Rhode Island FC Draw Second Match of Second Season in Familiar Fashion
Own goals are the funniest part of soccer
Rhode Island FC’s 2-2 draw away last night against Phoenix Rising FC looked familiar to anyone who watched the team play at the start of last season, the team’s first. The basic structure of the match — take the lead, concede the equalizer, take the lead, concede the equalizer — was literally copied and pasted not just by the rhyme of history but by me in writing this article.
Still, head coach Khano Smith and the team deserve both a small amount of slack for their unique situation — their first home match remains one month and five games away from them — and a fair amount of trust as they have proven absolutely capable of turning a slow start into a strong finish. All that said, while the layout of the USL’s season lends its teams a certain amount of leeway in that regard, with four fewer matches dedicated to the regular season calendar there is a little less slack in those point totals.
I’ve already given you the blueprint of the match, but the bigger picture is itself a little more reassuring. RIFC looked much more up for the action they were facing and they demonstrated that intent early. Striker JJ Williams, coming off a very strong end to his last season; seems to be set on simply staying hot. His first appearance of the year resulted in a very quick goal, on a cross from fellow forward Albert “Chico” Dikwa, which Williams powered in with a header at close range.
From there, Rhode Island FC looked to press forward and continue scoring, with Chico himself nearly getting on the scoresheet just a few minutes later. Williams nearly repeated his goal, with Chico again would-be assisting; just a few moments later.
Still, this looked more like the frustrating draws Rhode Island would sometimes concede late last season than its near scrapes of early last season.
Speaking of frustrating concessions, RIFC’s strong attacking play left them open for the counter and former New England Revolution forward Damian Rivera was all too happy to do it to his hometown club on behalf of his new club, Phoenix. He latched onto midfielder Ihsan Sacko’s pass into the box and volleyed a shot past RIFC’s goalkeeper Koke Vegas to tie it up at 1-1 in the 40th minute. It was Phoenix’s first shot on target on the night.
RIFC sent a free kick into the box and Phoenix defender Papa Mar Boye scored an own goal as Rhode Island took the lead 2-1 into halftime.
In the second half, Phoenix Rising FC looked determined to put up a stiffer resistance to Rhode Island FC than they had been to that point and scored an equalizer about ten minutes later. Rivera once again fired at Vegas, who this time made the save, unfortunately parrying it right to the feet of Phoenix midfielder Hope Aveyevu, who buried his shot and made it 2-2. Shortly after, Vegas again made a great save on a Rivera shot, but both teams struggled to create other meaningful chances and ultimately saw the match out at 2-2.
Again — and I cannot stress this enough — Smith and Rhode Island FC have earned more than enough slack here but at the moment both their attack and defense seems to be missing something. It could be that midfielder Zachary Herivaux again did not make the starting eleven as well as defender Hugo Bacharach who was unavailable for selection due to injury.
It could be that midfielder Jojea Kwizera was off on international duty with Rwanda. It could be that it’s just the early part of the season and the team needs time to gel. Either way, Rhode Island FC will want to have the problem (or problems) fixed by the time the team comes back to Tidewater Landing in May.
Rhode Island FC will next play away to Loudoun United FC on Saturday, March 29, at 4:00 PM ET.
An own goal? Tough