You're listening to Raising Anchor on 990 WBOB.
Welcome to the Raising Anchor Soccer Show with
Matt Entrickett and Jason Carey. Your home for
news, analysis, and everything Rhode Island FC.
Each week they take you inside the locker room,
inside the tactics, and inside the storyline
shaping RISC. Here's Matt and Jason. Rhode Island
F .C. opened the floodgates, drowning Brooklyn
F .C. four to one in a goal fest that saw the
amber and blue. get the job done at Cent on the
weekend. We're gonna today. Is this a sign for
of Rhode Island F. C. Or is not out after besting
thi to go over all of that, galore. But first
and fo in with the co host with the East Coast
in one Mr. J How are you doing my frien I mean,
I'm not you know, not in Hawaii, but you know,
it's weather's nice outside today but you know,
not exactly related to our IFC but It a lot of
soccer news has come out. I'm not sure which
one is the worst of these maybe depending on
what you know band of a team you are but You
know Tottenham survived a lot of us were hoping
for the memes that they weren't Diego Luna got
snubbed from the US men's national team. A lot
of us are upset about that But also Bryant University
where our FC played their first season apparently
is relocated to Boston as a lot of the You know
base camps got announced So I'm sure from a popularity
standpoint. It's probably Tottenham surviving
since it felt like the entire world was against
them on Decision day you hate to see Luna snub
to your point, but I got to go with you on the
whole Boston Bryant University thing If this
is now where we are going to land and plant the
soccer flag across the global game, does that
mean then that Rhode Island FC is the first professional
men's team to play in Boston? Because we opened
our season at Bern. I think that means we get
this credit forever. Update the wiki somebody
because Revolution, you're never going to sing
that now. I mean, yeah, I didn't think about
that. I guess we are the, you know, if that's
where Bern Stadium is now, apparently we were
the first team to play in Boston then. I again
update the Wikipedia, but no, I agree. The weather
is great here. I'm sure that the weather is great
there, although by the time we get to game day
on the weekend or the weekend in general, who
knows how New England is going to treat people.
Got to get right into this action here for the
show ahead, starting with goal of the week considerations.
Jason, make the plea for why it's Georgia was
there because there were some wonder strikes
in this week's competition. Yeah most of the
time you know one of our players gets nominated
for goal of the week and sure maybe we're a little
bit biased but honestly objectively i think there
been quite a few weeks where ours was the best
goal. I'm there some absolute bangers out there
that air maloy goal and also that demetri effort
even goal i'm still as goal is pretty decent
as well too. Would you you gotta get out there
and vote for a boy jose i mean that that curling
shot it's phenomenal i think. It'd be great to
see one of our players get the nod. I got to
kind of go with Ewan for a second here. No JJ
Williams. We're going to talk about it at length
during the breakdown of that half, but I kind
of almost feel like we've seen the Joe J a goal
before. He feels very lethal in that top right
corner. I kind of have to put more respect on
what Williams did. I'm still glad that either
one of these players got it. Obviously you do
a curl like this past a former keeper like Jackson
Lee. It's kudos to him. But, like, I don't even
know if JJ's goal was the best goal on the night.
And we'll definitely talk about that a little
later in the episode. Yeah, I'd say for me it
was. But but I can see how that volley that JJ
made was pretty close there. So agreed. But we
got to move on and start talking about the team
of the week. Obviously, Jason, when you put four
in, one of these players is going to make it
into the team of the week. And we are We are
privileged. We get to enjoy the fact that not
only do we see one, not only do we see two, but
we see three players make it to the team of the
week. First and foremost, we're going to talk
about Georgia Quasera, the Rwandan international.
Obviously, if you were paying attention to the
game, had three shots on target while notching
two of them in. He also completed 22 of 30 passes
and he won two of the three doles, which earned
him this spot. It wasn't just the goals. These
players have to sometimes do more than just have
wonder strikes. And it's a fair nod to Georgia
being the first player nominated to this team
of the week. Yeah, but not only that, Nick Scardina
got nominated here too. The 24 -year -old recorded
one assist and completed 28 of 40 passes in RFC's
victory against Brooklyn FC while winning five
of six ground duels and three of four tackles
and recording four recoveries and one interception
at Centerville Bank Stadium. The chat is continuing
to make the case for why Nick Scardino needs
to be on the pitch. There's a chat conversation
we're gonna have to have in the mailbag a little
bit later, but we gotta capstone this off with
the man up front, JJ Williams, the veteran forward
recording his brace in this after getting four
shots with four shots on target, six overall
in this match. We're gonna talk about the woodwork
and how the crossbar and the post were probably
Brooklyn's 12th man on the night. you have to
honor and re all the work he put in on want to
talk about a cou this down here. These hon leading
for the ninth of rsc career. They've both times.
Scardina's first sh for team of the week. Want
have already been seven i of players being nominated
the team of the week action. If you had to guess,
I'll let you either choose. You can guess is
it one player, two players, and you got to name
them. I'll let you choose which destiny you want
to take here. Can you guess who else is in team
of the week honors here for Rhode Island FC?
For this season specifically? Yep, so we have
two other mentions so far this season. Clay and
Hugo. Incorrect. That would be Frank Nodarse
getting both additional nods to team. We've now
had just four players this season get announced.
But hey, listen, you love to see it. Kudos to
all these players. It's well earned. I can't
wait to when we find out when they get silly
accomplishments like this, that they earn additional
incentives or or bonuses, if you will, played
out in their contracts. Hey, we're ratified on
the CBA now. So let's start making some fun out
of this. Getting into the game itself, want to
ask you some initial impressions before we get
to how Connor prepared this team on the weekend.
Yeah, ultimately I think it was a good result.
This is one of those teams you look at and they're
low on the table. They're leaking goals left
and right. And honestly, it's one of the teams
that we should be beating if we have intentions
to make the playoffs. I think the first start
was a little rough, but ultimately we got it
done. I agree with that entirely. I was very
scared in the first half. We saw so many opportunities
not capitalized on. And I can't even say it wasn't
clinical because it's hitting the post. It's
hitting a player. You know, their back line is
defending from the goal line. Jackson Lee is
scrambling and crawling on the ground trying
to deny Rhode Island. You see several instances
where the ball just can't find that extra inch
to go in and you start wondering, hey, is this
going to be enough on the night? First half left
me with some questions, not because the team
wasn't good enough, but we've seen Rhode Island
too many times this season need a little extra
in the gas tank and then it not go their way
by the end of 90 minutes. Obviously, second half
completely flips the script. It's a story that
we're going to have to start talking about about
this team being a second half team. It was great
to see on the night, but. Still some questions
in that first half. Glad the adjustments came.
But I still would like to see this team come
out a little bit stronger out the gate. Getting
into table standings here in the Eastern Conference.
Are you surprised that with the win, we're still
not in playoff contention at this moment in time?
Because I was shocked by that fact. No, I think
I recently mentioned we need more than just one
result, especially as teams above us are still
picking up points. So RFC has now got to ninth
out of tenth. Um, they're just on the outside
looking in the playoff spots here on a three,
three and three record now, 12 points with a
plus four goal difference. You know, if we, we
look at the league here, three, just the league,
right. We take away the other competitions, three
wins and one draw in the last five matches. Honestly,
that form doesn't feel too bad. I think the,
when we throw in the, the pranks cup and maybe
even, you know, like It's been a minute, but
the Open Cup, I think some of those results maybe
have mirrored, admired our overall form. Agree.
You know, on the other side of it, you could
argue clearly you're a glass half full guy tonight.
I commend that. If you look at it from a glass
half empty side of things, we were winless in
May until this result. And the form, if you look
at the last five games, you're right. It is not
a bad position to be in. I think there may have
been some doom and gloom from a fan optics perspective,
especially coming off of the loss in Brinks Cup
action. I think the key point here and it's something
we're going to have to talk about a little later
in the show is does this win spark that catalyst?
Is this the turning point? Is this the Memphis
moment? Are we going through that? now, or is
this a situation where, yeah, you go out and
beat teams like this? Something we haven't historically
done very well so far this season. Again, the
only club. in the USL championship to have given
Sporting Club Jackson any points on the season.
It'll be interesting to see where we take this
result and the momentum we can generate getting
up into that World Cup break. But we got to start
talking about how Coach Cano constructed the
roster on the day, because I think that's probably
where we need to start looking into what we think
the best starting 11 is moving forward. Yes,
we saw a little bit of change here. OK, Vegas
and net here. with a back line there of Scardina,
Amadi Jeop, Aldair Sanchez, and Yao there with
Baccarac and Holstad in the holding midfielder.
Alfonso, Amos Shapiro -Thompson, and Quisera
as your attacking midfielders, with JJ Williams
there up top. I'm a bit surprised to see Pithy
dropped here for Amos. Interesting to see Scardina
kind of make the cut as well. I think Scardina
is Finally starting to like grow into the team
here. I think he had a bit of a shaky start I
think we we definitely saw some potential from
him, but maybe not Initially what we thought
like he would just jump right into this team.
Maybe it's been taking him a little longer to
gel You're right. I mean, we didn't even think
Rodriguez was going to be a starting caliber
player, at least initially as he needed time
to integrate with this team. We didn't see that
at the beginning of the season. I kind of want
to direct attention to the fact that it's great
to see Kree Fiao and Clay Holstead return to
the starting 11, especially when you get the
privilege of hindsight in the impact that Clay
personally had in this match with the contribution
to the score sheet. I still don't know and because
Kano wasn't in the post game presser, we didn't
ask the question to the, we'll call it surrogate
coach that came in for the match to talk about
the performance. I still don't understand why
we didn't see those two. two players in the last
two matches get their starts, but instead coming
in as impact subs. I'd love to find out more
as to what that is. You know, we also look at
this. I'm not sure if the case is ready to be
made. If a back four with again, I know it kind
of it pivots on that dime of, you know, as the
team moves up one flank or the other, it becomes
a back three. But you know, we're seeing Aldair
Sanchez, we're seeing Nick Scardina drop a little
bit deeper back in a more defensive posture until
we get the ball. I'm curious where this all goes
transformatively in the formation selection.
And then, of course, like you said, Amos Shapira
Thompson thought he had a good enough game. Specifically
want to ask on this setup, do you think that
this was a matchup of midfielders and what coach
wanted to see out of Amos specifically? Or do
you think that there is going to be a continuous
battle for that starting role in the attacking
midfielder spot for Rhode Island? It's hard to
say this early with him just coming back recently
from injury, but I think this was kind of a matchup
based decision. We'll have to see what that looks
like as the weeks progress, especially for this
Indy 11 game on the road on the weekend. Before
we go to break, though, got to get through the
heroes and zeros here. I'll let you start. Who
were the heroes and who were the zeros? Yeah,
Joe J Quisera for her that that second half goal
that felt like it kind of got the team back into
it and let us his victory. uh zero gonna have
to be in carnation i i don't enjoy the way that
he wraps games i uh i almost don't want to spoil
it but there was a conversation that we had that
in carnation might not be a factor on the match
and then we saw him factor all over this match
so i may have to call you out on it when we get
to that segment my hero i'm going to go with
jj it's the counter to joe j both both guys getting
their braces on the night. Again, I thought some
of what JJ had to do on the night was just spectacular.
I'm going to give my zero as Leo Afonso here,
and not because he deserves the zero title that
definitely goes in Carnation, but just to be
different. You know, it felt like Afonso was
kind of. absent in big moments of this game disappeared
a lot on the pitch. The looks that he did get,
especially in the 53rd minute, he's going to
want that back when he wasn't able to convert
it to a goal. By no means do I think that he's
an out and out player that we need to consider,
you know, relegating to the bench or whatnot.
Sometimes strikers have bad games, and I think
Afonso, this may have been his his roughest one
of the season so far. But hey, we got to go to
break, Jason. And when we return, we're going
to break down the biggest moments of each of
these halves all here on the raising anchor soccer
show. Thank you for listening to tonight's broadcast
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.com. Now let's get back to the raising anchor
soccer ship on 990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett
and Jason Carey. Here back on the raising anchor
soccer show Jason. We talked about it in our
initial impressions of the match It was a sloppy
first half between the attack chances that weren't
capitalized on Looking at the passing sequence
at times Brooklyn I felt in the first half did
a little bit better in swarming their back line
was a deeper line their press was not nearly
as strong but When we started to encroach into
their half or even their final third they kind
of became busy bees to take that ball away I
think if you're Kano, you want to look back on
that and say we need to do better to start these
games stronger instead of having to work harder
on those second halves. Yeah, I'd say if there
wasn't a goal in the first half, I think that
would have been a pretty poor first half. There's
just a few too many misplaced passes and the
team just kind of looked a bit off of it. Like
you said, that they've struggled to kind of come
out and start games well. Brooklyn honestly just
to look a bit more sharper more physical and
just kind of one step ahead of RFC With the exception
of that final product there. That's kind of been
letting them down I think you know, they maybe
could be a better team this year if they could
kind of get that figured out I don't disagree.
I think sometimes you just have to have luck
on your side. And while it didn't feel like it
for the first 30 -ish minutes, as we saw opportunity
after opportunity get squandered, we did finally
see Lightning get captured in the bottle with
Quisera's goal in the 38th minute. Quisera rotates
the wings, switches for Afonso for a minute.
They're running with Brooklyn, running at their
own goal. It's a it's a layover from Amish Shapira
Thompson to a drifting Quasera he comes back
into the box and Just I it that ball doesn't
have a lot of pace on it But it was low and it
was in the right spot Lee can't get his glove
to it in time and we see the first goal for Rhode
Island come in a Statement for them scoring against
the expansion side in the first half Overall
thoughts on the goal was it we know the better
goal was the second one of course, but overall
thoughts on Joe J's first goal No, I mean it
it was a good goal there in some way it almost
felt like we got it against the run of play I
think that You know for the most part Brooklyn
was having somewhat of the better half there
and we kind of you know Got an actual counter
that went well our way and then we're able to
capitalize it on it Yeah, I mean it comes, I
think it was Clay that started from the from
the high press to displace Brooklyn off the ball
and they just didn't have enough numbers forward.
They were cheating a little bit too high up trying
to counter Rhode Island on their own. You know,
in terms of the goal itself to Amish Shapiro
Thompson collects his second career RFC assist.
It's his second in as many games across all competitions.
So again, we're seeing the case for Amish Shapiro
Thompson to deserve to be on the pitch. But then.
Jason, we gotta talk about Quasera's goal scoring
abilities here because there's an interesting
fact that we kind of pulled the thread on here.
And I don't know if a lot of fans understand
exactly what Quasera's impact is, especially
those first half performances actually might
be. Yeah, he's been having a huge year for us.
That was his fifth and that's of Rhode Island
17 league goals this season, which is 29 % of
our goals. So a third of them from one player
there. 29 % the first half which rfc been averaging
point five six first half goals per league match
this year so not very good the other 71 % goals.
I've all been in the second half there. Yeah,
so 1 .36 goal production after the half, just
0 .56 at the beginning half. Weirdly enough though,
Kuzera himself, and I couldn't believe this,
but he's responsible for three of the five opening
half goals. So it's almost like you're talking
about the players that are consistently finding
their way into the back of the net early on.
Quasera is the out and out front runner. He may
not have the leading goal score because JJ Williams
gets that honor, but Quasera is putting a lot
of pressure and a lot of problems on back lines
in those earlier moments. I'm not sure if that's
a trend that's sustainable. I think we need the
rest of the team to get into the game earlier.
Like you said, not wait to grow into it, but
you can't deny that Quasera has been nothing
but success. I want to say on the right side,
but that goal came from the left, so it's almost
like this guy can do no no wrong on any place
in the pitch right now. Yeah, I think we've kind
of been expecting either Leo or pity to kind
of be that second guy and. Honestly, I'm a little
bit surprised to see, but pleasantly surprised
I should say to see Quasera kind of pushing JJ
there to for that Golden Boot this season in
our team. Yeah, getting into the second half
where I think Rhode Island really. really showed
the fans what this club can be all about. We
have to start on the negative of CJ Only Jr.
getting the equalizer in the 60 second minute.
We talked and we're going to hear this in the
post game interviews in a second. Everyone on
the World NFC side of the camp, and I bet you
Brooklyn would say the same, that that was not
a shot, but this is very reminiscent of what
was his name, Luke. Luke Adams, is that his name
for for Lucidi and the cross that got just into
the back of the net? Everyone was saying post
game that that wasn't a shot that was just a
cross gone wrong and that they didn't maybe deserve
that. But you know, I guess kudos to CJ only
for netting that. Yeah, second time they've conceded
a cross shot. Unfortunate to see RFC get caught
up in the crossfire, you know. I see what you
did there. Cross shot, cross fire, moving quickly
through it. Hugo again, the cross bar in our
way all night. Hugo gets a deflection off of
a spillout from Leo Afonso. ball drops back into
the box for the 65th minute. Hugo tries to put
it on frame, but there's just enough deflection
from Lee to deflect that back into the bar. So
Hugo does not see scoring, but then Giorgia Quisera
says, hey, in the 72nd minute, I'm going to do
what I do better than anyone else. And that is
curl shots from the top right corner. Jason,
when are defenders of our opponent's teams going
to realize you can't let Quisera be in that spot
uncontested for a goal? I mean, if he makes a
habit of this, I mean, there was players in the
past, you know, like I and Robin would just do
that and you couldn't stop him. So, I mean, I
don't think was there is there yet, but I mean,
he's doing a pretty good impression. Uh, that
goal was actually our FC's 100th regular season
goal as a club there. Uh, and that was hit fourth
and fifth goal that he scored of the season and
his first career brace for Rhode Island FC. fifth
player here to record a multi -goal game for
the club. Yeah, he probably regrets not converting
that initial attempt in the first half with his
pelvis when the ball spilled out right in front
of him. He just ran out and could have put a
foot to it. That probably would have been Hattie
worthy in that instance. You know, we talked
about Quizera's impact. We talked about last
year, the drop off in Quizera, the drop off in
Fuson, and it's just like there's a Renaissance.
There's a resurgence in Quizera's game this year.
We're going to talk about whether it's because
he's now on the right side or something has opened
up in his game a little later. But this may be
the most important offensive storyline of the
year. We expect JJ to continue. He's always been
pretty even keel on his goal contributions and
his production. It's been shaky on the wings,
you know, I mean, no, if you saw him getting
getting assists now, not necessarily goals yet,
but this may be the most important X factor to
the season for Rhode Island. And then, of course,
we got to quickly bring up for the goal, though.
Clay Holstead getting his second assist of the
season. It's the 10th of his career, and he's
the third player in club history to record double
digit assist totals with Rhode Island. Again,
you got to have Clay Holstead starting every
game, Kano. I don't know what else to tell you.
Quickly moving into JJ Williams now. It's the
JJ Williams show for a second. He gets the 83rd
minute goal So now we're just we're just the
floodgates are open Like I said, and I think
this was the best goal of the night just because
I am a sucker for volleys Jason Scardina floats
one in it's it's at pace. It is not like a lob
It is kicked hard at like waist height and JJ
Williams has no other time but to just one time
it in the air acrobatic volleying it to the side
net he's near post like like Jackson Lee should
have got this one near post -op. So he wasn't
caught off guard. He just couldn't handle it
at that speed I think this was the best goal
of the night, but prove me wrong if you disagree.
I Mean, I I just kind of his personal preference.
I prefer quasars a bit, but this was a fantastic
goal as well That was actually Nick Scardina's
third assist team leading by the way, too So
if I could mention maybe he's a kind of finally
showing his worth here to the team I agree. We'll
talk about him at length again in a little bit.
We got to get to JJ's final goal because he can't
be stopped at this point. He gets the corner
kick. Chicken happened. I hope people got their
chicken if they're into that kind of thing after
a cross from the corner from Noah Fuson. And
he just hit that with just anger. Like he told
Jackson Lee, go back to Brooklyn. We don't want
to see you anymore, even though there were hugs
all over the place after the game. But what a
header. I mean, we want to see more of those.
And sometimes JJ just can't get to the ball.
He's held down. He's physically fouled in the
box, but he was miles above. His aerial dualer
and put that one to bed seeing Rhode Island get
the four one victory there. You got it. You got
to love seeing JJ Williams stay hot. Yeah. And
so Williams there scored his seventh career multi
-game, uh, goal game for RFC, uh, as team leading
second brace of the season. Williams leads the
team with seven goals this year, and he's the
club's all -time leading scorer so far with 26
career goals for RFC. And know if you saw and
assisted his second goal this season, tallying
his club leading 17th career assist for Rhode
Island FC. Maybe he's finally kind of getting
back into form here too. Build the erect the
statues. That's all I'm saying. Like let's get
the JJ and you know, it's gonna be it's gonna
be this one, right? It's it has to be this statue
at this point You know getting into JJ leading
from a goal -scoring perspective. There was a
moment in this game where Georgia was leading
and Again, we haven't seen Georgia is at his
highest apex of goal production in his time with
Rhode Island across all three seasons if we were
talking about who could actually be the golden
boot for Rhode Island specifically by the end
of the season. Who are you at making a case for
at this point with, you know, half the season
still to go? I mean, I would say it's probably
JJ. I mean, at this point, as long as he can
stay healthy, I mean, he seems like he's going
to get a goal at least every other game, if not
more. I just don't see anyone stopping him as
long as we can keep him in tip top shape, you
know. Agreed. And I mean, we talk about goals
galore. We've seen four goals against Charleston
earlier in the, I guess not the month, but in
the last 30 days, we'll say. Uh, but this is
the first time since a very famous match where
we won eight to one over Miami FC, where there
have been two players recorded scoring multiple
goals. So we've hit the five mark. We've hit
the four mark before, but we haven't seen two
players taste that level of success in a single
game since all the way back. So it's exciting
to see cannot wait. to see where these things
go and open up where the possibilities are for
Rhode Island. But we've got to go to our next
break. And when we return, we're going to break
down the biggest storylines coming out of this
match. It's all here on the Raising Anchor Soccer
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Page. Now, let's get back to the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show on 990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett
and Jason Carey. All right here back on the raising
anchor soccer show gonna get into our extra time
segment that will be an exclusive for our YouTube
and podcast listeners So only you're only gonna
get them if you come here and if you do want
to see them always Please check out the YouTube
channel. So here's judge. Here's JJ Williams.
Excuse me after the match Absolutely, I mean,
a great finish, especially whenever we get transition
opportunities like that. We make them count.
I mean, that's a guy that's in form right now,
who's got confidence, he's flowing. Whenever
he cuts inside like that, especially if he can
get that shot away cleanly, I mean. I've seen
we've seen what to hit the back in that like
that this year. I mean, if he's going to be in
that kind of form, we're going to be Ari. Yeah,
I mean, we got a couple of chances in the first
half. I had one off the crossbar. We had another
two or three that were really good chances that
we just have to be a little bit better in transition.
But to be honest, we create so many of those
opportunities that Whenever we do put a couple
away, that's what it looks like the game opens
up and if we get a lead Then it's very hard for
teams if that they're gonna open up to try to
get back in the game To complete to compete with
us because I think that plays right into our
strength What was the conversation at the halftime
in the locker room to make the adjustments? Because
the final product was basically there. It was
just, you know, the post getting in the way.
Yeah. How did you make those adjustments? I think
that we just had to stay, stay disciplined, stay
confident. I mean, we honestly conceded one much.
It's another shot cross against us where the
guys going across it ends up going to over cocaine
side netting. I mean, exactly. Completely unlucky,
but we had to stay disciplined and realize that.
as long as we keep a clean sheet for 45 minutes,
that we're going to get a result. We ended up
giving up that, so we knew that we had to come
right back and do what we were doing in the first
half. You can't start trying to do something
now and chasing the game whenever you're already
dominant in the game. We just had to put away
a couple of those chances, and that's what we
did. Speaking of being dominant, what's it like
going up against former goalkeeper Jackson Lee
with Rhode Island FC? Is there an advantage to
the way you two play against each other, especially,
you know, this is just like training almost to
a certain degree, right? Did you have an advantage
in that or because he knew who you were as the
type of player? Did you have to do something
differently on the night to get those goals in
the net? No, I mean, to be honest, I just I scored
really good goals that that he can't do much
about. He's a fantastic goalkeeper, amazing person.
I mean, absolutely love this guy to death. So
it's just unfortunate that we had so many chances
for him tonight because I mean, look at Joe J's
goal. Look at my goal. I mean, there's the goals
that we scored. I don't think he can do too much
about. So it's more his team than than him, but
he's fantastic all the way around. We've asked
this a few times. Can this be the building block
of something if you can harness some of what
you did in the last 15 minutes? That's right.
I mean, I think that it really can be because
you see whenever we're playing well what the
results look like, what a half of football looks
like for us. But you also see last weekend whenever
we don't come out, we don't start well, we start
behind, and we're chasing the game, what 90 minutes
looks like for us. So I've said it time and time
again, and you guys are probably going to hear
me say it. a whole lot more. It's what team walks
out of our locker room will be how the day goes
for us. If we come out on the front foot, attacking,
creating chances, putting away our chances, being
clinical, doing the simple things, out running
the other team, out tackling the other team,
then we're going to come out on the right side
of it time and time again. But whenever we don't
do those things and we're late, we're behind,
we're a step off, we're a little bit late in
our press, they can score early off of something
of us just not being disciplined. then that's
whenever we struggle. Yeah, I mean it's it's
absolutely disgraceful how how that's allowed.
Absolutely disgraceful how that's allowed and
that's all I gotta say. It's just absurd. Yeah,
I'm fine. I'm fine. It's just insane. Absolutely
insane to me. It's my son would be able to call
that and I'm talking about my one year old that
just turned one. He would be able to call this.
It's ridiculous. I mean. You don't have to see,
you don't have to see. My future son that we
haven't even had yet could be able, it's just
crazy to me. Absolutely, absolutely. But if you.
Right, especially the way that I got the yellow
card, crazy as well. And so then you sit there
and go, something is happening that we cannot
explain. And we just see that. Every single 50
-50 that we go into is not going our way. And
so whenever we go in there at halftime, guys,
we can't say anything because then what's going
to happen? We're going to get somebody sent off
when we don't deserve that. So for me, especially
being as big and physical as I am, I have to
not go into challenges the way that I normally
do. Because anything around, I see my first yellow
card. I don't even have a foul in the game. And
I get a yellow for almost getting in a choke
hold. I don't really understand it. We just knew
that we couldn't say anything. We just had to
go and outperform, outplay. And that's what we
did in the second half. Speaking about performing,
you get your first win in the month of May. What
does this do for the objective of getting to
that home left? What's the conversation happening
in the locker room at practice before game day?
How do you guys feel this kind of win transports
you into that goal? Yeah, to be honest, I think.
That's the one thing that we struggle with a
lot is because we're all so goal -driven and
we understand what we want to achieve. But if
you ever want to accomplish your goals, and this
is something I have to tell myself every single
day, is you have to focus on what you can control
in the process. And the process for us looks
like focusing on the next game, getting as healthy
as we can, getting as ready as we can, and being
the best team. If we look at wanting to be there
at the end of the year, that's what every team
wants to do. But we can't have performance like
we had last weekend. We have to have performances
like this weekend. consistently and we'll be
there. JJ your next home game is kids night.
All right, I am going to leave the Kids Night
interviews for a special bit of Rhode Island
FC content that they are cooking up with our
kid reporters. So I will hold off on that and
not ruin that fun, which we'll see on social
media in the near future. Quickly talking about
this, we are going to avoid the incarnation impact
here because that is a whole other part of the
talking segment. But I noticed two things of
importance that JJ said. One is he found a new
way of saying we take it game by game. I really
appreciated him not just saying that outright.
kudos to JJ for giving me a different version
of that. But second, I noticed he mentioned something
about like getting to the 45th minute, getting
to halftime with a clean sheet or at least not
letting clubs score against Rhode Island really
improves their result because they even it sounds
like JJ admitted that they're not a team that
does well when they're chasing the game. Obviously,
you're working in five minute segments, you're
working in the minute, the moment of the gameplay
itself. But it seems like that they also agree,
Jason, that This is a team that once that once
that adjustment or once that mentality gets fortified
in that locker room, come the end of halftime.
This is a this is an entirely different animal
on the pitch. Yeah, I think it feel if they can
get to halftime either leading or keeping a clean
sheet. I think it feels like it gives them a
sense of control and they can go out there and
say, hey, just 45 minutes more and like we can
we can take control of this game and then we
can make it ours. But yeah, like we've seen it,
unfortunately, few too many times where when
they fall behind, they really struggle to get
back into the match. Thoughts on his comments
about getting beat up again, not in Carnation,
but just the overall physicality. And I mean,
he got completely laid out. That's a that's an
injury for lesser lesser people. Yeah, it is
unfortunate to see. It feels like JJ and a lot
of other bigger strikers kind of get lumped into
this kind of You know, oh, well, you're strong.
You should be fine. Like, you know, you can take
the hits, but at a certain point, you know, it's,
there is a physical aspect to this game, but
this is not WWE. This is not MMA. They're not,
they're not out there to be knocking each other
out. And, and sometimes these big strikers, they,
they take hits that, you know, lesser, lesser
opposition would go down and get fouls for. I
think it's unfortunate, too, because the league,
the teams, the refs have already seen JJ's game.
So I don't think it's something he can change
now at this point, because maybe he'll get with
simulation like we saw another player a little
in that match get hit with. So it's unfortunate.
We're going to hear from Coach Agarte in a second
here. He feels the same way. I know Kano has
advocated for that. How, you know, in fact, we're
going to answer that question when Negarte comes
on. Let's get to Joe J. Equazera on his wonder
goal of a night. I think Clay played the ball
for you down the wing there. Yeah. No, I had
a lot of space. I was like, hey, man, I saw Jax
in that kind of little peak. I saw he was a bit
off his line. So I was like, you know what, let
me test my luck. So, you know, I don't know how
to go tonight. So I was like, you know, why not?
Luckily, thank God it went in. I think we've
asked you about this before. You're playing a
different side of the field now. And you are
a goal scorer internationally. Yeah. Is it just
you're getting those more opportunities and more
forward places, and you're taking advantage of
them? Yeah, exactly. So it's like I'm closer
to the goal. Usually I don't have to defend as
much. So that helps. And I have a lot more energy
going forward. So yeah, it helps a lot. Just
to test your luck, when you have a game like
tonight, do you feel like you're? you're on almost
in basketball, you know when your shot is good.
Do you know when your shot is good like that?
Yeah, it's like once you have to, you know, I've
had like, especially in the first half, there
was one that kind of came off the shin, you know,
and you kind of, you kind of have a taste of,
oh, there's going to be opportunities tonight.
So, and you kind of start off early where we
have some good and you can, you can feel it.
So, and I felt it pretty early on. What's that
feeling? It's just a good little thing. It's
like, oh, I'm going to get some tonight. So yeah.
JJ, I talked to you yesterday at the legacy game
last year. You're going to do something special
like that tonight. You pull it off in so much
and so much more. Walking through a game like
this, how does this separate from the rest of
the season of your performances? You get the
brace. It's like a loss over goal. How do you
differentiate this match amongst the rest of
the other ones you've played so far this season?
We won. So I think the last. The first game that
I scored, we didn't win. So this is the second
game that I've scored that we won. So we were
trying to get points and climb the table. So
enjoy it. When we score goals and you get the
three points, it's also a really good feeling.
So you can sleep good at night. How important
was that goal in the 77? Because it was a one
-one game. It's feeling like a lot of those games
you played this year where you dominate and it's
one to one and you're frustrated. That goal,
as nice as it was, was also a huge goal for you
guys in the context of the season. No, it was
good because it's like I said earlier. You feel
like there's a lot of chances, even though we
let them get into the game and stuff. But you
didn't really feel like, you know, a lot of times
when you play like a tight game and you feel
like, oh, they just got one. And like, the team
feels down and the momentum shifts. Like, we
didn't feel like the momentum shifted. So we
still had the momentum. It just, the confidence
is there to say, oh, we still have like 30 minutes
left to get one. So it felt good to get one,
to open it up. Like, that one was in and JJ started
scoring. The game started flowing for us. Have
you ever scored a goal like that against Jackson
in practice? Have you ever pulled one on him
like that? I think I have. I don't know. I have
to remember. Two years together, so I think I
have. Maybe some Albright. What was it like playing
with him again? I mean, obviously, you guys were
here. He was here for the formative years of
this team. No, it was good. We love Jackson.
He was such a big part of our locker room for
two years. So it was also nice to see him, also
with Gabby as well. He was here our first year.
So it's always nice to play against friends and
to have those. Now we get a little banter against
them. We scored a few on him. So that was nice.
What's the next text message to Jackson, Lee,
and Gabby? You're the next one, maybe. Better
luck next time. But it just goes back to, you
know, yeah. Anything else for JaJay? JaJay, your
next home game is... All right, and that is JaJay
Kozera. His text, better luck next time to Jackson
Lee and Gabby Alves. Probably Taimou Okyoshi
as well, although he didn't get a showing like
those two players. You know, Jake from the Providence
Journal, he asked the question, What did it feel
like? Were you in the flow state? And he said
something. He said something interesting. He
said it. You got the taste early on and he knew.
Obviously he gets to say that in hindsight, scoring
two wonderful goals. What are your impressions
on Georgia's abilities here? Because I almost
want to ask the question too. We're seeing such
an amazing performance out of him in this early
part of the season on the right side. Part of
me wants to go to Kano in the time machine and
go, go back and put him on the right. Like, what
are you doing with this left side experiment?
The game, Jason, by the way, 47 % traction or
action on the right side of the pitch. I think
that's the first time in club history where we've
had more activity on the right side than the
left channel or central column. So this might
be the quiz show at this point. What do you what
are your overall takes on all of that? Yeah,
I mean, so. He definitely has played on the right
a few times, but it just felt like maybe it didn't
work. And when we look at this team, it's kind
of evolved over the three years. We're making
slight adjustments to tactics and formations
and things like that. It just feels like though
he's finally flourishing as more of a traditional
winger than what we saw like in the first season
where there's a wing back last year, he had a
little bit of an off year. I mean, the team kind
of did for a lot of the year as well, too. I
think the impressive part though is if you look
at staff wise, he's still putting in a pretty
good amount of work on the defensive side of
things too. So he's just adding more layers to
his game instead of like taking things away.
I mean, I thought it was interesting. He talked
about not having to defend as much, and it got
me thinking, like, is this the add -on effect
of Nick Scardina being in position for these
matches? Because Quisera definitely is going
to do better if he has to do less defensive work,
despite what that might be. I almost want to
ask you then, when you look at that from a larger
standpoint, do we think that Quisera is at his
best when Scardina is on the pitch? I think allowing
him to move forward and putting like a more Like
traditional fullback if you will behind him has
kind of helped unlock that aspect of this game
I think in the past maybe we're expecting him
to kind of do everything and I think his his
stats would lean heavier towards the defensive
side He's still putting in the work, you know
defensively and I think that's just the mentality
of this team, right? Everyone gets back and works
together defensively as a unit But yeah, I think
the the adding of maybe a more traditional backline,
if you will, has allowed him to kind of really
flourish. And I mean, who knows? Maybe we'll
see. Maybe he can get to double digit goals this
year. I mean at this point you almost want to
put a stamp on that as it has to be right like
when when a player is this consistent across
what he's because remember to he he's the player
that gets hit with international breaks in fact
the question that was asked to him from the kids
corner of this was what will it be like to play
at the next game and he admitted that he's going
to be playing for Rwanda in some international
friendlies ahead of the World Cup so for a player
that sees probably the fewest minutes from a
forward winger availability You can't not hate
the results you've seen so far on the season.
Yeah. Alright, and then now here is assistant
coach Marco Sagarte as he comes in and steps
in for Kano Smith on the 4 -1 victory. We had
a really productive week coming off a poor result
and a poor performance against Portland. So I
think a big thing this week was stressing a response
and we had a good week of training and I think
the whole squad really locked in and I think
we had a really clear and simple game plan, and
I think it certainly showed within the performance.
At 1 -1, it felt a little like some games in
the past maybe. Why was this one different? Yeah,
no question. I'd be lying if from the bench,
that feeling of maybe it could go either way
was definitely, I think for me personally, was
there. I think it was pretty, even though we
had a good spell in the second half goals change
games and when they made it 1 -1 you never know
but again another example of the group responding
which was really really good to see and scoring
three goals in quick succession i think was was
really positive so yeah I mean the goal came
out of nothing right it was what looked like
an accidental cross and I don't think so I think
he honestly miss hit it and miss hit it and found
the you know the back of the net so it was unfortunate
but yeah we went we went back at it and scored
some three really good goals You're sitting on
the bench watching that, and then you see the
only cross goal, which we've seen before from
New City last year, Kyle Adams did that. What's
going through your mind making those second half
adjustments so that you can come back out on
top and make sure that you put the game to bed?
Yeah. I mean, listen, you need a little bit of
luck. And I think with some of those moments,
we've just been unlucky. I mean, we worked the
long throw really well. JJ's in. point -blank
position, gets clean contact, and it doesn't
quite cross the line. So it's fine margins, it's
inches. But the halftime was really about continuing
the momentum that we had in the second part of
the first half. Didn't really adjust too many
things, was just more so aware of where maybe
they could be dangerous. And again, I think we
started the second half pretty well. And again,
the goal comes. You know, sort of out of nothing.
Does this feel like you'd be a turning point
today as goal in particular broke open this game?
Can you keep rolling it on almost? For sure.
I think that's the challenge for this group is
momentum, you know, and I think we had a little
bit in April having an unbeaten month and it
was really good to see the group take on that
momentum and then. May, almost a new month, stifled
a bit of that momentum. So now we have India
at the weekend, Westchester at home, and then
Loudon before a little bit of a break. So I think,
again, these are crucial, crucial games where
we can gather some real momentum before this
break. So that'll be the challenge, right, is
can we make this result and feed off of it. Before
this result tonight. most of the opponents that
have been below you on the table have been dropped
point opportunities, going all the way back to
the home opener against Sporting Club Jacksonville.
It felt like at times Birmingham and others where
it just didn't quite work out. But then against
much tougher opponents like Tampa Bay, even at
Lew City, you took it to them. It felt like it's
matching the opponent's level almost at the table
standings. How important is it to make sure that
you win games against teams that, not just because
they're below you on the table, but they're teams
that you should be defeating solidly in matches
like this? What does that say as a statement
for the club at this point? Yeah, the league
is so competitive top to bottom. So I personally
don't look at the table very much, but the team
in 12th in our conference versus the team in
first, it's going to be a tight match. Whether
you know we're at home, so we the expectation
the standard is to win Games at home for sure
we want to win every game, and I think we're
capable of winning Excuse me winning a lot of
games But I think more than anything to those
to those games that you pointed out Birmingham
and Jacksonville. It just shows the Moments can
change games. I mean Jacksonville. It's again.
It's It's a shot from distance that gets parried
away. It's a rebound goal. It's such fine margins.
Birmingham as well, I mean, chances on our end
and we have an error on the set piece and all
of a sudden they make it 2 -1. So it's really
just about moments and I think that was a big
stressor this week is not shooting ourselves
in the foot, being really good at the basics,
limiting those errors, right? And I think we
will. We have firepower, so we back our team
to score goals. I don't think anyone in this
room or amongst the fans don't believe that a
playoff hunt is within reach. Everyone believes
in this team, but do you guys feel that a home
playoff berth is still within your grasp? Yeah,
anything is possible. It still may. There's so
much that can happen. There's so many points
on the table. Certainly Tampa is at the forefront
to finish first in the league, but anything after
that is You know is it anyone's reach? Okay I'm
going to preface something right now we're going
to have the kid reporter for this one because
he opens the floodgates for a very important
conversation so everyone bear with this is the
most important part to listen to for the entirety
of this interview setup so here we go back to
the interview okay I'm ready terrific terrific
question it affects it math massively And when
the energy is really, really high and really,
really positive, which we saw tonight, and I
know that we'll continue to see, it gives the
group a lift. So when we're 1 -1 and it's tight,
that energy can be our 12th man. What do you
think about the equalizer from Brooklyn? I thought
it was a bit of luck, a bit of... It was unfortunate
for us because it really came out of nothing.
It was an accidental cross, what it would seem
like, and it just found its way behind, you know,
Koke and hits the post and trickles in. Leading
up to the goal, we can certainly do better, and
we'll look at that, right? There's a moment where
we can play the ball in behind, and so we're
not continuing to be in our defensive third,
but the actual goal was unlucky. That's a fantastic
question and I'm glad you brought that up because
I wanted to address this. I think the biggest
thing that stands out is, and I'm sure you can
tell, is the abuse that JJ gets, right? And it's
something that really needs to be corrected because
the abuse that he gets, the punishment that he
gets, he's bound to get injured. the refs need
to do a much much better job protecting him because
he receives contact that if it was The other
way around and he would be delivering that the
contact he'd be getting yellows or sent off and
You know he he gets abused and it's just it's
a routine foul and sometimes not even called
so It's it's something that on a serious note
certainly You know has to improve or if not,
he's gonna get he's gonna get injured and player
safety is the most important Yeah, there's a
there's a there's a there's a process after every
game where we can provide feedback, we can provide
evidence. Certainly that example that you just
mentioned was, I haven't looked back at it, but
I mean it would look pretty clear -cut. He's
going to compete for the ball and he gets undercutted
and he slams his body on the ground. It could
be really seriously seriously injured and it's
a no -call. It's really baffling and then even
stuff in the run of play like you know, center
backs just smashing into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. So what do you get? Like when you send
stuff in like that, it's happened many times.
No question. What do they say back to you? What
do you what's the messaging back to you guys?
You know, it's it's pretty much same old story.
Yeah, we'll look at it. We'll look to improve.
We'll let the rest know prior to the game, but
there's there's there's not enough being done.
There's not enough being done and it's. It's
something that really needs to get addressed.
So what can you do then? If that's the way it's
going to be adjudicated, what can you do to make
sure he doesn't get frustrated? Because he's
clearly frustrated. Yeah, and as he should. As
he should. And we try and check in with JJ all
the time to do his best to keep his head. And
I think for the amount of abuse that he's getting,
I think he is. Although there's frustration,
which is normal, I think he is doing a good job
trying to get on with it. You know, knowing that.
He hardly gets any calls thrown his way. So all
we can do is follow the process which has been
given to us and hopefully hope for a change.
But again, I always go back to player safety.
No one wants to see any player get injured and
he's on his way if the referees don't do something
about it. You've coached across multiple programs
across the country. What would be a solution
if you could come up with one for yourself to
implement and change in the pro -referee system?
Yeah, I'm not sure I have the the answer I think
What's most important is that the referees prior
to the game are doing their homework are very
sensitive to the fact that Again in JJ's case.
It's been a trend they need to understand Ultimately,
the game, and the game is there's going to be
a lot of contact going his way, right? And they
need to be sensitive to that. And ultimately,
they need to referee in a manner where if he's
getting a certain level of contact, that there's
repercussions for those moments, right? Cards,
whatever the case may be, just calls, right?
Sometimes we're not even just getting calls and
he's getting smashed, so. Yeah, I think referees
being more sensitive to it prior to the game,
I think, is in this incident of what needs to
happen. All right. So that is Coach Agarte talking
about the refing kudos. And he said it afterwards
that the best question was talking about the
refs. Jason, that's a territory we don't normally
go into anymore inside the post game because
normally when we ask those questions, it becomes
a fine for a coach or a player. I mean, JJ Williams,
after the microphones were off, we had some additional
conversations with him. And he said some expletives
that we couldn't repeat on this show or probably
anywhere else about how he really felt in regards
to the reffing. Let's talk about Joshua Encarnacion
now. You know, Agarte just saying that there's
a expectation or a priority to keep players safe
beyond all of the calls that Encarnacion had
on the night. How big of a failure is this from
pro and usl to not protect players like jj williams
because that was a terrible uh that was a terrible
crash in the box and those things can't happen
moving forward yeah i think it's important to
highlight the way that they uh highlighted their
that is about player safety right we saw jj go
up for a ball And kind of get undercut there
and just land really, really awkwardly on his
back there and that can probably really hurt.
Unfortunately, he didn't get injured. Um, but
I mean, we've also seen that in his career, JJ's
kind of struggled with injuries here a bit and
he's constantly getting beat up here. And it,
you know, fouls should be looked at, you know,
objectively in regards of this is what a foul
is. And it doesn't matter who is the one like
causing the foul, right? It's like, well, this
guy's big. So, you know, he can, he can take
it or this guy's small. He can't hurt you that
much. So if he goes in for a challenge, you know,
he's not doing any damage. It should be kind
of across the board, the same. I agree. I mean,
we also talk at times refs insert themselves
as a character into the game very much did this
on the night I'm feeling you're gonna agree with
me. He was not consistent at all in this match
Yeah, I mean like looking at the match here,
so We are FC got five cards for 11 fouls which
feels kind of harsh compared to Brooklyn had
two cards for 19 fouls So I still don't even
know how JJ Williams got his yellow card because
there's no replay of it I you had to see it in
the moment and we're not in the press box anymore
to watch a replay and so I don't know what he
did as Encarnacion was watching the game as the
as Brooklyn advanced it whatever the action was
it happened behind him JJ wanted to go to the
AR to talk about Encarnacion was having none
of it like there were multiple instances where
it felt like Rhode Island FC didn't get their
fair day in court and Brooklyn got away with
murder in this game. Yeah, I didn't. So to be
fair, not all fouls are created equal. But for
a lot of our FC players, it was their first challenge.
It was a card. Whereas it took some Brooklyn,
the two Brooklyn players quite a lot longer to
actually get their cards. I think one of them
made for something else like. It's so weird to
the way that he rests games that they're often
very tight and very frustrating to watch. He
doesn't let anything go, but it's also not consistent.
He really, he really messes with the flow of
the game and it's just not enjoyable to watch
at times. I think he gets a lot of these calls
wrong. I think that he Even though we've seen
some success under him because you brought this
up last week that we're not. We haven't lost
every game that he's been in charge of. It just
feels like there's a case be made that he might
be the most infamous ref in our overall grouping.
He's no Natalie Simon or Alyssa Pennington as
mentioned in the comments here. Frankly, I don't
want to see him ever in front of Rhode Island
FC matches unless it says the fourth official
because. I'm just not impressed with him overall.
And to Agarté's point about we can challenge
the pro organization to do better, it doesn't
seem like there's an improvement from this particular
ref. And I know it's a hard job. But like one
of the other things we need to get is we need
to get pool reporting where we can ask pro refs.
They have it in the MLS, hashtag not an MLS soccer
show. Reporters should be able to ask and challenge
when refs make decisions post game. There's a
process for it. And I think we need that in the
USL because I think a spotlight needs to get
start to be put on these guys and gals as they
want to move up the ranks themselves. I don't
see it from Encarnacion and I would be completely
okay if he was never in charge of a match for
the amber and blue ever again. Want to tie this
off to the most questionable one of the night
and that was the Zach Haravos simulation. Overall
thoughts on what you saw from that in the moment
watching it at Centerville Bank Stadium. It's
hard to tell from the angle we are at. Um, certain
players get reputations. I know Chico got caught
embellishing once or twice and, you know, kind
of, kind of believed it in those cases. Um, but
Zach Harrevo don't feel like he's a, he's a guy
that just goes down that easily. Uh, I mean,
also sometimes things that can also just be no
calls, right? Like if it's not a foul and it's,
it's not a dive, maybe it's just nothing. And
I think that's the key is it's the embellishment
of it. I mean Haribo is at pace He he has a harder
touch than he wants going into the box and there's
enough contact there from the other player It's
not enough to send him careening forward But
it's also not nothing and I know some people
saw the replay and absolutely agree that it's
definitely not penalty worthy and it's closer
to simulation, but There's also an opportunity
where, like, Harribo didn't make a meal of it.
He didn't sit on the ground and flounder and
flop around. He got up almost as quickly as he
fell. And I agree with you, like, fine. If you
don't want to call it a penalty, you don't want
to call it a foul in the box, leave it as a 50
-50 and... don't worry about it like to give
players simulation cards in this day and age,
unless it is a gross non contact over the top
eccentric, you know, duping, if you will, I just
again, it reminds me like that's not the spirit
of the game. Like, they were running at full
speed. This was not something where Harrivo had
a lot of other options. He may have had to do
that just because That's the way his momentum
was carrying him. I just didn't see enough on
it to be a simulation. At the same time, I don't
I don't think it was anything close to a foul
or penalty worthy from Brooklyn side of things.
Yeah, exactly. Moving into this here, talking
about we already kind of talked about Amish Pier
Thompson in for Augustine Rodriguez. But overall,
from a player profile perspective, does AST offer
something similar to Rodriguez in that regard?
I feel like once Augustine came on. Again, we
saw some of the production. They didn't one for
one swap. I thought that was pretty interesting
initially. Do we do we see Rodriguez being a
different type of player than what Amos is offering?
Or do we see Amos is kind of the utility player
in the midfield? I think Amos leads more towards
the utility, right? That there are some similarities
between the two players, but ultimately they're
different styles. If you look at Augustine Petit
Rodriguez, he's more of your traditional 10,
right? He's trying to. Link up play looking to
create an attack. Um, you know, I, I mentioned
to everyone on this team works hard on to contribute
to defense, but when you look at AST, I think
he, he's going to be a little bit more of that
bulldog in the midfield. Who's kind of going
all over the place. You know, one of his strong
point at strong points is his work rate. Right.
He kind of just doesn't stop. He keeps going
and is going to like press probably a little
bit more, maybe effectively than you would get
from Augustine. You know, earlier on in the season,
we, we've kind of looked at this team and we
questioned maybe exactly where his positioning
would be. Maybe going forward. This is kind of
the move you look at on the night, what you,
what the opponent looks like, how they're going
to set up the structuring and Maybe depending
if you need a little bit more grit and kind of
steel if you will in the midfield You know you
throw ast in there maybe tire them out and then
bring in pity If it's a team, maybe that's gonna
set off or doesn't like sit back doesn't press
as well Maybe you want the creativity of pity
instead talking about the creativity leading
to goals here. This team now, Jason, has the
second highest goal differential positively in
the Eastern Conference at four goals. Tampa Bay,
of course, running away with things at a positive
12. But even if you expand it to the Western
Conference, they'd still be a top five team in
goal differentials alone. And yet they're ninth
in the table standings. You know, goals don't
equal wins. Why is it that this team can't see
better table success early on despite the fact
that this might be one of the highest? Scoring
offenses we've seen across club history Yeah,
I think it's because of the way this team kind
of like when it's on it's on right kind of the
way that Kwazara Mentioned in the in the interview
that like you've kind of feeling at that if you
will They tend to score in bunches right when
things go well for the attack. They'll score
multiple Or this team has scored four against
Charleston and Brooklyn. They scored three against
Lexington. I mean, even in our, our loss against
Louisville, we put two against them. So it seems
like when the team is hot, like they will, they'll
kind of just lay it on. But when, when, when
not there, they're not firing on cylinders is
kind of not working. But when we do end up losing
then right, because we, we've been able to maintain
a pretty decent goal there for differential,
they don't lose by much usually. When they're
hot, they're hot. When they're not, they're not.
We asked Ugarte, is this a home playoff possible
team? And of course, he's got to say yes in the
interview. But when we talk about it mathematically,
outside of that first position, Tampa Bay probably
won't be edged out. It's still possible, but
looking not like it, is there a home playoff
berth in this club's future at ninth place right
now? At this point, I'm starting to think it's
a little bit more of a possibility than I did
a few weeks ago. uh some of the and if we look
at the results and if you can even like bring
you don't need to bring the table back up but
if you go back and look at it and look at the
the kind of form that a lot of teams in like
look at louisville right they've lost three games
in a row so and then now pittsburgh's all the
way down there an eighth we thought that maybe
they would be a little bit stronger this year
like some of the teams that we expected to be
doing better than they are right now are slipping
up so There's definitely a lot of parity in this
year's iteration of the championship so far With
the exception of Tampa who's just probably not
gonna lose an entire game this season, you know,
like But when you look at the form real fast
beyond Tampa the only other three teams in current
five game form that have one loss or less are
Positions 9 through 11 in Rhode Island FC Birmingham
Legion and Loudon Every other team the championship
has lost two or more of their last five in the
Eastern Conference right now Yeah, so it's it's
it's kind of chaos right now. So I definitely
think it's a bit more possible and you also look
at the games played Some of the top teams there
have 10 and 11 matches our FC there what's still
at nine? So there's a potential another Six points
that are potentially up for grabs that could
immediately shoot us right up the table So at
this point I think it's it's it's possible, but
we're gonna need to like continue that momentum
like regard They said you talk about the opponent
to talk about the points available We only have
two more championship matches in in the 11 and
Loudon before the World Cup break How many of
the available six points and of course, there's
the USL Cup with prinks tires But of those two
matches how many of those points do we need to
still stay in contention for home playoff? Yeah,
Prinkskup, they have to win that or just to even
have a chance because also that's kind of out
of our hands. But looking at the league, Indy's
currently in fifth. We tend to play against better
against teams that are higher up. Our record
against Indy is a little, if I remember back
and forth, we'll talk about that later this week.
But, you know, that's a team that that's a match
where we need at least a draw. And then you look
at Loudon and I think that's fine. It's time
to finally break the curse, and I think we need
to go out there and beat Loudon, right? They
don't have Ryan Martin anymore. They blew up
their entire team. I mean, they're unfortunately,
their form looks pretty strong there. But let's
let's put a loss in their column. I'd say four
points out of league would be would be a good
return. Seven. If you're going to count the Prinks
Cup, it would have been great to play them earlier
in the season when they were at all of their
losses. But hey, You can't always get what you
want. And what we got to do right now is go to
our final break. When we return, it's going to
be the mail bag all here on the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show. Now let's get back to the Raising
Anchor Soccer Show on 990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett
and Jason Carey. All right, getting right into
it here. Joe P says, great game plan of pressing
their shaky back line, which led to turnovers
and chances. Could have won this game 7 -1 if
we had converted those close goal line chances.
Quisera and JJ have been playing their best that
I've seen this season. Let us hope their 1 -2
punch carries over to Indy. I agree. I still
like to see a little bit more activation from
a Fonzo Rodriguez. I think we need to get more
players into this in our best season so far to
date being 2024. You know, the goals did come
from our strikers and Chico and Williams who
got double digit production. But then we had
all of the secondary, you know, the assembly
of the rest of those goal scores and like Frank
D 'Arce, Marquis Barra. So I think we're going
to need to see a little bit more and I don't
want to hang our hats just on two really good
players, but I agree you can't deny the brilliance
right now and the consistency that that Quasera
and Williams are on. Rachel M writes in, are
we a good team again or not yet? Three out of
the last four home games have been pretty good
watches. What are your thoughts? I think we're
very close. I think the momentum here is going
to be the key word of the night is we need to
carry that momentum forward. Uh, looking at the
form, like we talked about earlier, like things
look like they're kind of going in the right
direction, but there's still concerns about the
way that this team starts matches. That has me
a little hesitant to say that they're, they're
a good team just yet. Uh, Ben SS here, not a
question for the bag, but shout out to Joe J.
Quizera having his best goal scoring season wise,
uh, seven goals this year, total with us and
his nation. His previous high is three, playing
out of his mind. Shout out to him. I don't disagree.
I mean, again, we, we talked about this earlier.
We need, we didn't know we needed this and now
that we have it, we can't let it go. So it's
such a, it's such a shame that they did not make
the world cup because that I imagine that that
would have been the most sought after Panini
card of the, uh, of the RFC fandom. That or Jamaica
Jamaica with Dwayne Atkinson. They were just
as close maybe even closer to that regard I mean
we pulled the Panini cards for was it Lucario
in or look at Lucado in Curacao for Miami Patrick
Yeah, I mean he's he's Miami FC is in Panini,
but Rhode Island is not that is the criminal
shame here But Ben I agree with you 100 % I think
early on not knowing where these players are
out in their contracts I think Joe Jaya is making
a case for a 2027 extension before any other
player. I don't know if he's got a multi -year.
I'd have to go check my sheets and I'm in Hawaii
right now, so I don't have that information in
front of me. But I almost would be curious if
we see Quasera be the first to get a renewal
contract offer, especially because his last one
came so much later than the rest of the players.
So shout out to him. Eric N writes in, should
there be an argument that Nick Scardina is a
lock on starter at this point? That would mean
D 'Arce is out. What do we think about that?
I think it's conversation to be had. I think
this could also be another situation where you
compare it to the way we were just talking about
AST and Pity where depending upon the matchup
and how you want to set up for the day, you could
maybe swap those two in or out. Maybe if you
want to have a little more grit, maybe a little
more street football, if you will, throwing a
Darcey in there, see if you can. You know cause
some chaos. I mean, I think he's also a bit bigger
of a body So he's gonna kind of give you that
extra Like kind of strength and defense, but
scardina going forward is is looking pretty good
right now So I I would expect to see more of
him Brad elves here says sucks to see Lee have
to watch four go past him from former teammates
Do you think he's cooked in Brooklyn? I don't
know I We have not seen Marlon Leblanc do a consistent
goalkeeper rotation. Got some insider information
that Leblanc is trying to still find who his
lock on starters would be, including in the keeper
position. I don't think that that's a great look
for teams as they try to form their identity,
especially in that. I think that's where so much
of your... tactical style and ability is is demanded
of is in the net because everything else is chance,
right? Like if you're especially if you're a
team that's building out the back like Brooklyn
wants to by holding on to possession, I don't
know that that's good. And I think Lee brings
a lot more to the table than Lucas Burns. But
also then having four go past we've seen LeBlanc
kind of pivot pretty quickly and pretty hard.
Your guess is as good as mine. If if if Lee's
in the net this weekend, I think Lee is going
to get another chance if if LeBlanc moves back
away from him but uh it definitely doesn't help
his case considering he hasn't been that lock
on starter yet so we'll have to see but no i
don't think he's cooked i think he's gonna get
the defense the defense isn't doing him any favors
either so it's really not alves is cooked is
what you're saying maybe they just need to restructure
that he's a left he should be playing left back
not left center back or whatever Agreed. Sarah
M writes in here, did either of you guys pick
up any of the international scarves? They're
my new favorite for the World Cup. Uh, no, at
least not yet. I mean, I think they're specifically
for season ticket members. We'll see what we
can do to get one. You know, I'd love to get
a Ireland scarf, get Robbie Keene to sign it
right there. They're going to playing in the
World Cup this year, right? I listen I will say
this. I have a request out to the team and so
communications ownership. I've made the request
for a Scotland and Ireland for you buddy and
a Cape Verde and so I've been told that there
are three that will find their way to me. I will
pay for them. I'm not looking for free gifts,
but did not get a chance to buy one as season
ticket members were all over that. But Sarah
to your question, the Scotland one is mine. So
for the ownership. Please make sure you put an
email and go make sure Matt and Raising Anchor
get what they need to promote our wonderful club.
Next question here. Luke K says that ref was
terrible. I know you warned on the show to keep
expectations low, but why isn't the league doing
something about refs if they constantly screw
up? I mean, you know, I can't say it better than
coach Agarte. You know, there's it looks like
there's a disciplinary review or. or complaint
process and it sounds like pro refs don't take
anything into consideration aren't answering
those kinds of things that say, yeah, we hear
you and we'll see what we can do when police
are policing themselves. It's not like you're
going to see change. Uh I think the best we could
do is just hope that Joshua and Carnacion gets
sick or his flight get cancelled every time he
heads to New England moving forward because I
do agree with you, Luke. He was not a good ref
and I I think we deserve better. I think the
larger conversation, Jason, and we don't have
enough time to talk about it today, but I think
at some point we're going to have to explore
what does this look like for Premier? Because
when MLS was going through their strike, we got
some of the MLS pro level refs to come down and
ref USL games because they needed to stay sharp.
They needed to stay fit and they were getting
paid from the contractual obligation. now that
this is back in full swing, what does that premiere
level of roughing look like in the future? Do
we get some of MLS's core groups siphoned off?
Like that's the bigger scare for me because when
there's table standings and and then Carnacion
has the ability to impact that, like we complain
about refs now. We may complain about them at
a whole new level if that's the, you know, live
or die situation for a club moving up or moving
down. Alex L writes in, I love this question
Jason. RFC score four in a CBS Sports Network
game. Has the CBS curse been lifted? I think
so. I think the funny thing maybe is because
we didn't even make a big deal of it all. I honestly
like only realized it was a CBS Sports game the
day of. I was like, oh, this is on TV. Generally
not something we want to think about because
usually ends up in a new little draw Yeah, that
completely went past me too. So Alex kudos on
reflecting on that I think the curse has been
lifted, but that is the end of the show It's
been a long one for those who that watched along
on YouTube or listening on the podcast side of
things We thank you so much for joining us a
reminder We're gonna have the John Morrissey
of usl tactics and back healed on to help us
preview the indy 11 game on Thursday But aloha
for me for now Yeah, thanks for joining us y
'all anchors up. We'll see you next time anchors
up You've been listening to the raising anchor
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anchor Make sure to check out all of our coverage
over at the blazing musket for all your New England
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.com. Fans, we thank you for listening. We ask
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us and look forward to seeing you again. Until
then, I'm your main man Juju, and on behalf of
the Racing Anchor crew, goodbye for now. And
as always, we are Rhode Island FC.