging sign that even when they’re digging deep, they can still give a good account of themselves.
2 - Rotation leaves fans restless
While the lineup might have been pretty clearly forecast, it nonetheless left some fans disappointed, particularly given that the game was against Hartford’s nearest rivals.
Burke’s response to that was definitive.
“I couldn’t care less. I have to protect this group, that’s my core job. That’s how we won a trophy last year. I protect this group. I view that as my primary job. We’ve had operational issues. We still don’t have Samadia here, Segun just arrived. So the reality is, I made the call to protect the larger group. And I think the group we put out was capable of winning that game. And they did themselves a lot of good against a desperate Rhode Island team. We were devastated in the locker room after the game. They cleared two balls off the line and Koke made the save of the game. In no way do I feel like we phoned that in.”
Balancing multiple competitions is always fraught, especially when you don’t have a particularly large squad to select from. And when you don’t have the resources to field a strong side in every competition you’re in, it can create an even more challenging situation, as the manager will have to make the difficult decision about which competition(s) are going to be the priority.
There’s another element to Burke’s decision-making as well, that goes behind choosing not to prioritize the Open Cup. With so many young, inexperienced players on the roster, it’s critical to get a look at them in a competitive environment sooner rather than later.
“So if guys can stand up in that environment, like I think Galen and Jack did for the most part, that’s a great audition. We don’t learn things unless we give games to younger players. I appreciate people’s desire to win every game, but you have to learn about your team early in the season. It’s worth it in the long run.”
It’s also easy to understand the other perspective, which is both a desire to win every game, but also that playing an under-strength side against your local rivals simply doesn’t feel good for fans, especially those who had made the trek to Pawtucket on a cold, rainy weeknight. Burke may have been crystal clear about his intentions, and his reasoning is perfectly defensible, but that doesn’t mean fans have to like it.
3-How good is this rivalry?
So far, the biggest stories in El Clamico – fireworks in the stadium, an assault outside the stadium – have had very little to do with what’s happening on the pitch. The games have hardly been thrilling, and the Open Cup matchup did little to add fuel to the fire.
The announced crowd at Centreville Bank Stadium was 4,857, less than half the capacity of the stadium. It’s fair to say that it was a cool night, and raining, and a weeknight – all the things that can depress turnout – but it’s also fair to say that if this rivalry was truly hot, a bigger crowd might be expected regardless of those factors.
It doesn’t help that the two sides have contested exactly one fixture that has been truly meaningful: the final group stage game of the 2025 USL Cup. In that game, Hartford needed a road result to advance in the competition, which added stakes that have otherwise been lacking. Even Wednesday’s Open Cup game did not have that feeling, as while RIFC put out a strong side, Burke has been clear that this competition is not one he has prioritized for his club in 2026, and his roster decisions certainly sucked some of the air out of the room.
The main thing that heats up a rivalry, though, is time. Meaningful games will happen. It’s arguable that the two clubs are playing too many times, but their scheduled meeting on the last day of the season could well have elevated stakes if one or both teams needs a result. And of course, at some point, these two teams will meet in the playoffs, when something that both clubs care about is on the line.
It’s also true that there has been little for either set of fans to crow about. Each side owns a 3-0 home win, but the only road victory for either side is Hartford’s penalty shootout win in the USL Cup group stage; both teams still progressed in the competition. A truly lopsided game will come at some point, as will a real road win for one team or the other. So will the other things that create the story of a rivalry: a last-minute winner or equalizer, a come-from-behind victory, or any of the other things that fans of both teams will always remember.
A real rivalry also needs heroes and villains. The winner that comes deep in stoppage time will be a moment that fans remember, but the player who scores it will become a club legend. There will be players that fans of the other time learn to hate, too – Antony Siaha is on his way there already – and individual exploits and big personalities can define a rivalry as much as anything else.
For now, though, the rivalry simply doesn’t generate much heat. That’s nothing to worry about and the ingredients to make El Clamico the USL's premier local derby can and will come in time. If there’s a silver lining to three more meetings in 2026, it’s that it provides three more opportunities for something to really spark the flame of this rivalry.
