RIFC Notebook: Roster Rounding Out As Match Times Announced
RIFC Notebook: Roster Rounding Out As Match Times Announced
RIFC Notebook: Roster Rounding Out As Match Times Announced For 2024 USL Championship Season
Rhode Island FC continues to build its inaugural roster with two signings announced this past week. The first signing that was announced by the club was Karifa Yao.
Yao, 23 years old, is a center back coming to Rhode Island from the Vancouver Whitecaps organization. With Vancouver, he made five appearances for the MLS side as well as seven appearances in MLS NEXT Pro.
The other signing is 27-year-old midfielder Kofi Twumasi who comes to the club after spending the 2023 season with Atlanta United 2 where he started 26 of 27 matches.
From a non roster perspective, the big news this week was the USL Championship announcing the kickoff times for the 2024 regular season. RIFC will kick off their season on March 16th when they host New Mexico United at 4 pm at Beirne Stadium in Smithfield. The kickoff times at home are primarily at 4 pm or 7:30 p.m. although the final match of the year against Miami FC on October 26th will kick off at 8 pm.
On the road, the match times get a bit more chaotic driven by different time zones. Thankfully only one match kicks off at 10 pm (9/14 at Orange County SC).
Before the regular season begins RIFC will play in a busy preseason slate that starts in Florida next week. While Rhode Island has spent the start of the preseason in Southern New England training locally the club will be flying down to Bradenton for a two-week stint at IMG Academy. RI will play a minimum of three preseason matches while in Florida before a six-day swing through Bermuda.
RIFC will return to Rhode Island the first week of March to play Providence College and Revs II before their home opener on March 16th.