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 Jackson. Rhode
Island FC come up empty handed in Indianapolis
following 1 -0 to Indy 11. Was this simply a
case of one spectacular goal and a hot goalkeeper
or are there larger concerns about turning possession
and chances into points? We're going to find
out all that and so much more. But first things
first, got to check in with the co -host with
the most all the way over at the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show Studios. Mr. Jason Carey, how are
you doing, my friend? Doing good, my friend.
Still trying to make the best of these weekends
where it just keeps raining for some reason.
Still not a great game. Still had a good weekend
otherwise. So we continue on. I wish I could
feel that for you right now, but the question
remains, I don't know because I've been gone
for so long. Jason, I might not ever return at
this point. The weather is so nice out here and
I'm not gonna be one to complain. This show's
gonna be fun. It's gonna be sad. Everyone needs
to kind of come in and get ready to commiserate.
It's a story I feel like we've talked a lot about
in terms of results and effort not matching where
we need to go on the table standings. But before
we get all into that, we've got some celebrations
here and we can either go U .S. men's national
team winning or Arsenal not winning. Which way
do you want to go with this, buddy? All right.
The USMNT actually won a game. You know, the
last friendly kind of window got knocked out
both games. Took a 3 -2 win over Senegal here,
goals from Dest, Pulisic, and Balagan. Senegal
is actually rated fairly highly, I think. Alleged
Afghan champions. You never know how allegedly.
Yeah, they don't really feel good about how they
won that one. But I think you're right. You know,
it was I think it's a good pressure test. Of
course, Germany coming up in the weekend ahead.
These are definitely teams that are going to
prepare Poach's team with with or without Diego
Luna, I guess, at this point. But the real question
becomes, you know. I don't know if you watched
the game. I certainly did. I had nothing else
to do at 9 in the morning here in Hawaii. Was
that a good game? Was that a good team early
goals from especially Pulisic combining on both
the assist and the goal? I'm trying not to become
a US men's national team podcast here, but I
want to get hype for this team going into World
Cup. Are we back? Like is this 2014 US men's
national team? So I didn't see all the game.
I saw some of it and I saw A lot of the highlights
and looking at the attacking combinations, they,
they looked good. And I think that's kind of
what I'm hoping for at this point is just some
entertainment, especially considering another
store. We're going to talk about a little bit
here where it seems like FIFA wants this game
to these games to flow and be entertaining and
not become slog fests. Um, I think Germany will
be a good pressure test of like, how good are
we actually? I think seeing us. Beat, you know,
Senegal three, two, even though it was just a
friendly makes me think that give me a little
bit more hope that like, maybe we can at least
get out of the group stage because before I was
like, I don't know about that. Yeah, I saw some
pretty condemning training videos where they
were like we're not even to make it out of the
group stage And you know here we are going through
our best but listen I was happy about the US
men's national team result But I know you were
even more happy that soccer was restored in our
country after a certain result in Champions League
this weekend Go ahead and share we get one time
as as city fans you get one time to enjoy this
moment So the floor is yours I mean, you know,
I didn't really care too much if they win, but
I thought it was funny, especially the way that
they they did lose, you know, Arsenal lost PSG
back to back Champions League titles here. Good
thing. I'm glad I decided not to watch this and
go watch backrooms instead, because apparently
that, you know, it was just a complete slog fast.
I ended up catching the penalty shootout and
got to enjoy that. Arsenal scored too early and
kind of relied on their defense there and gave
PSG a way to get back into the game So, you know
Congrats to them PSG, you know, this iteration
has been fun to watch compared to the old superstar
version That was just a bunch of nonsense. So
Is it uh, I mean if you're an arsenal fan Whether
you were watching back rooms or this game both
would have been a horror story in and of themselves
You know, I I look at this I look at PSG winning.
Obviously, it's not an entire French roster,
but there are some French players on that team,
of course. Is this a, you know, if you were to
grasp at straws, could this be an indication
early on that maybe France could be a dark horse
in some of the ways for going further in the
World Cup coming off of the fuel of a Champions
League victory? Yeah, I mean it's it's not one
-to -one right that team is made up of a bunch
of different internationals But they do have
some some key talents there in you know French
players So it it could be a precursor that at
least France is going to do pretty well I don't
think that would surprise many people though
I mean, Sammy Latz over here in the chat saying
France is a good soccer team. Who knew? I think
a lot of us knew that one, Sam. I think a lot
of us knew that. But speaking of France and speaking
about the international game at large, Rhode
Island FC announced today two midfielders going
up on international call -up duties. We already
reported last week as breaking coverage that
Jojana Quisera was going to be away with the
Rwanda national team. Weren't sure at the time
if we could report Dwayne Atkins. So we had heard
some things, but it hadn't been made official,
but he also being called up for Jamaica to play
with the reggae boys. Uh, first off and foremost,
they're going to be playing a couple of games
from the Rwandan side against Comoros and Tanzania.
And then Atkinson with Jamaica will go up against
South Africa, getting them ready as a prep or
a tuneup match for their world. cup season. Interestingly,
we've heard these two players, Jason, get called
up in respective windows, but never at the same
time. In fact, this is the first time in Rhode
Island FC history that multiple RFC players have
received call ups in one window. I thought that
that was wrong when we saw that in the press
release, but then I realized that It was because
our my favorite Isaac Anking was not healthy
enough to get called up for Puerto Rico at the
time instead traveled To Pittsburgh in that match
should have been he was he was he was literally
on the poster for that Puerto Rican match But
unfortunately not able to make the trip. So this
is the first time in club history How do we feel
about one the honor? I assume we can wax poetic
here for a second on that but then to How do
we also feel about losing two players for a match?
Whether it's it's USL Cup or not in a game that
really doesn't matter at the international level
with World Cup action and both these teams not
in it Just you know a handful of days away Yeah,
I guess there's two sides to the coin, right?
It's a great honor and to get kind of knowledge
It brings more notoriety to to our FC, right?
Like oh they have actual, you know world world
caliber caliber players who are out there playing
for their national teams Um, but at the same
time, like, you know, they're games that don't
matter, but, you know, maybe at the same time
for our FC, maybe we're in a spot right now,
or maybe if they go out to their national teams,
as long as they don't come back injured or anything,
if they can kind of get some more confidence,
bring some more goal scoring abilities back to
the team, maybe we can miss them for a match
or two. Would love to know if Panini had every
club that was close to qualifying so Rwanda in
their AFK on qualifications Obviously Jamaica
in that play -in game almost making it to the
World Cup I'd love to know the Panini rosters
to see if I know quasar would've been a walk
It's possible because I I've in the planet Panini
collecting I found a few players Who I know have
been transferred to other clubs in the January
window, but it still has their club from the
previous season so they didn't update them so
they had to have made these a while back right
and so waiting for those to just put the booklet
together after we learned who actually made it
in it's crazy to think that we could have had
georgia quisera i know we would have had georgia
quisera paninis i don't know if we would have
had to win atkinson he seemed like a fringe call
up is he think there's a full italy set out there
of stickers that they were ready to like print
but didn't get made It's like when the Super
Bowl losers or the runners -up, all the gear
goes to a country like Africa or into Asia and
they get like, you know, you're the champions
but you're not really the champions. I don't
know. Hard to say, but it'd be fun to see paninis
for some of our players. That's got to be a future
thing that we pursue in the next World Cup cycle,
of course. Listen, speaking of FIFA, speaking
of the World Cup, I know... We are trying so
hard to make sure that we do not end up in a
space where we end up covering this. We want
to stay niche to Rhode Island. We want to stay
niche to USL. But it's hard not to get kind of
talking about some of these points as the game,
as the global game comes here. Providence making
such an effort to be a part as a host but not
host city. I know we talked about these FIFA
rules that are coming up, but I think maybe this
is an opportunity to teach some listeners who
are going to be watching the World Cup about
some of the changes that FIFA is announcing getting
into this World Cup. Yeah, I kind of hinted out
a little bit earlier, but FIFA has announced
that there are a little bit of changes here to
kind of keep the game flowing for the World Cup.
Some of the highlights here. This is not a comprehensive
list. I just kind of skimmed some that were interesting
to me. Throw ones can be taken away and given
to the opposing team if the ref teams that the
players are wasting too much time They said five
seconds. I don't know how lenient or strict they're
gonna be with that same thing here with goal
kicks Where if a goalkeeper is taking too long
on a goal kick that can actually be taken away
from the the defending team there and given to
the opposition as a corner so That could be exciting.
Second yellows that are leading to a send off
can actually be, as long as they said something
about it being quick, so I don't know how they'll
enforce that, but can be reviewed by VAR to make
sure that we're not sending players off unnecessarily.
If players don't leave the field in 10 seconds,
the substitution can actually be forced to wait
a minimum of one minute until the next stoppage
before being allowed to be back on the play.
So I remember a while they tried to have players
like hey if you're always on the other side of
the pitch just leave right right there walk around
instead of slowly walking through the whole field
clapping and kind of wasting 30 seconds if you
will they're trying to speed that up um saw that
real fast though we saw that in this most recent
friendly japan versus iceland I didn't want I
only saw the highlight clip that was getting
around the internet I didn't see the actual amount
of time that seemed like it was infringed upon
But they used that to the advantage Iceland playing
a man down for that minute. And then the goal
happens. I don't think there was enough, you
know, catching Iceland in any kind of transition
to where there was a man advantage. Obviously
any person down though, like you're going to
be at a disadvantage, but it felt more like Japan
just moved the ball around enough to destabilize
Iceland. But it's very interesting that one of
the first glimpses we see of that particular
rule. Immediately impact the game with a goal
like that could be the sign of something to come.
I'm not quite sure Yeah, and then the last one
here similar players being treated for injury
will be required to leave the field for play
and must wait at least a minute before being
allowed to return We've all seen people kind
of you know, fake or exaggerate injuries and
then as soon as they're like, okay I've killed
enough time. Let me just get back up and start
running Trying to trying to discourage that type
of play. Um What do you think about these changes?
I mean, I I think these are pretty positive here.
I Don't like the the things being taken away
and giving to the opposite especially. Yeah that
one. I'm not a corner. That's wild Yeah, that
one. I'm curious to see how that's actually like
impacted and play But the other ones I'm kind
of I'm kind of for it here I think maybe like
if they're really strict with the five seconds
that could be a little crazy I feel like maybe
eight or something arbitrarily just give them
a few more seconds especially at times when You're
being pressed real deep and you you're taking
an extra second. They're like, how can I find
an actual open man for a throw -in? I the one
I like the most is the second yellow card being
reviewable I have I have lamented about that
for years that if we have the policy in place
for red cards to be evaluated, it should be any
ejection. So that one I love the most because
how many times have we seen something where,
you know, it's a dive or it's it's it's acting
and there's no contact, but the player gets sent
off because it's not reviewable. That's probably
the one that matters the most to me. I think
all of these other ones will have an impact on
the game, but I think the most rewarding one,
especially to defenders and especially the way.
disciplinary actions will accumulate now with
the Expanse, the Expanse roster. I think this
will probably be the best one for teams that
want to be a little more physical. Absolutely.
Yeah. Well, we got to go to break because it's
already that time. When we return, we're going
to talk about how Coach Kano set this team up
for its set up in Indian 11. We're also going
to talk about the table standings and guess what,
Jason? We haven't moved anywhere and we're going
to talk about all that and so much more all here
on the Raising Anchor Soccer Show. Thank you
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990 WBOB, that's sproutcoworking .com. Now let's
get back to the Raising Anchor Soccer Show. Looking
at table standings, just like you said, there
didn't move the dial here. Rhode Island FC still
occupying ninth place after their one, no lost
in the 11 now on a three, three and four without
only a plus three goal difference there. I mean,
it's still positive, I guess, if you will, at
least we only only lost by one there. Now when
we look at the full time series though indie
leads with three wins to our two Still going
to play him one more time later in the season.
Maybe we can kind of Trade those blows back and
forth. I don't know So I was looking at the table
standings and in my mind I know we talked with
John Morrissey, which by the way I went back
and listened to that show I've never laughed
as much at John Morrissey's answers as I had
in that I I know that with me here production
value I was on my laptop mic that day long story
short don't let your father turn switches in
the room It was still probably the funniest thing
I've ever heard us do so I'm gonna pat our own
backs and John's I hated also that John got a
lot of the indie 11 predictions right on that
show but You know, I'd said in that one that
with a win and a couple of other things going
our direction, we could have gotten as high as
fifth place right outside of the home playoff
berth looking in. I didn't even wax on the idea
that if Indy won, that they would go to second
place. So Indy Levin and the Brickyard Battalion
and all the fans, you're welcome for getting
you into second place. Weirdly enough, though.
If you look at the rest of the table standings,
we actually still would have been right there
in that we would have been tied technically on
seventh. We wouldn't have made it the way that
some of these results happen. But there's two
things I want to bring up that are not Rhode
Island specific. One, Hartford now all the way
down right next to us, ready to be seller dwellers
with us. And also, have you looked in the West
Sacramento Republic out of playoff contention
right now? Not something I would have ever told
you at the beginning of the season was possible
for one of the perennials out of the Western
Conference. Yeah, this is this is definitely
a weird season. It's it's still like, hey, if
we could. find some level of consistency we could
really get into some like good positions here
but no one is having any sort of consistency
here it's i mean maybe you know to circle back
maybe the reality is here that you know the playing
field is a little more even here and there's
a lot of good teams in this league so what a
lot of mid teams you know One of the biggest
questions we got in the mailbag, and we're not
answering the mailbag because we're going to
talk about it here, was should we start to be
worried? Is there a situation now where this
team is heading in the wrong direction? What
do we do about it? went back and ran the numbers
at least comparatively to 2025 season. And guess
what? We're in the exact same spot in both the
table and in the same spot in terms of points
on the season. 12 points now here in 2026. 12
points after this many matches last season. The
only real exception here, and maybe this is part
of the vibes test, is that we had a much stronger
showing in Jaeger Cup or Jaeger Meister Cup action.
which kind of smoothed over some of the cracks
and the lost point opportunities last season.
So, you know, you just said the word consistency
a second ago. I almost have to say, you know,
if you're talking about consistency, Kano has
been nothing but consistent putting on the full
display level here as he just does not want this
team to excel in the first half of any of the
seasons that he's been our head coach so far.
I mean, I guess at least we're consistent, right?
We start this year slow. I mean the the thing
though to prove that consistency is that means
at some point in July or August, we have to get
good, right? So it's not July and it's not June
and that's the crazy part. You know, I'll tease
the question because I know where you're going
to go with it, but we only have one last league
match here before the World Cup break and you
know, I look at it as like is are these three
points essential? That we need to grab it'll
be on the road to guess what? It's loud and it's
our favorite team to play especially on the road
Does this road result become critical for the
advancement of our FC's goals going down the
stretch? Potentially, I think it looks at like
what do we define as our FC's goal for the season?
I mean playoffs at this point It feels like you
could just stumble into them like but you know
that They want to show off Centerville Bank Stadium.
The fans want a home playoff match. If you're
going to go for that, you need all three points.
We're getting to a point where we're a third
into the season. We're still kind of in the basement,
but we're remaining within striking difference.
Those three points can be huge to put us into
a position to really jump and make like a fourth
or you know place option available like it's
hard to tell i don't want to say like tampa's
running away with it i don't expect them to to
like kind of lose that everything else kind of
feels a little bit up in the air right now we're
just holding on to fourth place is the pipe dream
at this point it's it's it's not even third it's
not even seconds just can we somehow still get
that last spot in the home playoff table i love
it i love it yeah I mean, let's let's go ahead
and then kind of take a look here at how Kano
prepared for this match. No graphics here. It's
vacation mode. We've got Koke Vegas and net net.
We've got a back four here of Nick Scardina,
Kareefa Yow and Grant Stoneman and Aldair Sanchez
with a Clay Holstad who go back Iraq. You know,
we kind of talked about this last week. Um, and
in hindsight, I think we could have used Augustine
Pitti Rodriguez in this match. We kind of talked
about what's the, what's the difference between
Amos Shapiro Thompson and Pitti? Well, Pitti
is a little bit more of a creative player. Amos
is more of that. Kind of workhorse that not to
say that he doesn't have any sort of creative
ability, but We're playing against a an indie
team that likes to kind of counter defense it
back like they average the lowest amount of possession
in the team or the league I should say and you
know, it was closer than we thought it would
have been on the night, but I really think that
we could have had a little bit more creative
earlier on in the match. Yeah, I look at the
skill sets of those two players, especially if
we're going to really start comparing them as
apples to apples. And for me, you know, Amish
Shapiro Thompson, I know you call him like the
junkyard dog, the bulldog. He to me offers more
on the defensive front of engaging a high press,
interrupting the flow of an oncoming attack and
really being kind of a outlet, less a actual
chance creator. And I think that's where Pitti's
skill sets come in a little bit more. I've seen
Pitti so far this season. He's much more technical
with the ball in both his own dribbling and his
passing rate, but also he seems to find places
where he wants to be in space better. And I think
that's. Probably as a proxy to the fact that
like he he's anticipating the ball coming back
his direction versus Amish Shapiro Thompson,
you know chasing something down literally So
I think you're getting a defensive showing more
from Amos and an offensive output more from pity
I don't think pity's gotten enough from the season
yet to warrant his start I can see why Kano is
is flipping between the two in this sense But
I think in a game where you needed to figure
out how to break down in D11 I don't know that
Amos was the right matchup for it. I think that
we're going to continue to see a kind of a difference
of what type of setup, what type of matchup looks
like versus like there's an out and out starter
and that midfield role. But I want to talk about
the other one, which I obviously Omidy Jope was
a surprise on the availability report. We didn't
get to get to media because I'm out of town.
I think there was a major miss here in Omidy
Jope. in his absence, you know, producer Torrin
talks about at length that, you know, Omidy Jope
is one of those ball playing center backs that,
you know, has the ability to dribble out of press,
go up the central channel and start breaking
that first line without having the need to pass
side to side and then going up the flanks, especially
the connection that he's made with Hugo Baccarac.
There's a fluidity that exists. His absence on
the night, I think, was felt pretty heavily.
Do you agree to disagree? I somewhat agree. I
also think though that he's had a slight drop
off this year in terms of his consistency and
I don't know if that is maybe Like pairing combination
where maybe with depending on who he's paired
with as his partner He'd maybe not reaching some
of the heights as he did last year. It's it's
very slight I still think that he is a great
player, but Maybe also it's just a slight adjustment
to more of a somewhat traditional back four in
terms of defense as opposed to the back that
343 that we were playing last year. So then I'm
going to ask this question because I felt like
it was noticeable on the night. It was reminiscent
of the Birmingham game. Grant Stoneman gets the
start with Carifa Yao on the side. Now, we talked
at length about the chemistry of these centerbacks
not often playing on certain sides of each other
in a long string of games because Carifa Yao
has been such the anchor in that back line, that
centerpiece. I felt like Stoneman and Carifa
Yao were not the combination on the night. I
felt like at times they were pedantic, they were
lethargic. I felt that they wanted to occupy
similar spaces. To me, when you need ball playing,
you need forward progression center backs. I
felt and we argued about this and you know, at
the time it was Frank Nodarse for Nick Scardina.
But I also kind of would advocate that I think
there's a there's a case that Frank Nodarse needs
to be starting over Grant Stoneman on any given
day of the week. To me, Grant Stoneman is a legacy
player. He's a leader in the locker room and
he's the guy that probably can can kill games
defensively if you need it. But from an attack
creation perspective, I just don't know if I
see that still in Stoneman's locker. Curious
what you think about when we talk about the bravery
of these teams moving forward. And I'm not trying
to throw shade at Stoneman. I just feel like
the Darcy is the better pick on the night. Would
you think we would have seen something different
if Darcy had been in this game instead of Stoneman?
Potentially, I think when you compare the two,
right? Like you said, Stoneman is that that leader,
maybe like to kill a game, right? And you would
kind of expect to see him play maybe against
an opponent who's going to sit back more. He'd
be able to be calm on the ball, distribute, kind
of not have to worry about counters, if you will,
as much because Indy was trying to hit us with
with speed every time they got the opportunity
on the counter. And I think that maybe that just
wasn't his strong suit. We've seen a Darcey employed
as just a straight up center back before. I mean,
he was very good at the first season. Last year
was kind of a mix where we saw him start to be
employed more as like a fullback I mean, I don't
know why he probably couldn't just slide back
in and we could give it a try I I do know I think
that the one thing about him is that He likes
to play a little loose and fast is a little dangerous.
So there'd maybe need to be some communication
We're like he's going on adventure. Yeah, I was
gonna have to that cool I'm gonna just sit back
here for a second just to kind of you know guard
the back line, but I down to see it. I wonder
if he's at more of a disadvantage with a traditional
center back pairing instead of a back three.
It's it's something that we'll have to watch,
but I just wasn't impressed so much. And I say
that going directly into the heroes and zeros.
My hero of the match was you go back Iraq. I
thought he did the most with what he could. I'm
always surprised when he comes off the pitch,
especially if he's not on yellow card accumulation.
You know, look at the back line pivot or excuse
me, the center midfield pivot. Clay's on a yellow,
stays in the game. Baccarac, not on a yellow,
surprisingly. I mean, he's been on a lot this
season so far, and he's the first one gone. I
think that he offers the most combinations with
the center back line, getting further up the
pitch, especially when they let him go. If they
give him space, Hugo's always going to take the
ball and go, let me see what I can do with it.
My zero, I said it as Stoneman, I just don't
think he did enough on the night. Yeah, my hero
here, Joe Jaya, the international call up here
created five chances and had another strong performance
despite the result. He was really creating opportunities
there, just didn't get anybody to put that in
the back of the net. My zero is the international
window timing. We're going to be missing him
again when he's probably having his best season
for RFC right now. So two things. One, I'm going
to have to have a long conversation that you
cannot continue to get away with not naming players
as zeros because you don't want to hurt your
relationships with them. It's okay to call them
out when they've done poorly. Second, I would
argue that because it's Westchester and this
would probably be the most likely game to see
a player like Quasera and even, well, maybe not
Dwayne, but at least Quasera, I think this is
the best timing. So I disagree with your zero
takes. Producer Torrin here. Scardino was his
hero. It was a top shelf performance on his part.
He continues to believe that he's a lock -on
starter and his zero was Amish Shapiro Thompson
for his lack of creativity. You don't get to
advocate or state your case, Jason, because we're
way over on our break so we got to go to break
and when we return we're gonna break down each
of these halves as well as the biggest storylines
out of weekend's match all here on the Raising
Anchor Soccer Show. Fans, as the weather becomes
more and more unpredictable, be sure to check
out 990 WBOB's weather page for all your temperature,
storm, and travel info. Stay prepared for whatever
Mother Nature has in store with the 990 WBOB
weather page. Now, let's get back to the raising
anchor soccer ship on 990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett
and Jason Carey. Back here on the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show, getting into these two halves and
some of the biggest storylines. Jason, I'm going
to start with Producer Torren's comments on it.
He said it was a replay of the Champions League
final earlier in the day. I disagree because
at least in the first half, you had to see a
goal, something we did not see from either camp.
This game felt mostly flat in the first half.
There were chances on both sides, especially
like, I mean, 17 seconds in for Noble Akello
for for India 11 on that side of things. But
this game just never felt I never felt convinced
that we were necessarily in it to win it. But
I also didn't feel like we were potentially going
to drop points. This had this had a draw. This
had a nil nil draw for at least the first 45
minutes to me. Yeah, I joked here in the notes
is like, did the first half even happen? I mean,
there definitely was a few opportunities there,
but nothing super clear cut from either team
that really felt like they were going to take
the scruff of the game. Surprisingly, it was
50 -50 % possession. It really didn't feel like
that, but it was a little bit back and forth.
Indy did have a little bit of a moment there
where they kind of were controlling possession
there. But yeah, do you think this is a situation
where our AFC, knowing that maybe they struggle
in first halves a little bit, they can be a bit
of a second half team where they're like, let's
just get to the first half without a goal being
given in? And that's part of it, right? There's
a part of it that says, gosh, we really need
to score goals earlier. We need to dictate terms,
dictate tempo of these types of matches. Because
we see when Rhode Island's leading in 90 % of
matches, they usually can walk away with three
points. Or they can play stylistically that they
can, again, they can set that tempo. When they
come into a game nil nil, you could argue, especially
on the road, OK, you're coming in. You've got
to grow into the game. You got it. You got to
make sure that you don't make or give up something
silly in the first half. Like, I was OK with
it at first, because to me, it's like, OK, if
we're a second half team, you walk into the locker
room at halftime, nil nil, the whole 45 minutes
left for this is yours to have. It's it's it's
the game needs to be broken open. And I kind
of went into that with that optimism of thinking
like, OK, we will do something spectacular in
the second half. Instead, the spectacularness
was from. the craziest goal of the weekend coming
out of Indy 11's Brendan, uh, Brandon Rendon
or Bruno Rendon. Excuse me. I, I don't know what
to think of this team in that sense, because
if we're putting all of our eggs in the basket
of we're a second half team, and then you don't
produce in that second half, like, what are we
doing in those first 45 minutes to get to that
if, if nothing happens? Yeah, that I don't know.
I mean, To be able to get into the second half
at nil -nil, I mean, it's probably not that bad
of a result, right? I mean, I think this team
was in fourth or fifth before they jumped to
second there. So we knew that this was going
to be potentially more of a challenge. We generally
see that this team kind of rises to those challenges,
but it really didn't feel like it that in that
first half at all. I mean, nine shots, three
on target, 12 opportunities inside the box in
terms of touches. Again, it was like you're leading
to something, right? We've talked at length.
It's a quantity, necessarily not a quality thing.
You're seeing the steps be put into place to
see a goal come. But then we get into the second
half. And collectively, if you combine both halves,
Rhode Island outshoots into 11, 20 to 7. it's
not enough. Like you can say there's season high
crosses and 33 crosses. You can say we had 33
touches in Indy's box compared to like the 11
that they had all game. Sometimes that just doesn't
matter. And then when you get to the 55th minute
and Rendon, you know, sitting far post, shake
Sanchez runs back across unmarked and does this
like half volley chip across his body back towards
the far post. And nobody can get to that. Like,
Koke is just flabbergasted that that thing goes.
I was, too. Like, we've talked at length, is
this team lucky? And I don't think they are.
I think they have to brute force almost every
single one of the goals that they get. What do
you do in those situations? Because now, because
we couldn't get the early goal, we didn't have
Quasera scoring for us, we're suddenly behind,
and we know what happens when this team chases.
And spoiler alert, it's not good. Yeah. And you
say like, when we talk about that, like that
second half goal that they got there, you know,
in Indy kind of came out second half and they
kind of pushed the tempo of the match a little
bit into to next gear. I mean, maybe, maybe we
could argue it's a fluke. Maybe it's lucky. I
don't know. Maybe he scores those in training
all the time, but like if there are times when
no matter how good our defenses, they're going
to give them a goal. And so in that case, we
either need to match that with a goal to at least
get at a point out of that or go in and get a
second to win. But it kind of didn't feel like
our FC really were playing, like you said, to
win this match at all. And until that goal was
scored and they realized like, Oh, we can't,
we can't rest on our laurels here anymore. We're
down now. Did you notice the intensity that Rhode
Island suddenly flipped a switch once they went
down like I and that's the thing is like I noticed
in the first half we were playing I wouldn't
say conservatively but like we knew that there
was another gear we knew there was another step
this team could take and Then I felt like we
didn't see it. I'm not talking the subs I'm just
talking the overall athleticism the overall energy.
It's like suddenly we get dunked on and we woke
up which I don't know if that's what makes us
a second half team, whether we do the dunking
or we get dunked against, but it was like, you
got punched in the nose. What are you going to
do about it? And why does it come after getting
punched in the nose? Like, where is that fight?
Where is that, that, you know, who's spa in the
first 45? That was the biggest surprise because
I didn't realize it till I saw it on the pitch.
Like, oh, now they're playing, but it's too little
too late. Yeah, and then you you saw all of a
sudden that our FC dominate possession the second
half getting close to 60 at 58 percent there
You know, they they were looking to attack they
they sent in, you know tons of crosses like you
said a season high there but The problem was
only 30 percent accuracy there it felt like it
was a siege of Indy's box but Indy's defense
along with Eric dick there kind of just gobbled
everything up that we threw at him and You know
he kind of came a big on the night here with
six saves i mean at this point it feels like
maybe he's our arch nemesis you know it was never
pittsburgh it was always just eric dick um i
i mean you know but i i wonder at a certain point
were we just unlucky or did he stand on his head
to keep a clean sheet for us I mean, I don't
know. The guy is like what? Not 10 foot 10. He's
a monster in the net. We've always had problems.
I think we've only scored the one goal in Jaeger
Meister Cup play. To your point, breaking down
the two sides, you said the possession, but 11
total shots to Indy's three. It's not just dick
at that point. It's also the fact that once a
team goes up on Rhode Island, they all have the
blueprint. They know that they can just play
compact. They can play reserve. They don't have
to park the bus. They're not turtling, but they
don't have to be as adventurous. They can invite
the pressure and because Rhode Island. doesn't
typically have a way to carve through teams and
break down defenses. They are much more a transition
team that can find the one, two, three quick
combinations and rely on shot volume to get a
goal into the net. We've seen, I mean, 21 touches
in the opposition's box in the second half to
India's six. Like they, Indy didn't care. They
didn't need it because they knew they could hold
on. And that's kind of becoming a problem. I
don't know if that's a problem across the USL.
I'd love to know. Maybe we can get John Morrissey
to ask how many teams can come back from disadvantages
or from being behind. But it's not something
in Rhode Island's playing deck this season. It
just doesn't seem like that's something that
they're interested or they have a solution in
how to find out and do. And also, unfortunately,
it feels like when we have clawed one back, usually
we get countered again right away and get scored
on again. So I think that's going to be one of
the big tests and question marks for Kano Smith
for the rest of the season is, how do you claw
one back if you can't get ahead in a match? And
how is this going to set you up for success into
a playoff run? Because if we're playing on the
road like we did in this match, I know we saw
success in a post -season result in Indy last
go around, I guess, in 2024. We're going to have
to learn how to do that again. And I don't know
if this team has picked up those lessons yet
here in this time. I want to talk one last thing
before we go to break. Looking at the actual
shot volume, I said a second ago, it seems like
this team's finding it hard to find the back
of the net. Interestingly, Williams now surpasses
Afonso at 38 shots versus 34 on target for the
season. We've talked at length about Afonso being
a USL leading category of shot volume. Interestingly
here, Jason Williams, his conversion rate is
13 .5 % while Leos is second worst out of the
top 10 at just 5 .9. Juan Carlos Obregon Jr is
even worse at barely 3%. Is this a quantity thing
now versus quality or should we be approaching
how we consider shots and what the healthiness
of this offense looks like? Because I'm quite
not sure at this point if this is working. Yeah,
I I mean, you know busy sitting there at the
top of the charts breaking it down at per 90
level He's at 33 .3 percent every five minutes.
He doesn't Play enough for some reason which
I mean, maybe we need to maybe need to get some
more of him on the field because Honestly, I
think Leo started out the season pretty good,
but I think he's kind of in a funk I I feel like
the last few matches he hasn't been living up
to to what we saw, and he really hasn't been
getting those goals that it felt like were eventually
going to come. And to be fair, too, like when
I say that the goals aren't coming, I would be
remiss to not say we've had two games in the
last five that have been four goal productions.
I don't mean that we can't score goals. I mean,
we can't score goals when we need a goal. It
is a completely different category when you're
up three nil on an opponent, then you just, you
know, they're desperate. They're trying to do
something different. They're changing tactics.
They're not playing the style that they want
and you find one or you get some luck. We need
that luck in the games where we need to get back
into a match or we need the go ahead goal earlier
in. I would be okay if we start spreading these
four, these three nil goal productions into two
a game to where we can close the game down two
nil two one. we need points more than we need
goals at this point. So I don't know what the
answer is, but I know that there's frustration
in the team. I know there's frustration amongst
the players that like we continue to drop points
and I know there's frustration in the fandom.
So I think Westchester, I don't really think
it's a big test on the season at this point.
I think it's a, we are on life support. We see
what happens, but like you've said, we're not
in control of our destiny when it comes to Pring's
tires. And I think we have really one showing
left before the world cup. in that Loudon matchup
and well we've never won yet against Loudon so
who knows maybe this is the time Jason we've
got to go to break and when we return we've got
the most important part of the show and that's
of course the mailbag and it's 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. reminder
you can always write in questions live into the
show if you did not get a chance to send one
in via email or all the other social platforms
but jumping right into this Lucas writes in are
we missing Chico yet eight goal contributions
and it's not even June technically it's June
now but when he scored it it was still May oh
man I didn't even realize he's been doing that
good um I mean do we do we miss him maybe but
realistically he just did not fit the style of
play that we did. So unless we're going to like,
we were going to get rid of JJ and move forward
with Chico as our only striker. I think realistically,
that's just a kind of unfortunate thing that
just didn't work out for us. When you look at
it, the comparison because of signings is Leo.
Leo not even close to Chico's numbers. Does it
feel a bit of remorse or a bit of buyer's regret
at this point or because stylistically two different
players, it's not even fair to compare them?
I'd say stylistically two different players,
but Leo is more comfortable playing out wide.
We tried that with Chico and he had a few moments
where it felt like maybe given enough time he
could learn to do that, but it wasn't his actual
thing. So Rachel H here saying when is the team
going to wake up we start games way too slow
I I didn't know at first if you meant like what
part of the season will start to get hot that
would tell us Scientifically, it's like August
1st. So enjoy July go, you know Go to Narragansett
go to the beaches do whatever you need to do
and come back for August performances But in
terms of waking up in like actual game day you
know, 45 minute halves. I don't have the answer.
I don't know if this is a technical decision
by Kano to start games a little bit more conservatively
and that there's a style and structure that he
wants to implement, or if this is a mentality
thing. I wrote this in the Discord. I don't know
which one it is. If it's a mental thing, then
Kano's got to address it with his team. If it's
a Pep Guardiola level of tactics that we don't
understand just yet, I think he needs to shake
that off and get back to just some direct football
terrorism and go at it. That being said, I don't
know when they're going to do it, but it needs
to happen yesterday. Ben S writes in, how can
this team find consistency? Are we missing a
piece that's going to make us click? I mean,
I think this really ties into what Rachel is
saying there. I think the problem is consistency
is either one of two things. It's mental. Are
there these these players are going out there
and they're they're not Like engaged until they
get sucker punched or it's some sort of tactics
that they are like you said Maybe this is some
crazy 4d underwater basket weaving that they
just haven't grasped yet and they need a little
bit more time I Think that it needs to be one
of those two things you either need to get them
to lock in or you need to like tighten up those
tactics I mean it could be obviously both but
at least with like tighter tactics it's a little
bit more simpler in terms of like You know most
these players are professionals for a reason
they should be able to play pretty basic stuff
Are we missing a piece? I I don't know. I I don't
think so at this point, but we've consistently
In least the first two years been able to bring
on you know, midsummer signings that have kind
of really helped us maybe Shore up and become
stronger What that piece is just yet? I don't
know. I don't know if the World Cup window is
gonna maybe Cause that an issue because all of
a sudden there's less games in this time frame
to decide what it is. But I hope that our, our,
our office knows, uh, Travis L here saying, I
hate Dick. I don't care how that sounds. I listen.
I understand what you're saying. Obviously we're
replying or inferring to Eric Dick. Uh, I thought
you were talking about spotted Dick. I mean,
English is bad. So phrasing matters and it is
pride month. So phrasing matters, terrible timing.
But yes, I understand Travis, the sentiment there.
Rich M writes in, is it time to give Logan a
start over Leo and run with two upfront? Jason,
this is an interesting tactical change. What
do we think? I mean, possibly. I was just saying
how I feels like Leo has been struggling a little
bit. Maybe, you know, some. It depends. I don't
know how he would respond. Some players respond
when you bench them, right? Say, Hey, all right,
I'm going to give the, you know, the kid, the,
the college kid to try here to kind of give you
a warning. Like you need to kind of step it up.
Other players that destroys their confidence.
So I don't know what type of person he is and
how that would relation, how that could work.
I think the only problem there is that Logan
feels like, you know, we have JJ at home in a
way. That he's like somewhat of a like a big
battering ram type of player who wants So, I
don't know with two battering rams up front if
that'll work unless we just put a bunch of creativity
behind him But hey, I mean, it's too bad to be
the move, you know, that's all i'm gonna say
Yeah Uh joe p here says they played well and
had their chances, but you have to convert solid
chances to spectacular ones to be dick Also,
give credit to Rashid and Craig, marking out
JJ in the air. Quazair also picked up where he
left off, but he could not convert. Also, you
can tell players to watch out for Quinn and Rendon,
but in the end, they ended up cashing in. You
know, Joe always makes a statement, never asks
a question. I agree about JJ being isolated.
Hence why I kind of agree with the previous question
from Rich on, you know, Does Logan, just two
bruisers up front, maybe increase our chances,
at least from a set piece perspective, or just
making back lines be a little more honest in
their coverage? It felt like all the pieces were
there, but against a quality world -class keeper
like Dick. It just wasn't enough on the night.
He is, like Jason said earlier, truly becoming
our arch nemesis. Quickly, by the way, taking
the ranks of some of the worst keepers that we
don't love on this show, dispelling a certain
former keeper out of Oakland whose name shall
not be repeated because it gives him power. Brad
K writes in, felt like we got more out of Rodriguez
and Fuson when they moved into the game. Where
is our athleticism? We need to see at least pity
starting moving forward. I tend to agree. I feel
like the team kind of didn't wake up there and
I think pity gives a creative spark. I even think
that you could probably start both him and AST
at the same time if you maybe push a pity out
wide. Stacey R says here does losing to a higher
place team blow your theory out of the water
about matching opponents? It seems like we're
just bad. Stacey not drinking from the hopium
tonight. I don't know. We talked. I mean, I think
we said this on last week's show. We were either
going to be in for like a 3 -2 barn burner or
it was going to be a 1 -0 game either direction.
And that's how these go. Indy's in fifth place.
Again, Rhode Island didn't play a bad game. If
you remove the fluky luckiness of Rendon's goal,
that's a 0 -0 draw. And or maybe it's not maybe
maybe Indy would have played a different style.
I don't know. But like to me, Rhode Island didn't
play a bad game. They just didn't have the conversion.
They didn't have the finishing. There was a lot
there that could have been improved. But to Indy's
level, I don't know. Does it blow my theory out
of the water? Probably at this point it was just
a theory to begin with. They're meant to, you
know, be scientifically corrected. Jacob A writes
in, we lost this match on the physical front.
Indy 11 couldn't even field an 18 man squad.
And if we had just pushed harder, we could have
won it with our subs through brute force in the
second half. The boys didn't play hard enough.
Jason, I was surprised Indy did not field a actual
starting 18. They had players from like the Academy
dress. for this match, they are they are riddled
with injuries. Do you subscribe that we should
have just been a battle of attrition and worn
them down? Possibly. I mean, I think it really
comes down to the kind of mentality there. It
just didn't. It didn't feel like they went for
it until we got scored on. Phil W here says,
is there something I should be excited for right
now about this team? It feels like I can't ever
be happy for back to back weeks with these guys.
I mean, luckily, it's Westchester. It's a USL
one side. We should be beating them on the weekend.
And then don't tune in the Loudon and just go
straight into World Cup and you'll find some
joy and bliss for the next couple of weeks of
the summer when it comes to soccer. Rob P writes
in, do we think we'll ever see RFC enter a team
into the TST 77? Detroit City FC entered a team
this year in the mixed results. If we do see
a team, this is a long question. Would you make
your own team? And if so, who's playing in it?
Jason, let's just do let's just do our FC that
we don't have time for the seven feet seven.
We'll we'll do this in a later show. Rob, I promise.
But let's just do tonight. Do we think Rhode
Island FC will ever enter a 7v7? I hope so. That'd
be cool. I mean, we don't have time to answer
that, but I think like, you know, players like
Clay Holstad and Amish Shapiro Thompson because
of their flexibility would be good shouts for
those for plants. Deezer says here. How do you
think the team, players and staff will respond
to the World Cup break? Will they be able to
handle the influx of fans? If you're talking
about the team, like taking a break, they will
be taking at least a one week sabbatical, but
it's a very short break so that they can get
a little bit of time away because it's hard to
get vacation time in between these things. But
they also have to stay sharp. They have to stay
crisp going into their next match on the 4th
of July against Orange County. So from what I've
been told, there's going to be about a seven
to 10 day go out, do your thing, but then very
much report back, be training the entire time,
be ready to go as for fans. From what I'm hearing,
Centerville Bank might not have as many activations
as we think. It's very difficult when you're
a like stadium, you're a crown jewel, you're
a very public entity within a soccer landscape
to be playing games. You have to hide advertising.
You have to hide partnerships because it's all
got to be FIFA's way. So I know that there's
like the Ghana celebration. I know there's the
Cape Verdean send off. But in terms of watching
actual games and having fans attend. you're really
only going to get the Orange County Independence
game. And I think we talked about this a couple
of weeks ago that that game might already be
close to sold out just because it's a fireworks.
It's it's the Fourth of July, independent of
the World Cup. So I don't know how much that
will impact the stadium. But from a staffing
perspective, I think the players that care like
I don't see no if you saw it even going or he's
going to be running 16 miles on that pitch and
practice every single day. And I just think that's
how it's going to be. Yeah, I think there's more
of a long trail to that that this that we could
probably talk to at a later time. But it's more
of like, how do you get that hype to continue
on to convert those to maybe tickets in other
July and August games. If Rhode Island FC is
smart, they will find the tartan army and continue
to sell Scotland scarves and be a part of that.
Catch that action and try to build some fans
that want to watch American products in addition
to their own Scottish Premier League. Yeah. Street
team is going to need to work hard. They're going
to be out there advertising, be like, hey, when
you're done with this, come check us out. The
street team actually has to hit the streets.
That's how it works. But Jason, we are way over
time. It has been so much fun doing this show.
A little bit of a just programming note. I probably
will not be on the show and instead I will have
the ever good friend and producer of the pod
and producer Torrin Kelly on the show to talk
all things Westchester preview. And then we'll
get right back into it when we get ahead for
that Westchester game. And I will see you guys
all back in Rhode Island ahead of next week.
But otherwise it's been a blast, bud. Yep. Thanks
for joining us, y 'all. We'll catch you next
time. Anchor's up. Anchor's up. You've been listening
to the Raising Anchor Soccer Show. You can follow
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RAFC news at theblazingmusket .com. Fans, we
thank you for listening. We ask you to be kind
and courteous to your neighbors as you leave
the show. We thank you for joining 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.