Hello and welcome to Raising Anchor, your podcast
and source for all things Rhode Island FC. I'm
your host Matt Entrykin coming to you on this
Thursday, May 8th. RIFC exits from the Open Cup,
falling 2 -1 to the New England Revolution. What
went wrong? What went well? And well, we're going
to talk about that and kind of find the storylines
in between where we can discuss. Then we're going
to talk a little bit later with Chris Moulton
from the Union Report as he'll give us a preview
of Monterey Bay FC. traveling here to central
bank stadium this saturday joining me as always
looking so fly in the defiant 1636 kit is the
one and only jason carey jason how is it going
my friend i'm doing pretty great you know got
to see a open cup for the first time in what
111 years or something because you were there
for the last because i was there before you know
because i'm that old i could feel it my knee
you know whatever the secret is to your fountain
of youth yeah Speaking of being old, you know,
this is a busy period for the players. And, you
know, they get some rotations here. Like, coach,
sub me out. Like, where's, you know, it's a long
week for us. I just off the cuff. Do you happen
to know who the oldest player on this team is?
No. It is one Maxi Rodriguez who has been putting
in a lot of distance, a lot of distance on his
legs right now. He's, you know, he's no Koke
Vegas where he can, you know, last an extra decade
if he takes care of his body. Definitely be some
mileage and some probably much needed rotation.
Hard to find it with all of the injuries that
we've had. across this team over the last few
weeks but this road stretch or excuse me this
home stretch still not over we may be into three
games here in seven days but we have two more
so basically five games in 14 days that's a long
stretch and then when you include the open cup
that's a total of six games so it is going to
be a wild time ahead you're already getting points
for wearing the defiance kit i so it's funny
is i got home from work and i was basically wearing
to work like the same shirt you were just a blue
polo with some random design so we would have
been twinsies so good thing i i saw my jersey
here put it on and just like whatever i'm just
gonna keep this on for the pod so that's okay
that's okay uh so hey let's get ready let's just
get right into this and let's talk about this
open cup game first and foremost let's do the
vibe check you know it's the second game in front
of 9 500 almost close to a sellout i i haven't
been able to confirm it yet but i think it may
have been one of the highest recorded attendance
games on the night on that wednesday performance
as all of the usl championship teams kind of
got rattled against their mls opponents What
was the overall experience for you in your second
game at Centerville Bank Stadium? Yeah, second
match there, and it was fantastic to see 9 ,500
people on a Wednesday night when I think we were
talking about one of the finals not too long
ago only had 8 ,000 people at it. In the finals,
that's where your team could actually win a legitimate
trophy, not just earning the right to continue
on in the competition here like we were playing
for last night. The fact that so many people
are showing up, you know, and really having a
good time and really enjoying the vibes of the
stadium. I mean, like I saw a post on RFC's subreddit
earlier about people like this stadium is amazing.
Like this is so much fun there. You know, like
there's a few pain points, but overall, everyone
is really excited. And I think surprised, especially
depending on the circles that you fall into.
There was a lot of naysayers back in the day.
I think a lot of them have kind of quieted down,
but that probably spread to some people and they're
like, I don't know about this, especially if
they're not soccer sickos. We ran into Governor
McKee and asked him what were his overall thoughts
and beyond just being able to enjoy the game
and the experience, he's very much enjoying the
position he's in of being able to kind of shut
down and shut up those naysayers themselves,
those detractors. Thinking into the game itself,
fireworks again during the singing of the national
anthem i did confirm with general manager paul
burn i was like hey you're setting a dangerous
precedent here and he said that is not going
to be something that we you should expect to
see game after game he didn't say when it would
stop He did mention that it would, of course,
be there for the big fireworks show displays.
But we were talking like, hey, we're getting
addicted to that, especially when the first goal
gets scored. That was a phenomenal experience.
I saw Defiance having to have a conversation
with the fire marshals over the deployment of
the smoke inside the stadium. They had never
seen that at a soccer event or a sporting event
in general. So there was a lot of concerns about
that was going off and they were trying to. coordinate.
I guess they maybe didn't understand what that
expectation looked like and that had already
been cleared at the stadium. So that was an interesting
thing to see. But overall, I mean, like you said,
soccer in the Open Cup returns to Pawtucket.
Tim McDuff from Defiance has been doing a lot
of research lately. And there's been a couple
of good articles that have come out lately about
the Open Cup and kind of, you know, paying its
homage to the fact that it started here at Coates
Field back in 1914. And I went back to say like,
okay, well, when's the last time it was in Rhode
Island? We did have Open Cup action with the
Stingrays back in 1997, but the last time it
was actually played in Pawtucket was over 100
years ago. So the fact that it gets to kind of
come back to its birthplace would have been really
exciting to get the win. We'll talk about that
in a second. But the last thing I want to ask
you before we move on, because I don't know where
else to put this, is now that the Revolution
do advance, they are going to be playing a game
at Providence College in front of less than 2
,000 people. Is that not just the weirdest thing
that you go from the, you know, the quote unquote
Division One team who doesn't have the logistics
in place? They can't even find a stadium to continue
to grow the competition and see a 10 ,000 plus,
you know, fan experience. Is this just the biggest
insult? Is this is this the legacy of Don Garber
manifested? yeah i was also gonna ask i'm like
i'm not familiar with pc's field is that a soccer
specific field it's just an athletic field okay
i was gonna say maybe we got them addicted to
soccer specific fields and they're like i'm curious
why they're choosing rhode island of all places
i didn't know if there was some tactical like
tomfoolery and saying like hey like we just played
in rhode island once look how lucky we are so
we're gonna do it i mean the announcement came
so quickly after the victory that they must have
planned that field and that logistic but you
know again you're the new england revolution
there's got to be a field somewhere that can
accommodate at least 5 ,000 fans. I don't know.
It feels like a slap in the face of the Open
Cup. It feels like a slap in the face of the
Revs fans saying like, well, we can't trust you
to even, you know, get this many people to show
up to a midweek game in a matter of a couple
of weeks. So we're going to do the best we can.
Which is interesting. I didn't count the number
of Revs fans, but there was quite a bit of them
there, right? And they weren't all just in the
supporter section. You know, we talked about
that in this community. There are a lot of people
who have... maybe grown up watching that team
for 30 years hashtag non -lmless podcast so maybe
they had a little bit of uh you know kind of
identity crisis there you we ran into a fan you
were trying to convince him to convert he was
already convinced but then when the revs scored
he did like the excited clap and like he looked
at me and said hey i'm sorry like if what you
said is true and he said it in front of chip
on chip's honor i i'm fine with you again and
i've said this multiple times we i went on the
revolution recap earlier today we talked about
it and spoiler alert uh seth said hashtag not
on this podcast like four times just to really
rub it in but um i said it a million times and
i will continue to reinforce that i mean they
do cover an mls team oh that but it's completely
acceptable to be a fan of both these organizations
I don't have to love the new England revolution.
I don't have to be involved in them. And if fans
are, that's fine. There's plenty of soccer space
here in new England to be a fan of both. Just
in these particular matches, you got to celebrate.
You got to root for the home team. You got to
root for the underdog every single time. Yeah.
And the draw worked out like in our quote unquote
favor to allow us to have this match, but it
could be a long time before we actually play
them again. Right next year. Who knows what MLS,
how they will continue to enter this tournament.
who knows who will like maybe will run into someone
and not like advance and vice versa with them
you could end up in division one one day and
have to wait to enter the tournament at the same
round as them so we wouldn't see them unless
we both advance like yeah no this is this is
a limited fabled experience it's you know people
are saying this is a rivalry like okay sure for
the 90 minutes yes you're battling for New England
like you're battling for that reason but After
this, like fans are going to spend a lot more
time outside of those 90 minutes that have already
passed talking about their individual soccer
fandoms, their soccer culture. And there's just
plenty of spaces where you can be both. So anyone
that's been force fed the narrative, like you
have to love one or the other. You can't be a
fan of both. Like, don't pay it. The loudest
voices online are often the most wrong ones.
So don't pay attention to that. I do want to
ask you, though, before we move on to the game
itself. only one usl team now still in the hunt
for the open cup does that make all of us pittsburgh
riverhounds on on elimination days oh i'm definitely
rooting for for them as the underdog to go through
i mean i i would love for bob lilly to bob lilly
his way through that tournament and imagine him
making it to the final and just making it the
most abysmal defensive match ever like even if
they don't win just take it to the gritty end
um You know, it's unfortunate that more of the
teams didn't make it through, but sometimes that's
just going to happen. And the reality is with
the resources they have kind of expected, you
know, it doesn't happen like this though every
year. When we went back in the lead up to this,
look through the history, the Rovers have actually
lost two championship team, I think four or five
times in the last 10 years. So it's not uncommon
for it to happen. It's just the way the cookie
crumbled this year. A lot of these championship
teams actually took them like to the final minute.
I mean, on the first day, it took extra time
for two MLS sides to beat championship sides.
And then, you know, Phil Bocchi's El Paso. They
were in reach. I don't know what happened the
second half there. I mean, El Paso is flying
too high to the sun right now and their wings
are getting burned. They got, they got Icarus
and we don't need to talk about Tampa Bay getting
swept off the floor by Orlando, but, but listen,
like these are the narratives. So if you're going
to continue with the open cup and I hope people
do just remember that you're now have, you now
have to be a Bob Lilly fan for. the remainder
of the Open Cup run. And hey, that's great for
us because we face them in a couple of weeks.
And the more mileage they have to put, it gives
us an advantage. So I'm completely on board with
it. I did see in the news, the Pope was announced
today. And when it first came out that he would
be an American Pope, and I promise this is hashtag
not a Pope podcast, but someone, I think John
Morrissey put a picture of Bob Lilly's face over
the Pope. And like right now, I believe. I believe
in Pope Lily. So we'll see what happens on that
front. But let's get into this game and let's
kind of unpack where things went really well
and where things kind of fell off the rails here,
so to speak. And let's get into the formations
first and foremost so that way we can really
start to unpack exactly what happened here in
Coach Kano's selection. For starters, Jason,
you were absolutely right. He's picked his cup
keeper. He even went on to reinforce that in
the post -press interview where... Jackson Lee,
for all intent and purpose, will continue to
be the keeper for now the Jagermeister Cup. He
is the man between the sticks. So you had Jackson
Lee and Nett. And then more of that 4 -2 -3 -1
that can shift and metamorphosize into the 3
-5 -2. But in that back line, you had Adair Sanchez
out on the left. Frank Nodarce returns to the
squad in that left center back role, paired with
Grant Stoneman. Rio Hope Gunn gets his third
start. Unfortunately, now the streak is over
as they did not get the result. But Rio Hope
Gunn on that right back side. And then in that
middle double pivot, Amos Shapiro Thompson continuing
to demonstrate a new level of gamesmanship. something
that it's just been really exciting to see him
just kind of transform into partnered alongside
the ever vigilant Clay Holstead. And then that
midfield three of Noah Fuson out on the left
side. So he finally gets to drop back and be
a through and true winger. paired up with Maxi
Rodriguez once again in the center of that midfield
and Jojea Quisera out on the right. Chico gets
the starting nod, returning again to this game.
He played a long time. We asked Coach after the
game about his minutes. He calls him Deeks, by
the way. So that's his next evolution. It's Albert
Dequa into Chico, back to Deeks now. So Deeks
getting the start. He was only supposed to go
45 minutes to manage his fitness and make sure
that he's getting the minutes to get to full
speed again. And Coach had a conversation and
said, hey, we want to run you to 60 -65. Are
you comfortable with that? And Chico said, absolutely.
Not sure he had a tremendous impact on the game
overall, but it was at least good to see a through
and true striker back up at the front. Jason,
overall thoughts on this roster and the way it
was built? Are you surprised by anything? No,
I mean, it was close to an unchanged lineup here
from the last match. You just kind of swapped
Brito and Chico in and out there. The four -back
line, to a certain extent, is continuing here.
I know that in possession, we kind of still shift
and kind of change into a three -back line. There's
a lot of movement throughout the game, but it
seems like defending with four seems to be the
new kind of thing for this team. It's the new
meta. It's the new meta. I mean, at least until
player health continues, maybe, or improves at
that point. maybe we'll see some change but we're
still shifting into a three and attack so i'm
curious to see if that is like you say the new
meta or is this just temporary because everyone's
injured Well, I mean, I feel like we're starting
to grow an abundance of defenders. I mean, in
this game, we saw Frank Nodarce finally get the
unlock and go into that right wing back spot
that we have been waiting for all season when
Aimé Mbika got his first minutes with the team
here in the Open Cup. I mean... No, Darcy has
to be the tallest right wing back in the history
of the USL, I feel like. But, you know, it was
good to see him get out there. I'm not sure that
our defensive shape was suffering from that because
we were chasing the game at that point. But it
was exciting to see kind of what the future of
our back line can be when it's transformed. And
keep in mind, that's also without Karifa Yao
in that mix up. So lots of opportunities, lots
of possibilities to kind of go through that.
So that's exciting to see. And then, you know,
of course, the question that I had on my mind
really was, you know, does Amos Shapiro Thompson
get the nod to get the second start? He was so
impactful in that first game, getting man of
the match from defiance. And, you know, he showed
it. I think he repeated, I think he was one of
the brightest spots on the field in this game.
I mean, he really helped lock down the middle
third of the pitch and he was like a dog chasing
a car. Like anywhere the ball was, he was going
anywhere where one of our players, you know,
made a mistake. Maxie even said every time he
cost the team a turnover or an interception of
some sort, like. Amos Shapiro Thompson was right
there to clean up his own mistakes. Think about
that. One of the most decorated midfielders in
the game today in the USL championship, talking
about how Amos is making him a better player.
I thought he was phenomenal. And again, we asked
this question of ourselves for an entire year
last season. What is Amos Shapiro Thompson's
role on this team? When we finally saw it, he
was thrust forward in that 10, like. False nine,
kind of like what we thought maybe Kevin Vang
would be with the minutes he got. We weren't
really quite sure what he would do. And then
Amos, Shapiro, Thompson, now more in the six
and eight. Kano said after the game, he sees
AST as a six or an eight primarily, just dogging
everyone. He had Jackson Ewell in his pocket
for a majority of the game. And Amos, Shapiro,
Thompson, I think is like 5 '3". I think the
atomic ant from Toronto, see, I said this on
the recap, I think he's taller than Amos, Shapiro,
Thompson. You would have never... looked at saying
body size or height was getting in the way of
Amos, Shapiro Thompson, putting on a defensive
masterclass. He was phenomenal on the pitch.
Yeah. This maybe gives a coach some kind of interesting
thoughts here because Harvo got left out, right?
Because AST was having such a great match before
and another great match again tonight. So at
this point, maybe this form is going to continue
for him. at least in the near future. And as,
you know, our midfield is kind of where we actually,
you know, don't have as many health issues, right?
It's up front and in the back. So in the middle,
we have plenty of people. And so to a certain
extent, maybe we're playing some of these people
out of position. But once everyone gets healthy,
I don't know how coach is going to manage all
these people here. So question for you, do you
think though that... I mean, it felt like Zach
Harbaugh getting the, you know, riding the pine
at the beginning of this match felt more like
managing the minutes across the need to preserve
players for these, this three game series. Do
you see that that's the case? Because one, it's
still the open cup and you want to let the players,
you know, I, it's almost an insult to say he's
a more junior player at this point, but let those
players shine in these cup rounds and save a
player like Zach Harbaugh for the performance
against Monterey Bay this weekend. Zach Haribo,
to say he's not on the starting 11 feels pretty
insane, just given some of his early performances
in terms of his offense and defense. I don't
know that I would swap that. It didn't work out
because obviously we didn't advance into the
Open Cup, but if we had, we wouldn't be talking
about this. Do we think that there's going to
be a real challenge for that secondary sixth
spot between Haribo and AST? Possibly. But then
also, don't we have another midweek game next
week? Sure. It's a great problem to have this
depth. For right now, with so many games, but
maybe as that starts to go out later into the
season, maybe some of that spreads out. Everyone's
healthy. How do you find that balance? Yeah.
And remember, too, by the August window, we pretty
much solidified our starting 11, with the exception
of having to rotate for change. We really started
to see kind of... you know coach went from that
chop and change where i think what was it the
first 17 games he didn't have the same roster
from game to game and then we really start to
see that kind of get solidified in that backward
um that back -end performance so let's talk about
the goals themselves you know actually just to
talk about the overall performance this the title
of this episode is the the undeserved loss pod
you could call it the undeserved win pod as well
overall we saw a very tough, well -fought battle
against a Caleb Porter side where he intended
to rotate. He was very proud in the post game
about talking about how none of his starting
11 from the Toronto game in terms of first team
players, even dressed for this match, that he
had all this confidence and all this trust in
the depth of his first off his second team, as
well as the Academy players getting the call
up. And then just kind of those rotational players
want to ask you, did this, game feel like an
undeserved loss? It definitely feels like it
from our side in the sense that watching the
match, it felt like our AFC were fighting tooth
and nail. They had lots of good opportunities.
I think if you look at it from a purely statistical
point, though, you wouldn't get that. You wouldn't
see that because the revs were equal, if not
better, on most of the stats. But they didn't
feel as cohesive. They didn't feel like a team
that had played together a lot. The reality is
that there are only two players out of that starting
11 who are actually MLS next pro team. And although
those weren't starters, you go through all those
players. These are all MLS like quality players
who just aren't finding minutes in the team that
Caleb Porter has selected because we know last
year. He had come in, he didn't have the opportunity
to set up the team the way he wanted to, and
so now that he's had the time to change things
and they're finding success, all of these other
players that they have accumulated over the past
few years are kind of riding pie now. So these
are players who could actually probably go play
on some other MLS team somewhere, but Caleb Porter
just doesn't have a use for them. There's a lot
of experience out there. We weren't actually
playing a bunch of kids. You know, you look at
like Max or Rudy, he's been around forever. Sands
has some experience. Did you see the video from
the journalist in the press? Yeah, that someone
was trying to kind of spin the narrative that
we are playing against a bunch of boys out there.
But the reality is, it's. Is Andrew Farrell a
boy? Yeah, I don't I don't want to harp on a
fellow colleague who's in there. I know we all
have said things that, you know, maybe we don't
want to ask out loud. I have a notorious story
of something I asked Kano at the end of the,
the, in the, the Lou, excuse me, the Lou city
match in the playoffs that we'll take to the
grave. But like that, that was true. You know,
it was not, people are trying to set this narrative
of, you know, Oh, it was a cup set because it
was all MLS next pro players that cup set a USL
championship team. And that just wasn't the case.
Brandon by Will Sands, Andrew Farrell. Those
are not, those are not. Bono is an experienced
keeper in the MLS as well. I mean, it's. They
were playing an MLS team. It was just a secondary
MLS team. And listen, we knew that, right? We
knew that this was the possible result. If they
had fielded more MLS next pro players, there
was a potential that this would be a very scrappy
and hard fought match. But we knew that if senior
players were coming on, that this could be a
problem for Rhode Island FC. I was actually impressed
with Caleb Porter not bringing any of his quote
-unquote first team into the game. They were
all in attendance up in the skybox next to the
press room watching the game and cheering on
their Revolution teammates. But when you look,
you were talking about how a lot of the MLS teams
this week in the Open Cup, they started dismantling
their USL opponents, but that required them bringing
on the first team players in the 60th, the 70th,
the 80th minute. you know B squads couldn't get
it done against the championship and I think
that's a that's a that's a quality check it's
a quality showcase of the pedigree that the USL
championship is starting to become but let's
also not pretend that we are a division one product
yet you know coach Kano afterwards I asked him
because Porter had said we are supposed to beat
the USL I don't want to lose to a team 30 minutes
down the road. So we're not going to. And I asked
Kano, like, what's his thoughts on it? He goes,
yeah, we're not supposed to beat an MLS team
when our combined total salary roster is the
same price as one of their, you know, young designated
U22 initiative players. Like it's just, it's
not, you're comparing apples to peanuts at that
point. And it just, it doesn't fit the right
narrative. So overall, I think it was a good
game. I do want to ask you though, you didn't
touch on it. So I'm going to, I'm going to. Dig
in a little deeper. Is this result a direct inflection
of Jackson Lee and some poor decision -making?
I'm not going to put it all on Jackson Lee, but
it's always hard when a mistake is driven from
a keeper's decision versus something further
up the pitch that then ends up costing them after
the run of play. What were your overall thoughts
on Lee's performance? I think that he's probably
being really tough on himself, and I don't think
you can blame it on him. I mean, you look at
it and say maybe he did misjudge that there to
a certain extent. But that was one of those weird
cross shots. You know, I don't remember what
the wind speed was like or something. Maybe it
just kind of like gave it that extra little flight
that spin. It just went over him. I don't know
if you remember. I think it was like 10 years
ago. There was this game City Man City versus
Tottenham where Jesus Nava sent in this weird
cross that did the same thing where just. kind
of sailed over the keeper and just went into
the back post and i think i think chicago fire
had that just like two years ago kicked it from
like the 80 yard line and it just kept going
and the keeper was like there's no way this is
going to get to it it floated right over tim
howard has scored a goal for everton like that
he just took a long goal kick and the wind kind
of just took it past the keeper and keepers have
the toughest job right if they make even the
slightest of mistakes it's it's a goal whereas
a striker if he gives the ball away and the opposition
third well it's fine all my all my friends are
here to kind of like stop the play at that point
someone else really missed their kind of man
marking or tackle or yeah but i mean so like
and here's to be really clear right ace the kangaroo
writes and i don't even think jackson could have
claimed that ball lots of defenders turned off
too so if i assume we're talking about the second
one my issue is not his response to it hitting
the post and trying to i mean he went as fast
as he could he didn't freeze he he saw it reacted
and just tried to make the dive i thought that
was a really good natural like kind of showing
a keeper the speed that he can have The problem
is with, what, four minutes left to go in regular
time, a ball floating in and sailing that close,
that's not a time to drop your arms and let it
clear for the goal kick. That's a time where
you punch it out. Like playing to the whistle
type of thing where you don't stop until you
know for 100 % fact that it's out. I mean, when
it comes to the first goal, I don't know. I don't
blame him for that. I mean, that was a poor giveaway
in the midfield. The Meg, the Meg is unfortunate
whenever a ball goes through a keeper's legs,
but that is 100 % Grant Stoneman stepping out,
trying to catch in the low block, trying to catch
disrupt and create the counter misses the timing
completely. Maxie Rudy has all the time in the
world to get the shot prepped, fires it off.
It still doesn't make it. And then when Rio hope
gun. you know, can't slide in and, you know,
cover enough space, the ball falls right at the
feet of Thomas Chonkale. Thomas Chonkale, I don't
know if you know who that is, but he's kind of
a good player for the MLS and for the New England
Revolution. So, you know, the first goal is,
I don't blame it on Lee, it's just the optics
of it, seeing it go through his legs, that's
never good. And then, you know... full credit
to this team you know they come out in the second
half and i don't coach said that he just said
be free when i asked him how he talked to the
players in the locker room and he said you know
i play without fear because what do you have
to lose now at this point you either don't win
or you show this team you show this club you
show these fans what can happen maxi rodriguez
who promised last week in the interview after
the game against san antonio promised that he
loves the score against MLS opponents and absolutely
comes through on that promise it was his fourth
goal in his career scoring against MLS sides
in the Open Cup and then he goes on to score
the first ever goal for Rhode Island FC at Central
Bank Stadium and the first goal ever against
an MLS opponent unfortunately it's not the first
goal ever in the history of the stadium and it's
not the first victory for the stadium it's not
going to have consequences down like long stream
i know again i know the yappers online they're
gonna they're gonna say things for the next 20
years but does that really matter at the end
of the day no i don't think it matters would
it matter if a usl cup or a usl championship
team gets to claim that like monterey bay on
the weekend i think it actually would it would
be much worse if like louisville came here and
and got the the first win and scored the first
goal something like that like A team who, like
I mentioned earlier, we don't know how many times
we'll ever play this team again. So I'm not too
concerned about it. The trolls, the little offshoot
in the community, that'll be their bread and
butter for the rest of their life and good for
them. But it's not a big deal. I don't care.
So one of the interesting stats we've been waiting
to use are quant the hillside for some data when
it comes to predictive modeling, you know, projections
and whatnot. But one of the interesting things
is we've started to try to unpack kind of where
this team is going, because ironically, and I
know it doesn't feel like it coming off of this
loss, but this is one of the better defenses
in the USL championship right now, at least when
it comes to goals conceded. and i'm sure a lot
of people listening right now we probably just
caused a car crash tomorrow morning when someone
goes there's no way this team is that good defensively
but on average per 90 they've been doing a better
job than the majority of the league but where
rhode island has been struggling and this should
be a no surprise either is the goal contribution
and the offensive uh output right now we are
struggling mightily so there's a graph up on
the screen now um and The reality is this, is
that we have some players that are massively
under indexing compared to their 2024 stats in
a lot of big ways. So, you know, there are a
couple of outliers I want to be careful about.
You know, you look at players like Zach Harbaugh,
who only played half the season and is historically
not known for score. I mean, he scored four goals
last season. So I want to be really clear about
before that. I think he scored four goals in
his entire professional career. Yeah. You know,
you also have to look at players like Joe Brito,
who. made the most of the minutes that they had
um but the you know started the season and then
kind of fell into a supporting cast role where
i'm really looking in terms of the production
numbers right now you gotta look at noah fusan
noah fusan right now way off on his index he's
at a negative 0 .67 in comparison to his 2024
stats and remember that's the golden playmaker
right there So far this season, he doesn't have
a single assist or goal in the regular season
play. Been doing great in being a supporting
cast member with the cup runs in the Jägermeister
Cup and in the Open Cup, but so far hasn't seen
any term of success. And you see him all over
the pitch. You see him running around, making
the necessary dribbles, taking on defenders,
getting the crosses in, shooting. He's got a
lot of shots, but nothing from it. do we need
to start focusing on the clinicalness of this
because right now per 90 the only player that's
above their mark is clay holstead from last year
and then you know chico really close he's knocking
on the door but that's also because chico had
such a long like he was hot for a while he's
very streaky are there problems with this rhode
island team right now or is this more give it
time that we need to kind of wait and see i think
it's definitely a concern And I imagine coach
is looking at it, but I don't know if it's like
panic button yet. Right. Maxie is a new part
to this team. So that's still kind of figuring
out. We've gone through a lot of injuries. And
while a lot of the team did stay the same, there's
some tweaking going on here right now. You know,
we thought is clay the answer to a right wing
back. And now maybe it's. rio hope gunned and
you know is we weren't sure if quiz air was going
to go on to the right you know wasn't sure if
that was a thing and now that kind of seems to
be the spot where he's been playing and so there's
there is within our own system a lot of kind
of flux that's been going on so i think come
in a month or two if some of these numbers haven't
improved and results aren't there then you start
to think okay well what really is going on I
think we're still early days to a certain extent
here that I'm, it's definitely something to,
to kind of keep in mind. You know, Noah, for
instance, the, all the work that he's putting
in off the ball, are we not getting the best
out of them because we're making them work so
hard? I mean, like a good example was Liverpool
this year. Muhammad Salah was unbeatable this
year. And, you know, there wasn't a lot of change
between Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slott. But one
of the main things that he did change that really
helped the team out a lot was he kind of stopped
making Mohamed Salah work so much off the ball
and let him do what he does best. So I don't
know if that's a small tactical role that maybe
he would look at. I don't know if that, I mean,
we're talking about Noah Fisan and Mohamed Salah.
They're the same player. Yeah, basically the
same guy. But, you know, maybe he's not getting
into the positions he needs to be in because
we're moving him around. We haven't find his
actual spot. And even for last year, I mean,
the team kind of started slow. Even he did as
well, too. So I'm not concerned just yet. but
when do you get concerned because you know we're
going we can go through that denial period where
okay we get to 10 games and then we take the
hard look in the mirror we get to 15 games 20
games where do you start asking yourself what
needs to change for this player for this tactic
style and you know if we say well we need the
best 11 possible that coach has envisioned for
this team that could be into the end of july
so That would put us at about game 15 to game
17 in the season. Is that really the amount of
patience that fans need to build in to be prepared
to see this team really start to unlock its players
and start seeing the kind of same performances
that we saw last season? I think if like, let's
just say arbitrarily a month from now, if we
don't see improvements, I'm not saying every
single player needs to improve their goal scoring
numbers. But as a whole, if we don't see some
sort of sign of improvement, then we start to
think, okay, something's wrong here. And maybe
this isn't going to turn out to be a great season,
you know? I mean, time will tell. Time will tell.
Getting back into the storyline here, you know,
back to that Jackson Lee piece, just kind of
running down through the rest of this rundown.
I know we talked about Jackson Lee. There was,
you know, there's those people online that say
Jackson Lee would have saved that whenever Koke
makes the mistake. Would we have benefited from
having the, the leadership and the presence of,
of our Capitan? Yeah, I don't, I think that's,
you know, like I said, the, the, the goalkeeper
position is such a tough job. One small mistake
kind of costs your team. I don't, I don't think
that would have changed a thing necessarily to
have Vegas in there instead of Lee. maybe slightly
that like would have changed the way we play,
right? We know Koke is super comfortable with
the ball at his feet, loves himself a good pass.
But also that's nothing to take away from Lee.
We know he is a great shot stopper. And whenever
Kano has called upon him, he's always put out
like big performances for us. So sometimes it's
just the, it's just the way it happens. And then
final kind of piece to the game itself. Want
to talk about the tactics at some, it seemed
like there was a little bit of a change in the
halftime, you know, I'll die your Sanchez and
full credit to producer torn for catching up
on this. He inverts Sanchez for the two wingers.
And, you know, we, we, I also full credit to
the revolution. They did have a solid back line
when we switched to the wingers and continuously
tried to play out wide. It felt like. it was
always a double marker situation. We really,
we could fire in a cross, but it felt like we
couldn't get far enough up to be comfortable
and let our midfield players, our second runners
get into the box before the balls sailed through.
Sometimes the crosses were a little sloppy, but
you know, outside of that, it was the speed that
they were trying because they needed the speed
to get past the back line of the revolution.
Are the tactics working for this team right now,
or is this just a we're missing JJ, we're missing
that big player? Because I don't think Chico
had as effective as a game as he probably would
have liked. He only got one shot in the game,
wasn't on target. It felt very similar to the
header that he missed last week, just out wide.
I guess I'm curious. is it the lack of a player
in the midfield, whether they can win the headers
when they were at speed at pace, throwing balls
into the middle, or is it a player that can really
hold the ball, you know, power through a back
line with force and then, and turn and shoot.
It feels like a lot of our attacks coming from
out wide recently. And I don't know that that's
connecting. We got the one goal is beautiful
with Maxie, you know, picking up and shooting,
but. If that's the version of Maxie we get, that's
akin to the Maxie that was successful in Detroit.
We were told, we were led to believe that that's
not the type of player Maxie was going to be
this season. Are we defaulting back to the lessons
that Detroit City taught us? Maybe, but some
of that seems to be some necessity. From the
short amount of time this season, the evolution
we've seen, we're having troubles at the back.
We've got injury concerns. We changed to a four
back line. And then all of a sudden that kind
of starts the solidity of our back line. Then
we're kind of swapping around some of the midfield
there a bit. We're, you know, Joe Jay was there.
I think at this point really isn't going to be
a left wing back for us much anymore. Unless
I don't know. Frank did our say on that right
wing back. There's a party that wants to say,
Hey, Let's see what we go back to what we saw
last season. And that you would put him in the
right back position. And then the thing is, when
you attack, then Joe Jay would tuck in and then
Frank would push up. So you're saying we wouldn't
go back to the 3 -5 -2? We would continue to
adopt this 4 -2 -3 -1? I don't know. I think
that we've... Because the 4 -2 -3 -1 is just
the starting position, right? I think we'll still
always continue to attack in some version of
a 3 -5 -2. If you see the heat map and the average
positioning... It's very much a 3 -5 -2. Aldair
is advancing so much further up the pitch. It
is still a three -back system. And it just works
so well, too, with Koke being such a great passer
that he is. He kind of joins the back line, becomes
an auxiliary. Right, but you're not answering
the question. With Frank Dardasse back... We
played an MLS squad. I think reading too much
into this game is actually a fallacy. So there's
no lessons to be learned from this match? I don't
think there's no lessons to be learned, but...
Maybe some of it is just unlucky. If we look
back to the San Antonio match, if one of those
shots went in, we won that game, and then we
come here midweek and we lost to an MLS side,
I don't think there'd be any issues. We'd just
say, fair enough, right? We played an MLS squad.
We went out there. We went toe -to -toe with
them. We made them really work for that victory.
We can be proud of ourselves and hang our heads
high. I think that the goals will come to a certain
extent. We saw this last year, too, with this
team. It's like the frost is still kind of thawing
off the team. It takes a while for them to kind
of get going. In the same way that when teams
really stifle us, it's because they don't allow
us to build up any momentum. Once we get that
momentum build up, I think it's going to be very
much similar to what we saw last year, where
we'll start to really... get into our stride.
Will we see who this team is? Just at that point,
it'll be like, will it be too late or will the
other teams be too good? Evan reminds us, Hey
Jason, our IFC did score against an MLS squad
that hasn't conceded in a month. Remember that
Seth went on great. Seth went to great lengths
to explain to us how this may be. the best defensive
performance in the history of the New England
Revolution, and it's one of the best defense
performances in MLS currently. The Open Cup match?
No, well, we scored against a Revolution side.
The argument to Evan's point would be, well,
we didn't score against their first team. We
scored against other players there. But nevertheless,
final question before we move on to our preview.
Overall, I want to ask, how big of a deal...
Is it to see Defiance being able to finally light
the smokes, getting to hear Psycho Killer? Did
that bring it all home for you? Is that what
the fans needed? And should they be expecting
to see more of that this Saturday? Oh, absolutely.
And like I mentioned kind of at the top of the
hour, people are still really excited. No one's
like, oh, it's cool, but it would be nice if
they won. like we're not there yet we're still
in the we've got that grace period where it's
the new shiny thing it's the vibes are there
it's fun it's a beautiful stadium especially
at night this time we got to see the first match
was kind of in the afternoon so the lights going
lights on really exciting they they should do
some some sort of thing with the bridge because
then yeah 95 that bridge needs to be able to
work in tandem they've got all the ld it's blue
but like what if it also flashed No, it's just
LED. You can make it any color you want. That
just needs to be a cross collab with the city
of Pawtucket in the near future. But we are going
to talk at great lengths on if goals are going
to come this weekend against the Monterey Bay
team heading in to Centerville Bank Stadium.
And I can't think of a better person to talk
all things Monterey Bay than the one and only
Chris Moulton. Chris, how are you doing, sir?
What's going on, guys? I'm doing great. How are
you? Living the dream right now, my friend. Living
the dream. Hey, listen, Chris, you're all the
way over on the West Coast, probably having the
time of your life weather -wise. We're getting
some good weather here nowadays, out here watching
some soccer in action right now. Want to thank
you for jumping on first and foremost, and also
get people tuned in on who you are, how did you
start the Union Report, and what's been your
overall connection to Monterey Bay? Yeah, so
I don't know. I have a buddy that I do it with,
Andrew Martin. He's not here right now. But me
and him actually. met each other because of where
our season tickets were um we just happened to
be like on opposite sides of the aisle of one
another and he has a background in reporting
on minor league baseball and i was just a huge
sports junkie and we kind of said hey you know
what like we should totally do something for
the union and so that's kind of how it started
um from there You have to make some inroads.
We didn't know anyone at the club at the time.
More or less, we asked some questions. We talked
with President Mike DiGiulio. Weaved our way
in there, I guess you could say. Now we're doing
club interviews every Tuesday. We're putting
those up on our YouTube. We're writing articles
on our blog. pretty much all the socials. And
I think us and a couple of the, we're not like
a supporter group necessarily, but we do have
like Rising Tide and some of those guys that
we collaborate with from time to time. And so
at this point, we're just, I don't know, MBFC
junkies that love to spend our time promoting
the club in a positive light. It sounds very
similar to our own journey. We've actually held
you to a very high standard in terms of your
access that you've gotten in partnership with
the club. That's something that we continue to
try to grow. We've done it as organic as we can.
And sometimes it's like we got to ask the tougher
questions. what's preventing you from letting
us have Maxi Rodriguez next week? So they've
worked really well with us, but it's exciting
to see you guys kind of lead the charge on that.
I don't know if there's a lot of independent
coverage within the championship that has that
kind of profile access and link directly to the
team and players themselves. So it's been really
exciting to see you guys operate. And so how
many years has the union report been in existence?
We started, it was kind of formally, I don't
know, talked about toward the end of season one.
And so this is like our third year and we didn't
really get that level of access actually until
this past offseason. You know, it was just one
of those things. The team was doing a huge rebranding.
They tried to move away from the Frank Yollop
years and move into the Jordan Stewart era. And
I felt like we had a really productive conversation
with Ray Beshoff, the club owner, and Mike DiGiulio,
the president, and just said, hey, look, you
know. We just want to portray the team in a positive
light. Our goal, our stated goal for the union
report is longevity for the club. You know, we're
in a very, I mean, I don't know how much cost
of living is out there and in Rhode Island, but
it's insane over here. And, you know, just trying
to have this thing. So when I'm a grandparent.
my grandkids can go and watch mbfc games and
so um i think that they like that and decided
hey you know what let's get these guys in there
so i think i saw uh mbfc was selling tickets
at costco like like other major sporting events
and stuff now so you guys are becoming very very
worldwide in the sense of what monterey bay has
to offer there so get yourself a dollar 50 hot
dog and a monterey bay fc ticket There you go.
Perfect. Perfect. So before we jump into this
preview, we have some unresolved beef that we
need to settle for the week here. And that is,
of course, the USL championship save of the week.
I've watched the video on these players from
last week. And, you know, Camposano, who's going
to be a large talking point, I have a feeling
tonight, has already won this. I just read an
article earlier today. He's already being forecasted
as the keeper of the year. I watched these saves,
and I'm blown away at the bias here going on
right now that your keeper is leading the results
poll right now because, one, he's already gotten
it, but, two, I watched that save, and you can't
even tell if that goal didn't go in or not. So
the idea that that's the clear and cut favorite
or obvious choice, whereas you see our Koke Vegas
flying through the air, I don't know if I agree
with this. What are your thoughts overall, Chris?
You know, I mean, it's tough to be hard on Nico.
He does his best. He has won it before. We have
a very strong, strong contingent of voters out
here. And, you know, it was something that. Has
kind of come up just in this year, actually,
because for the longest time we weren't getting
any player of the week, save of the week, player
of the month, anything. And I think that we've
seen a uniting of several supporter groups. And
I think that has really been the thing that's
pushed our guys, especially Nico, over the line
as far as getting the popular vote. So what I'm
hearing is this is a popularity contest and the
real deserved keeper on this isn't getting the
day. So what Chris is saying is the Rhode Island
fans are letting us down here. You guys got to
get out there and vote. We invited you to our
show and this is how you disrespect our fans?
No, I think... You know, cause you guys have
like one big supporter group, right? Is my Intel
correct? You guys have like the defiant 1636
are completely on the South end and they have
three full sections. One of them dedicated to
standing only the other two are unlocked where
they can stand or sit down, but yeah, it's an
exciting experience. Okay. So, and that's kind
of my soccer experience, football. experience
is about five years in total. I wasn't even a
fan before the union came to town. So bear with
me, but everything I've seen, it's like, okay,
you have one big group. Well, for some reason
we have like four or five small groups and they
were always in fighting, not in fighting, but
they just weren't working together for a common
goal. And so now I think that they've kind of
come together. We're seeing the fruit of that
in, in. you know voting and things like that
so i california struggles with its supporter
culture identity every single soccer team has
numerous elements or versions within the the
larger supporter group ecosystem of like this
is our small little tribe this is our small little
tribe and on game day We'll try to all get along,
but there will be conflict internally that the
larger crowds will never know about. But I will
tell you, having been in this business now for
just a few years ourselves, there's a lot of
politics. I mean, you probably know this from
your side of it, too. A lot of politics that
go on in the day to day. I mean, like the 3252
pretend to be one giant group, but it's just
a bunch of little groups. And then as soon as
there's something that goes wrong, they're outside
just punching each other. Yeah, it's a thing.
But let's hashtag not an MLS podcast. Not here
to talk about LAFC for sure. Let's get into this
game itself. Let's talk about the head to head
record here. First and foremost, the last time
these two teams faced each other, we saw it in
a very interesting way where, you know, it was
the. First road game for the history of Rhode
Island FC away as they headed to a very windy
Cardinale Stadium to draw 2 -2 against the Monterey
Bay FC. The game had several notable firsts,
first including the actual first Rhode Island
FC goal in club history because Mark Doyle's
own goal does not go down in the records books.
with Albert Dequa not only getting the first
goal, but getting the first brace in club history.
It was the first time we would lead a game. It
was only a total of 12 minutes across both goals
scored. But then it also saw the first injury
to an RIFC player in Coque, Vegas, coming off
in just the second game of his career with Rhode
Island FC that gave Jackson Lee that stint all
the way through the win in Las Vegas. In that
first matchup, MBFC was technically the better
team. I won't deny it. They created more chances,
created more shots and shots on target. And they
also showed a defensive fortitude when it came
to winning the lion's share of aerial and ground
duels. We didn't realize at the time because
we were just so in love with what had happened
in the game. We were excited to be there. I don't
think we really truly reflected back on what
Monterey showed early on in that. But by contrast,
and this is the RFC part, RFC very much like
this Revs game that we just saw this last Wednesday.
dominated the middle of the the mid third excuse
me doubling the accurate passes and total passes
against that monterey side uh showing that the
high press was going to be something really incredible
allowing us to get multiple turnovers and we
led in total domination of touches in the opposition's
box but it still ended up even -steven after
90. So we couldn't figure it out yet. Monterey
Bay at that early time was flying high. I think
you guys were in second place in the Western
Conference, a role you're similarly in right
now. And it's just exciting that these two teams
are now coming back together. However, this time
you'll be dealing with us and maybe a windy game
here at Centerville Bank Stadium. We don't have
the weather yet for that, so we'll talk about
that a little later. Chris, going back to that
match, Jason, chime in too if you want. Just
curious, you were our first, and you never forget
your first. What was it like having Rhode Island
FC for that first away game for us? What was
it like playing them? What was your overall vibe
on that team as they entered into the league
in 2024? Yeah, so I was super excited having
just, you know, been an expansion team a couple
of years prior. You know, I understood the experience.
I thought you guys were just going to, you know,
you know, 11th, maybe 12th in the East. And no,
that was totally different. But going into that
game, actually, the first thing that struck me
was there was Rhode Island fans in attendance
actually took a picture and posted it because
number one. back then we've rebranded like i
said but you guys jerseys are just awesome and
i was like kind of jealous and so i was like
hey can i take a picture with you guys and so
um that something like that where where you're
you're seeing supporters travel like literally
from coast to coast really spoke to the level
of devotion that Rhode Island fans were going
to have. I mean, obviously it was really early
on when you guys came to play us, but I thought,
you know what, we're going to run right over
them. And I was, I was not familiar with your
style of football back then, obviously like more
so now. But. I knew you had Dequa and he was,
you know, you had some big name guys that were
in USL previous. And so I thought, you know,
hey, we're flying high. Like you said, we're
going to take care of business. We had a healthy
roster at the time. That didn't last very long.
But yeah, I honestly thought it was just going
to be a. you know, steamrolling. And I was wrong.
It was such a competitive and physical game.
So that was my thoughts on when you guys first
came out here to Seaside to play at Cardinale
Stadium. Jason, do you remember that game at
this point? Or is it just too many minutes too
long ago? It is a long time ago. But now that
we're talking about it, I'm like, I'm kind of
like playing through some of the scenes in my
head. I think didn't they Monterey Bay score
off a free kick or something or at least a set
piece something? There was I just remember one
where the corner flag was blowing. It was literally
horizontal to the pitch because the wind was
like 21 miles an hour. And I do remember Tristan
Traeger had a like phenomenal run. And basically
he created his own chance and then scored a goal.
So I remember the Traeger goal more than anything.
And then that flag. all in all still good times
it was so exciting and uh it led you know some
success for us maybe maybe not so much for you
and so that's why we want you on here chris we
want you to set the record straight First and
foremost, can you get our listeners up to speed
on what's been going in this new Jordan Stewart
era? This team feels like it's completely transformed
from where you were, even though the table results
were about the same from this point in the league
standings last year. This is a completely different
team, if I understand correctly. Yeah, thank
you. It is absolutely, completely, I mean, not
100 % as far as personnel, but everything else
from, you know, our crest, our crest is different
now. There is a new attitude. Like I told you
guys, we interview players every week. We've
interviewed Jordan Stewart six times. We're going
to interview him next week. And there is just
a different vibe in the dressing room as far
as players and the synergy. From a tactical standpoint,
it's a new look as well. I think Jordan Stewart
did a wonderful job. like scouting the globe
to find guys that were going to fit his system
um we filled every international slot and it
wasn't just like oh this guy's an international
player it was like hey we're on the the plane
we're headed over to you know sweden to pick
this guy up um and so It's such an attractive
brand of football. I have notes, and I don't
want to keep looking down, but bringing on Jeremy
Clark, who was his first assistant when he was
at the Town FC, which is the San Jose Earthquakes
MLS Next Pro team. You know, using those connections,
bringing some of those guys in and just bolstering
the roster for his style. Because if you recall,
I mean, maybe you do, you don't, I don't know.
But Frank Yollop was relieved, you know, midway
through last season. And Jordan came on and played
what did his best with the guys that. frank had
brought in but after the season was over uh he
got to work we promoted simon dawkins um so he's
the guy that's i mean literally cell phone glued
to his ear at all times during the off season
um and he's this new sporting director more or
less and so um it's amazing to see you know this
Going from what we knew Frank's system was to
seeing Jordan's system and just how it works
and the intricacies of it and everything. I think
we have three or four returning players and that's
it. It was almost a full wipe of everyone that
we had. Definitely new look and a really, really
new feel. The energy in the stadium is incredible.
We're excited. If we could get Kano at that level
of access, I think he would kill at least me.
He loves you a lot, Jason. I think Kano Smith
would put his hands on my neck. Do you remember
what game was it that Frank Yallop was at? Was
it right before? It was the game right after
he got sacked. So a lot of people don't know
this. Again, we've got stories for years when
we write our memoirs, Jason. But Frank Yallop,
for some reason, was at the game immediately
following his release from Monterey Bay. at burn
stadium and i did the double take and i i leaned
into someone and said i that could be la galaxy
legend frank yallop i i didn't give monterey
bay the credit it deserved at the time i apologize
and i said yeah that's frank and then and then
the wheels start turning like why in the world
is frank yallop at a game at a college town at
a college stadium in smithfield what's going
on and Don't know what happened from it. I don't
know why his curiosity was piqued. But he came
out, watched the game, talked with the front
office, talked with the technical team. And I
don't know what Frank Gallup has done since then.
But yeah, Frank Gallup, just for some reason,
the first thing he wanted to do was come back
to Rhode Island FC after you guys let him go.
So thanks for that. Maybe we made a big impression
on him. So, Chris, it sounds like there's been
this transformation. And I do want to tie that
into the brand reset in a bit. But tactically,
if you can just kind of get us level set, we'll
talk about the lineups here in just a minute.
But overall, what's been the big adjustment in
comparison to what we saw from this team last
year in compared to now what Stewart's created?
Is it the same style? Formationally, not so much
worried, but is this going to be the same type
of play style that we saw? Or are we in for something
completely new on Saturday? I'd say completely
new. Obviously, you know, 4 -4 -2 is not something
that's you know, out of the realm of what Frank
was running. But Frank was very expansive. He
would, I mean, side to side all the way up until
we get in and he'd send service into the box.
Whereas with Jordan, guys, you're going to see
a lot of overlapping runs on the outsides. But
then... A lot of direct balls through the middle
as well, and I know that in the last couple of
games we've kind of gotten away from that, but
we have such firepower up front now. I was listening
to your guys' show earlier talking about how,
you know, there's a problem with you have so
much talent and you have to sit some of it, and
that's kind of where we're at as well. So overlapping
runs, you're going to see definitely building
up out of the back, heavy, heavy possession -based
football. We've struggled against a high press,
and so that's one of the things that Jordan needs
to address. I mean, I'm sure he knows it. I'm
not saying anything he doesn't already know.
It is exciting football, and I'm excited for
you guys to see it on Saturday. That makes none
of us on this side. I think back when we first
saw the lineups of these two teams in December
when the schedule was released, and I shouldn't
have disrespected you, Chris, but I was like,
okay, I'll take a team that hasn't... made the
playoffs uh i'll take that as our second ever
home game san antonio they were on the outside
looking like completely disheveled and uh nobody
knew what they would do and lo and behold we
end up having to play against the first and second
I know you guys are tied on points and in third
technically, but it goes to figure that we finally
get our home games and we're stacked up against
the best talent in the Western Conference right
now. So there's an irony that is not lost on
us about how well you guys have been doing. And
I apologize for not believing in you back in
December. That's on me. Hey, you're not the only
one. Obviously, some of our friends at USL Tactics
were... We couldn't get... We couldn't get any
love. Say the names, Chris. Say the names. They're
here listening, probably. Say the names. It's
okay. We don't shy away from calling people out.
You can say John or Kaler. It's okay. John, we
couldn't get any love until the OC game. And
we came out and, I mean, put on a clinic against...
At the time, we were like, hey, it's OC. They're
consistent year after year. And we absolutely
dominated that game. And it was from there that
I think him and others started looking at the
pieces that we had and saw the potential. And
I think that we're kind of getting to that point.
John takes bribes. You just have to give him
Jaeger. Yeah, don't tell about the Jaeger shot
secrets. All right, so let's get into these current
standings. I had them up for a while and realized
I put them up too early. Classic editor folly
here. But RIFC remains in 10th place in the Eastern
Conference. We love this position. I feel like
this is just like our home. base for extended
periods of time we like to be on the outside
looking in yeah we just want to see how the party's
going and then make our late arrival into a playoff
run uh right now they're now sitting on a one
two and three record even after last week's draw
with just five points across their first six
regular season matches they now only have 0 .83
points per game the lowest that we've ever had
Again, it's an index where just one game can
adjust it to the 2024 numbers. But right now,
not looking as well as we'd like, despite some
of the tremendous performances we've seen on
the pitch. I said this earlier and some people,
someone just said in the chat, we need to work
on our defense. But technically, we have the
third best defense in the Eastern Conference
when you look at goals allowed so far this season.
I know it doesn't feel like it because combined
with that, we also have a negative three goal
differential. So when we've only scored five
goals, we also have the second worst offense
in the league. Jason, by talking strictly on
goals, not on all the other metrics that can
lead up to it. The only team we're better than
in the entire league right now is Hartford Athletics.
So, I mean, we got that going for us. Meanwhile,
Monterey Bay currently sitting at the top of
the West. They've slid, like I said, into third
place because of goal differential. But tied
with New Mexico United at 15 points, they've
been flying high. Chris, you must be having so
much pride in this team now as they sit on a
4 -2 -2 record, led by the masterclass in defense
of not just the back four, but Nico Campuzano,
who's just... I guess we have to talk at length
about him tonight. They've limited the scoring
against Monterey. Monterey right now only allowing
0 .8 goals conceded per 90. that is like technically
louisville has the better stat on it but when
you look at the total number of shots faced by
monterey bay because i would say i would argue
monterey is not as strong as louisville i mean
louisville is the the penultimate in this standard
yeah and if we and also too if we if we opened
the books financially we know the money between
these two organizations monterey bay absolutely
just playing with an intensity and a fire that
It's really exciting to see. So really excited
to unpack that. Before we get into the injury
and availability report, Jason, what did we learn
about the pro ref situation for this week's match?
Yeah, so the ref assignment for this game, the
head ref here is JC Griggs. Assistant ref one
is Sun Yinka Kenhide. Assistant ref two is Justin
Lopez. And the fourth official will be Andrew
Parada. Head ref John Griggs is only, oversaw
two championship games this season um but he
kind of like so far has been allowing the game
to flow allowing it to play kind of under indexing
on fouls issued uh in the fourth highest tolerance
of going into the pocket averaging eight fouls
per card it'll be interesting to see with rhode
island's physicality i'm not quite sure chris
how physical Monterey has been this season we've
always been an aggressive team and we've seen
now that hurt us just most recently this past
week with with Alyssa Nichols on her second game
of watching over Rhode Island FC this year really
seemed to stop the flow to you know pause and
reset for foul calling it wasn't a high card
game we haven't seen a lot of cards in terms
of yellow accumulation this season we've had
a nasty bout with some keeping our heads out
of trouble with the red card situation that we
have going on but uh this ref for all intent
seems to be john griggs seems to be someone who's
going to let this game open up and play as long
as you know they're not doing stupid things how
has monterey's physicality been so far this season
um You know, I would say that a referee that's
going to allow a game to play is going to favor
Rhode Island. You guys, I mean, clearly a physical
team. Our back line is pretty stout, and our
wing play can be pretty physical. all in all
i would have to say it definitely favors you
we're we're not arsenal where it's like a bag
of marshmallows that you can just kick around
but um you know we'll hold our own on the back
line um our size is is something that i think
is going to play into this game in a major way
so um that's all i got there no that's that's
perfect and and We've got a very big player who's
going to dominate in Amos Shapiro Thompson, so
watch out for him a little later in this game.
But let's get to the availability report. Isaac
Anking still out with that injury that he's been
treating since last year against Detroit. Talked
to him at the game. He said it in front of fans,
so I can now say it because I don't like sharing.
When players talk to me and it's not in front
of the communications director or it's not in
front of Coach Kano, I don't say it. Believe
it or not. We heard again from Kevin Callahan
about Hugo Baturak's injury from a bathroom.
We've known the exact date for a while, but it's
just not our place if they don't share it to
us in an official capacity. And we don't want
to burn those bridges. So Isaac Anking has been
on the record now saying to fans that he's looking
for an end of May return, at least to be cleared
by the medicos and be able to start actually
being available for full contact and starting
to really get the minutes in the... fitness and
so technically after may 31st any opportunity
he could be cleared he could be available I still
don't think we see him any earlier than maybe
end of June. But there seems to be a desire to
at least maybe be able to make a dressing for
his Puerto Rican national team when they come
to Centerville Bank Stadium. So that's exciting.
We've already talked at length about Hugo Baturak.
He's still going to be out for about another
five weeks at a minimum. Danny Revere getting
closer should be around that three -week window
before we'll see him take the pitch possibly
for the first time. No update on J .J. Williams.
Again, I'm saying end of July until I hear a...
a more favorable number that brings him back
into the action closer. Mark still a little bit
limping, no boot on him when I saw him last night.
And that was three days removed from the home
game. So he could be closer. I would say anywhere
from two to three weeks, maybe as well. It could
be sooner though. Just, just judging by his mobility
and then Kree for, yeah, we don't have the update
because we saw he wasn't available for the open
cup game because of red card discipline. And
we haven't yet heard about it. And I haven't
seen him. I saw him after the game. just walking
around and based upon absolutely no medical training
at all i say he's fine You played a TV doctor
once, but that's perfectly fine. So that's where
we're at on those. Coach Conner, as of the end
of the game, he hadn't heard about any injuries
or things like that. He did mention that these
players need to be very mindful of their recoveries,
what they're eating, what they're drinking, and
be ready for this long stint of minutes that
are going to be put on these legs and on these
bodies over the next week. But nothing else at
this point that we're aware of. And unfortunately,
we won't know until... potentially like a media
day tomorrow so that news might have to come
a little later chris on the monterey bay side
what is the availability are there any players
that we would likely not see that should be traveling
i know you had reported earlier today that they
were already on their way to the lovely state
of rhode island what do you know about uh the
situation there um i believe diego gutierrez
still um rehabbing i know he has been spotted
in training i don't know if he's like 100 right
now he hasn't played yet um alex dixon same thing
the the grizzled vet uh went down a couple weeks
ago and he wasn't listed on the injury report
last week um neither was um or no anton soyberg
half of the viking twins he was out last week
but According to our sources, he should be available
for selection this week. So you should see a
pretty healthy squad showing up on Saturday.
Excellent. All right, well, then let's get into
our predictions. Guaranteed to be wrong. Jason,
walk us through what we think the starting 11
is going to look like for the Rhode Island side.
Yeah, so as we head back into a league match
now, we will see Koke Vegas in net. The back
four, in terms of defense, seems to be what we're
going to continue there with Rio Hope Gunn there
in that kind of right -back position, Grant Stoneman
and Frank Nodarce there, and then with Aldair
Sanchez finishing out that back line. With how
good of a performance he's put in, we think that
Amos Shapiro -Thompson is going to play in that
holding midfielder there right next to Clay Holstad.
Three wingers slash cams, however you want to
call that there, with Noah Fuson, Maxi Rodriguez,
and then Jojaya Quisera with the one and only
Chico up top. On the bench here, we'll probably
have Haribo, Aimé Mavica, Taimou Okiyoshi, Kevin
Vang, Cole Dewhurst, and Jackson Lee. Looks like
we can kind of field a full bench there. Something
we couldn't do for all of our coaches. It's good
to see it. I think, you know, maybe the big interchange
just for the minutes managed so far is we could
see Zach, who definitely came on a little later.
I could see him substitute in for Amos Shapiro
Thompson or even Maxi Rodriguez. if there's a
need to reduce the wear and tear. Do you think
Mbika is close enough to start getting a start?
Grant Stoneman, I watched him spraying cold water
on his knees as he was walking off in the halftime
of the Open Cup match. I know that that man is
putting... It feels like he's been a broken man
for a long time. He's been held together by KT
Tape, and he really needs some healthy... Center
backs to give him a rest. I mean, and we could
see Kriva, yeah, because like you said, you just
reported that he's completely fit and ready to
go. I mean, based upon nothing, but yeah. Mbika
looked good in the short amount of time that
we saw him out there. I don't think they would
completely throw him into the fire like that.
Maybe we'll, what did he play? Maybe 10 -ish,
15 minutes? 10, 15 minutes, yeah. Maybe we'll
see 30 or maybe even a full half of him if we,
you know, like. Start off with Stoneman or something
and throw Mbika on the second half. Yeah, and
then I'm not convinced Chico plays more than
the first 45 unless we really feel like we need
to. We need to keep him on. Maybe he goes 60,
but again, there's plenty of other games. He's
coming back from injury. We've got another midweek
game next week. And we have super sub Joe Brito,
which we're going to talk about here in just
a second when we profile these players. But I
think this is as close to as wrong as we can
possibly be. Chris, let's walk through the Monterey
Bay side here now. I have them set in the 4 -1
-3 -2 that they play when they have their possession.
But like you had said, they kind of go into the
gentleman's game at that 4 -4 -2. But walk us
through what you believe will be the starting
11 for Monterey Bay here. Yeah, so the back line,
obviously you're going to have Nico Gordon and
Carlos Guzman kind of anchoring in the center.
And then on the outside, Gadiri and Lyons. And,
you know, they're going to rotate depending on
the side of the field the ball is on. you know,
effectively they'll run three across the back,
but, um, Wesley Fonguck in the middle, and he
is going to be the linchpin, um, for that entire
offense. And then, uh, midfield, um, male Malongo,
Adrian Rebelar, Shavi Nalati, and then up front,
Elijah Paul and, um, Luther Archimed, who is
just back from, uh, knee surgery that man took,
almost a whole year for him to get back, but
we're excited. And, you know, our thought, I
discussed this with Andrew before coming on,
and our thought is we're opting for size here.
We're trying to get our biggest bodies out there
to kind of hang with the big boys, I guess, over
in Rhode Island. So Archimede and Paul are...
big dudes that should match up well against your
center backs who are like former NFL tight ends,
it looks like. But yeah, you should have available
off the bench. You should have Ivanovich, who
possibly could be starting in the same spot that
Archimed is. He's a bigger guy, just doesn't
have quite the mass. You'll have Adam Larson.
Soyberg is another option that's going to be
available. Grant Robinson possibly a bit available
as a wingback. And then, of course, your favorite,
Nico Camposano between the sticks back there.
uh not my favorite whatsoever chris so let's
let's get into it we had these player profiles
all written out because we didn't know at first
if we were going to be able to get you for the
show so we start doing these things where we
start breaking down the key players i feel really
bad for producer torn because he started working
on some really good um on pieces and like when
i look at nico's track record It's insane. He's
the busiest goalkeeper of the league this year,
34 saves. He's indexing over 50 % more than his
closest counterpart in Jake McGuire of NCFC or
Van Ockel at Birmingham Legion, which if you
go back to Birmingham Legion last year, Kaler
Hodges almost had to be the keeper for Birmingham
Legion. So that's just to me an insane stat.
But in addition to that, The fact of the matter
is that when you look at his save percentage,
he's at 82 .9%. And that's over like 22 % higher
than the rest of the keepers in the league combined
on averages. I want to jump right into this with
this kid. And of course, by the way, he's a New
England Revolution product. And say what you
want about the Revs. but they know how to produce
good keepers. They have created a very good system
of identifying talent and then selling it on.
So the fact that Nico is doing this well and
that they didn't hold on to him, I wonder if
someone's like, maybe we finally got one wrong
here. Chris, talk us through this. There's no
way this kid is this good. There's just no way.
There's got to be a correction to the average.
Regression to the mean. Yeah, it's a pendulum.
He's got to be swinging back at any point. There's
no way this kid's standing on his head. every
single game for 90 minutes? Or are we completely
wrong and he's the real deal? So I'll tell you
guys, if you look at the history of our club,
you have more or less you had Carlos Herrera,
literally like an unknown, and you had Anthony
Ciaha. Again, they found him in a park in San
Diego just hanging around, and they signed him.
I don't know what it is, but they have a knack.
Because if you look at Camposano prior to coming
to us, it was like, I don't know, he had like
three minutes over the last season or something.
He's a great guy. He takes really good care of
his body, yoga every day. Our entire goalkeeper
core, I don't know if that's what you want to
call it, but those guys, you know. the competition
high tide raises all boats and those guys are
constantly battling um during practice they're
always the ones that are late when we get there
for interviews we're like hey guys can you hold
it down um but man they're fierce competitors
and i mean if the pendulum does swing it's going
to be after the game against you guys so i don't
know he's uh he he really is a legitimate talent
and i think that's um you know, a nod to our
scouting that we did on him. And the fact that,
you know, he's a guy we like to build out of
the back. He's good on the ball. From time to
time, he'll make me a little uncomfortable as
far as challenging and oncoming, you know, center
forward or whatnot. But he, his, I guess the
thing that sets him apart is it's like a hair
trigger. Like, we joke, like, if a fly buzzes
past his head, he's going to dive. And it's just
so quick. And I don't know. I guess that's the
secret sauce or something. But he's a legitimate
talent. And I feel like the numbers support incredible
play. Not including this week's save of the week.
I want to be clear. Take that out of anything
I'm saying. That was a goal. That was the goal.
Nico didn't stop that. But to your point, when
you talk about the numbers, right now, just to
compare it so people really understand, when
you look at these two teams, not to dismay Coque
Vegas here, but Monterey Bay is in first in their
facing of total shots from the opposition. 3
.8 average shots that... that Nico is now up
against versus just 1 .7 for Rhode Island FC.
I said that we are one of the best defenses in
the league, but that's a total defensive performance
with the back line trying to help keep Koke and
Jackson Lee from having a relatively busy game.
That's not quite the case, though, with Monterey
Bay. There are ways around that back four, and
it's just Nico's... again, just standing on his
head and keeping Monterey Bay very much in the
game. Is there a concern then, Chris, that the
back line is eventually, like, Nico shouldn't
be keeping up at this rate and this back line
needs to improve to kind of make it a little
bit easier for their guy in the back? Obviously,
we could do better. I think when you have such
aggressive wing play and rotation from your outside
backs, you open the door for teams to come down
the sides to send service into the box, and I
feel like that's kind of where we're a little
leaky in that regard. Most teams aren't coming
straight down the pipe at us. I mean, Guzman
and Gordon are incredible, aggressive, physical,
and highly technical. And so, you know, I think
you got to kind of take the full style into consideration.
But, yeah, you know. it's gonna wear on him i
think after a while and you know um that's why
i think he's so focused on mental and physical
preparation fueling his body that he's a he's
a great guy but um i think we do need to consider
the back line like you said jason did you notice
that he's also a spaniard that this is going
to be a spaniard versus spaniard yeah when chris
was talking about him uh going out and challenging
keepers i'm like oh we know Koke loves himself
to be a sweeper keeper. We know all about that.
You know, I, I wonder with, with talking about
here, Nico is, is being fantastic facing a lot
of shots. We saw Monterey Bay last year start
pretty well. And then kind of as, as they tapered
off, do you think that there, is there any concern
here that this is a hot start and that they might
fizzle out like they did last year? Or do you
think this is a real deal? Are you going to make
the playoffs? not not so much just playoffs but
like is it sustainable to be where they are right
now tied for second place okay well i'm gonna
i'm gonna take that and run with it so if you
look at monterey bay like their entirety we're
always right here at this time that's just our
mo and our mo has been Yep, second, first, third,
somewhere in the top three or four in the West.
And then we hit the dog days of summer and we
just can't keep pace. But this team is different
in that they are all united around one goal.
I don't know if it's common knowledge. It is
here, so I don't have a problem saying it, but
the team made a bold, bold move. And they said,
hey, season ticket holders, if we don't make
the playoffs, we're going to refund you 20 %
of your tickets. And so every time you talk to
these guys, there's one goal in mind, and that's
the playoffs. And I said earlier, there's just
a different vibe in the dressing room with these
guys. I don't know if we stay in third or even
in the top four, but I'm fairly certain that
this season we're going to be right there, top
six probably. Did you make a – was there an asterisk
to that promise where if you guys won through
the Western Conference Championship that the
season ticket members had to pay you 20 % more?
It should go both ways. It should go both ways.
But I do want to ask, you know, you mentioned
this earlier just to tie it into a fun kind of
anecdote. I also can't help but think, you know,
when you talk about the transformation of this
front office, this team, this technical staff,
you've also transformed the branding, you know,
moving into your new logo, your new crest, and
you have a new mascot in Kelpie. You can't help
me tell, like, are these the things breaking
the curse finally for this Monterey Bayside?
okay kelpy's the goat let's just be honest see
you go and say things and now no one can take
you seriously no we have we already have the
goat here and chip the seal no i i think um you
know they wanted to engage the fans I'm going
to be 100 % with you guys. I told you we have
lots of options. We're an hour and a half from
the 49ers here. We're two hours from the San
Francisco Giants. We used to be two hours from
the Oakland A's. We're an hour and 20 minutes
from the San Jose Sharks. We're two hours from
the Golden State Warriors. I feel like part of
that was capturing those fans that hey, you don't
have to drive two hours to go see a quality professional
sporting event. And Kelpie, I love Kelpie. We're
going to get him interviewed. I promise you guys
that. I've already talked to the team about it.
Let me know how you do that. Because Chip is
an avid listener of our podcast, and we've talked
about trying to get him on, but we don't know.
Because we can't even, like we said, oh, we'll
have him just like. mime it out. Absolutely not.
No one is ever allowed to know Chip's thoughts
except for Chip himself. It'll just be a short
bit where it's just all he's speaking to us.
We were going to do the witness protection where
we blurred him out and then the deep voice, but
we haven't landed on one yet. I'm really glad
that that's happening for you guys and for the
fans. It's fun to see a club not rest on mediocrity
and say, hey, things will improve. Just trust
us. It's been really appreciative to watch you
guys, I mean, literally put your money where
your mouth is as an organization. I know you're
also a fan, so it's like you're in a duality
here, but it's been really exciting to see those
commitments. I don't think I've ever heard of
a team selling you, hey, we'll refund you if
we suck. That's exciting. That's exciting to
know. Moving back to the Rhode Island side of
things, Jason, five games, 14 days. How does
RIFC weather this storm? Or is it that's the
neat part? I mean, you're not wrong there. I
think we are going to really have to trust some
of our bench here. We're going to have to dig
deep. You know, like we talked about the new
signing here. I'm a Mavica. I think we're going
to see some more minutes from him. And I think
from there at that point, maybe by the time we
get to like our Wednesday game next week is at
Birmingham, I think. Yes. Like at that point,
maybe he's a starter. Right. And we also just
talked about how the Mad Dog AST has been kind
of going through, you know, this kind of renaissance
and how he's playing for us. But we also know
that Haribo is an incredibly talented midfielder
who can, you know, work defensively on top of
assists like we saw in Westchester. So we we
are beaten and battered and kind of light. But
the guys on the bench there. we've all seen performanceism
from them. So I know that we're going to just
going to kind of have to rotate. Yeah. I mean,
I feel that there may be some conserved energy,
some conserved legs trying to go. for a second,
you know, half performance, which is unlike what
we've seen from Rhode Island FC. I guess, you
know, Chris, asking if, and to put yourself in
the mind of Jordan Stewart here for a second,
when you're coming fresh off of, you know, you've
had the full week rest since you guys weren't
still in the Open Cup. What are you thinking
of differently if you're a head coach? How do
you capitalize on the fatigue? for this Rhode
Island FC team that is very desperate to get
a home win in front of their fans. They now have
one draw and a loss. They're really eager to
deliver that first win in front of 10 ,500 faithful.
Well, I think we don't fall into the trap of
trying to play your game. I think that you guys
play a very physical brand of football, and I've
alluded to it multiple times. It matters in this
game. And we're going to put our guys out there
that he feels is the best matchup. But I think
that as long as we stick to our game plan and
adapt where we need to, but not just try to go
blow for blow with you guys is going to be, you
know, play rope -a -dope. Let you guys, you know,
you're coming off a short break and, you know.
We just continue to do what we do, and that is
press the attack, tire you guys out. We're on
fresh legs. You're not. Jordan knows that. And
I'm sure that he's got something up his sleeve
for that very thing. I mean, the answer, the
obvious answer for Rhode Island FC is to rely
on the incredible abilities of one super sub,
Joe Brito, which, by the way, Jason, he now leads
the team. in shots on the largest number of shots
per 90 on average at 1 .7 so he is besting even
the likes of Chico JJ Williams and Maxi Rodriguez
what does that say to this team right now where
Chico needs some time we haven't seen him really
get to where we want him to be with JJ Williams
out and maybe not even seeing Joe Brito until
the 65th minute and beyond what does that say
for the offensive quality we're going to see
on this game this weekend against a very tough
defensive opponent Yeah, I think that kind of
reinforces how much our offense kind of needs
to get in gear. We've seen that there be chances
created, but maybe they need to be some quote
-unquote better chances. And then also, sometimes
it doesn't have to be a perfect chance. Maybe
some of them just need to have a little more
confidence and just give it a go. Test the keeper,
see if he's really worth his salt, as they say.
And then, Chris, kind of back to you as well,
Monterey Bay now has only scored three goals
in their last five matches. It seems as if the
offense hasn't been clicking as of late. What's
the story there, and what do they need to do
to overcome that deficit? I think in the last
couple of games, you've seen teams kind of adapting
a little bit to the style. I think our cup set
against El Farolito in the Open Cup kind of...
exposed us a little bit. And I do feel like the
team is, is pivoting as far as sticking to the
same old thing. You know, they know what teams
are going to be looking to do. If you guys, you're
going to come out, you're going to press high,
you know, that's going to work well at the same
time. If, Oh, or, you know, I want you guys to
sit back. I want you to park the bus and just
hang out. We're going to. absolutely dominate.
And so I think that as far as Jordan's game plan,
I can't speak for him, obviously, but to me,
it seems like, you know, adaptability of his
offensive scheme is going to. payoff in spades
this week specifically um we've had a couple
of uh frontline guys injured and they're all
healthy now so i think we're gonna see a good
you know rekindled attack must be nice that that's
all coming together for you against us that's
fantastic jason what does what infc need to do
to get all three points and deliver that first
home victory in front of their fans I think RFC
really needs to kind of lean on their physicality
here. You know, if it's true that this ref is
going to let us kind of let it be an open game,
kind of use that to their advantage. I think
the real main thing, though, we've seen as we've
seen this team kind of grow throughout the short
span of what we've seen in the season, they really
need to convert some more of their chances, right?
That they are not being lethal in front of goal.
And I don't think if this team doesn't score
at least two goals, I don't think we even think
about winning this game. Okay. Chris, how about
you? What say you on what Monterey Bay needs
to do with all of this health, all this talent
coming together here at Centerville Bank Stadium?
Well, I would say that we need to play our game.
Your guys' physicality, don't try and go blow
for blow. We're not going to win that match.
But use the speed that we have to negate the
physicality. I think that if... We can break
through early, which is our MO. We're going to
try and throw everything plus the kitchen sink
at you right from the get -go. But what we need
to do most of all is keep possession. Jordan's
offense is very, very heavily predicated on having
the ball. And if we can do that, if we can maintain
possession and build out of the back and move
slowly as far as developing the play but quickly
when it's time to strike i feel like the result
is going to definitely be favorable for us i
have noticed in looking over the stats for monterey
bay that there's definitely this disconcerted
effort where they they implement a higher press
similar to rhode island where they want to intercept
the ball in the opponent's final third or at
the highest in the middle third, but they want
to quickly catch in that interception and move
through a counter themselves, but they don't
commit the entire team forward. I think it's
Wes Fonguk. He seems to be that, like what I
saw Connor McGlynn being last year for us, he's
that true number six, which in this league...
an individual number six isn't something we see
very often we usually see the double pivot or
the cm pairings but fongook is very much like
the tip of the spear and if If the back line
does extend forward, he doesn't range very far.
So on the counter or on the break, if we are
able to move the ball back forward from Monterey
Bay, it doesn't really go centrally. There's
no verticality in towards the middle of the field.
So a lot of this game is going to be decided,
I think, out on the wings for Rhode Island FC,
if they can take advantage of it. And if that
means we're at the wings, we just don't have
as big of a body. with chico he's not jj williams
like chico's tough chico's strong but i'm a little
bit more concerned on how we're going to win
those aerial duels even with the advantages we
have frank up top i mean may i mean not up top
but as a right wing back i mean we may see some
of that but then also to full credit to monterey
like like chris was just saying when they catch
When they catch Rhode Island FC in transition,
they love to build up the play. They are leading
the league in touches in the opposition's box.
They take their time with it. They don't rush
the attack. They're quick to get the ball back,
but they like to break down a back line. They
also, I think, lead in corners. So I think Rhode
Island FC defensively is going to have to put
on just as much of a performance as whatever
we can scrap together on the front. I don't see
this game being much of a... high scoring affair.
I actually have this as a 1 -1 draw right now
myself, because I just don't believe that there's
enough in the tank for Rhode Island. But I think
we can hold Monterey, who hasn't shown necessarily
that they have the ability to score over their
most recent performances. I could see this being
a very, unfortunately, a very, you know, lackluster
1 -1. Lots of opportunities, lots of risk, but
I don't think this will be a high, thrilling
goal scoring affair. What do you think the scoreline
might be, Jason? I think we're going to run it
back for nostalgia purposes. 2 -2. You're not
convinced that we get a win until we get the
win, I assume, at this point? I'm maybe not convinced
with the health of the squad right now. Obviously,
I want my team to win, but I think it'll be an
exciting game. I think it'll be a little sloppy,
though. 2 -2 for the Vibes. 69 % of the fans
on Fat Mob and SofaScore combined believe that
Rhode Island FC will get the win. I don't know
what Kool -Aid they've been drinking. They must
not be listening to our podcast. I just don't
see us getting the win. Or maybe all the Monterey
Bay fans are out there voting on goalkeeper saves,
not voting on their teams to win. That makes
a lot of sense. Chris, what do you got for the
scoreline on this one? We're in one accord. I
see this going down as a 2 -2 draw. Same as Jason.
I think that, you know, for you guys, your shooting
boots are going to come back. But the same for
us. We're going to find those finishes that we've
lacked the last couple of weeks. And all in all,
we're going to walk away as friends. I was watching
that Miami game last week. I don't know how they
weren't up like 4 -0 in the first half. Yeah,
really. Trust me. We're all fam in der club,
as they say, or in the clurb. Producer Torin
has a 1 -0 for Rhode Island FC, and our quant,
the Hillside, has a 2 -0 victory. We're going
to have to have a conference, an inter -podcast
conference, and reset some expectations here.
But getting into the weather report, kind of
getting fans ready for this game. Currently,
it's projected to be around 61 or the low 60s,
getting into Centerville Bank Stadium with a
nice... you know, light breeze of 12 miles per
hour, you know, it's going to be a 4 PM kickoff
this Saturday, May 10th. So, you know, with that
sun, it feels like every time we've seen the
weather, it opens up perfectly for a period of
time. I haven't, we haven't had a bad weather.
I mean, you can count the five minutes of rain,
but like. Weather -wise, it's been good. Bring
your sunscreen. I can't stress that enough. Even
if it's light and rainy and there's some moisture
earlier in the day, don't get burned. Those clouds
get you. Yeah, every time. And it should be a
relatively dry affair. It'll be raining earlier
in the morning, so a little bit of moisture there,
but that's exciting to see. And don't forget,
guys, this is going to be the first one of our
dollar hot dog, $2 kids drink, and $4 beer promotions.
Make sure you guys get there. There's also that
free Centauri beanie or something like that.
I forget. Centauri? Centauri? I don't know. Centauri
oil company, whatever. It's what I think of when
you think about Rhode Island FC. And then if
you're not attending the game in person for any
odd reason, you will be able to catch all the
action on Nessun and ESPN+. And I think... I
think Tom and Nick are on the call. I've heard
that there's conversations about getting all
the home games. I haven't seen it. They've been
at every single one now. I don't know if we did.
We missed that news and we just didn't talk about
it. I don't know. It could be a case by case
right now, but you may have 790 on the radio
for it as well. Before we let Chris give us the
final word, Jason, any final thoughts from your
side? I mean, yeah, before we I mean, shout out
to Chris and Andrew. And I think to all of us.
soccer sickos out there. I wanted to make a specific
mention here to Tom Franklin, the soccer zombie
who did a fantastic video on the opening match
at Centerville bank stadium. And then the very
next day went to Portland, Maine or their opening
match. Fantastic content. We all put our hearts
and soul into this. Like Chris was saying earlier,
the cost of living, this does not pay the bills.
We do this for the love of the game. So I think
when you see something out there, someone really
putting their heart and soul into something,
you should really kind of give it its kudos.
And to those who have not seen that Centerville
Bank Stadium from Tom Franklin, it is a fantastic
watch. We don't get paid. We pay to do this job.
But I agree. Go watch that. The Copa90 video
was also really fun to watch as well. Lots of
good content coming out there. But speaking of
content, Chris. Thank you so much for joining
us. It's been such a pleasure to have you here
on the podcast for the first time. I hate that
when we have such a great guest like yourself,
that when we're in that Western Eastern, we only
get to do this one time a year. But as far as
I don't look to this game, I'm not looking forward
to it. I am looking forward to having you back
on in the time to come. Please let all of the
listeners, all of the fans know, where can they
connect with your guys' work, yours and Andrew's,
and how can they stay plugged into all things
Monterey Bay? yeah well first off thank you guys
so much for uh having me um hopefully andrew
can make it next time i know i see i've seen
him in the comments a couple times defending
kelpy's honor but um um yeah we're we're on instagram
we're on uh I don't know. Andrew does it's blue
sky or something. I don't know. Some alternative
to Twitter. We're on Twitter. Everything is the
union report. We're on YouTube, especially you
can find all the long form interviews that we've
done with the team. You can find us there. We
have a blog that's linked in all of our social
media that Andrew heads up and he does fantastic
writing there. We just want to see the USL grow.
We want to see footy in the United States be
where it should be. And so, hey, you know what,
if we both win our conferences, we could do this
again in like a few months. So go Union. We'd
love to invite you back to Centerville Bank Stadium
for a home playoff game for us. We'd love to
do that. That'd be great. That'd be great. All
right, Jason, let's get out of here. All right,
let's wrap it up then. Make sure everyone to
go check out our friends over at the Musket for
all of your New England soccer coverage, including
RFC. And that's at theblazingmusket .com. You
can follow us on Twitter, Threads, TikTok, and
Blue Sky at RAFC Podcast. We have an Instagram
at Raising Anchor. And then you can look at that
website, raisinganchorpodcast .com. anchors up
buddy anchors up let's go uh i don't know eat
some sea kelp i don't know i got nothing we'll
see you guys on saturday