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 RIFC. Here's Matt and Jixson. Rhode Island
FC earns two points in their final round of Prinks
Tires Cup action. drawing 1 -1 against Brooklyn
FC before winning the additional point in penalties
that saw Koke Vegas with an absolutely incredible
performance in the net and from the spot. We're
going to talk about so much that went on in this.
We're going to talk about the overall implications
of the tournament with Rhode Island FC now bowing
out. What does this game mean? What does the
result look like? And what does the momentum
that happens beyond the results on the pitch
on Saturday do for this amber and blue? And of
course, you can bet we're going to talk some
red cards. Joining me as always, Mr. Jason Carey.
How are you doing, my friend? Doing pretty good.
Doing pretty good. You know, it's been a while
since I've been a Debbie Downer. RIP Sam Neal,
Jurassic Park, Event Horizon, and the Mouth of
Madness. Fantastic movies. We lost a good one
today. You know, I forgot that that's one of
your favorite things to do. We should be bringing
that back because why not start a show with so
much joy by bringing up so much death? That's
a celebration of life. Those are some great movies
there, you know? Speaking of celebrating, let's
get into talking about this World Cup minute
as we've been talking throughout our time here
on the show. What do you want to open up with,
buddy? Uh, I mean, we saw England, Norway, Argentina,
Switzerland this weekend. Uh, some fun games,
maybe not the result I was looking for per se,
you know, being a, being a bit of an early in
Holland stand is kind of hoping Norway could
get the result there. Apparently he was maybe
dealing with a bit of a health bug and maybe
Sorloff wishes he could take back that, uh, non
pass there. But I mean, this England team is
looking really good. Both Kane and Jude have
six goals each. I think Argentina is going to
be scared unless bars going to be there to save
him. We'll kind of see what that what that looks
like. You know, Argentina, by the way, the only
team in the World Cup that has not had a VAR
intervention so far in the tournament. I know
last week we talked about how they also have
the highest foul to card conversion. We can talk
about the Argentinian entire refereeing squad
for that France match. I mean, there's been a
lot of things, but I think you're right. I think
the question I have for you that is talking about.
Norway now going out they were they were the
most recent version of the Dark Horse last Morocco
now Norway with four teams left France Spain
England and Argentina who's the Dark Horse at
this point? It's hard to say because these are
all like top teams in the world right so they
should all be able to go toe -to -toe to each
other I think the favorites are probably France
Argentina but I wouldn't put anything past Spain
or England to kind of maybe upset if you will,
one of those matches. I think these are very
even. matches to a certain extent if you will
well we'll have to find out as those semi -finals
take place this tuesday and wednesday both of
them at 3 pm eastern you know i've joked with
people on the side i don't think we've brought
it up in the show as we've been going through
this world cup cycle not a big fan of how as
a host country now granted all three host countries
are now out of the tournament all going out at
the same time not really conducive to watching
the sport in our nation considering it's at 3
pm eastern or 12 o 'clock Pacific time. This
doesn't feel like this was geared to us as hosting
at all. Definitely not. These last rounds, they
feel like they're aimed at the European audience.
So I mean, maybe they knew that we would not
make it this far or made sure that we didn't.
I don't know. But like, come on, five, at least
five o 'clock, right? That's still make you know,
make the Europeans stay up late. I mean, if a
European team is still in this or European fans
of said European team is still in this, like.
You're going to watch it. And with these big
names, everyone everywhere is going to tune in.
I have been up at two in the morning to watch
games for teams that I didn't care about or could
probably not pronounce and spell the correct
way on first. What were some of those South Africa
games like four a .m. or something like that?
Well, I think there was a Qatar game where it
was like two in the morning is the start time.
Like I'm just saying, as the host nation, these
should have been. We want to talk about growing
the game. We want to talk about getting a bump.
And there's a mailbag question we're going to
talk about a little later about the World Cup
cycle and the bump that we're supposed to get.
that you're not getting people to show up and
watch these games at three o 'clock they're gonna
be at their desks at best or they're going to
be waiting for the highlights or just like the
you know the Google score indicator to let you
know this is a shame and I think we need to prioritize
whoever the host country is I think we need to
prioritize that better in the future absolutely
and then looking towards that feature apparently
infantino saying they're considering 64 teams
for the 2030 World Cup big mistake this is a
terrible idea and not because I don't want to
see it because you don't want to see Italy in
the World Cup No, they still won't make it anyway.
No, it's because like when you do things like
this, like think about all the things we've learned
from the Prinks Tires Cup action, right? Like
there are building blocks to make a better tournament.
I think this is just too fast. I do think it
would have been inevitable to not get to 64 teams.
That was always the next. you know incarnation
of this but the problem is is it's more like
okay what did we learn and yeah you can say that
well there's four years to figure that out but
you might need two to three cycles to make sure
that you get this right jumping and springboarding
this that quickly, like just from a host nation
logistics perspective, like that is a huge undertaking
to support that much stuff all at once. I'm not
sure this should have been that quickly advanced.
I would have liked to have seen two more World
Cups where we saw this number of teams stabilize
the format and then figure out where we need
to build from there. Yeah, I think that's good,
too, because we also don't know if this was an
anomaly, right? We did see that a lot of the
smaller teams actually turned up in a big way
and put up a big fight. But what if in the next
round, all of a sudden it becomes where there
isn't any parody and all of a sudden you just
have like Italy again. Yeah. A bunch of giants
like, you know, like beaten up on people and
then then that's no fun. Right. Yeah. No, that's
going to be interesting. We'll have to wait and
see what happens from it. Do we know when that
vote goes through? Like, is there a date that
that's been announced yet? I mean. FIFA is not
very forthcoming with a lot of the information
that they provide. So we'll find out 15 minutes
before they announce the actual matches. Perfect,
that works. What did you think of a certain Ted
Lasso star finally getting his first start of
the USL Championship season? Yeah, it was cool
to finally see Christopher Hernandez get his
debut there. Finally got some minutes. There
was some sort of visa issue that he had to kind
of get organized. Only played about 10 minutes,
came on, got a yellow card for charging the keeper.
Perfect. Perfect debut, right? I mean, so yeah,
and for those asking like, well, he's been an
actor. How did that not work? It's a different
type of visa requirement to play as a player
through the ITC and through FIFA regulation.
So was on a different type of visa needed to
get that rotated through. And, you know, you've
heard of. bigger clubs with a lot of money being
able to get those done like overnight. El Paso
locomotive not exactly dropping coin to get their
new star in there as fast as possible. I will
now be really curious if we see him get at least
a goal this season. Do you think there's a chance?
I hope so. I'm gonna I'm gonna say a 33 % chance.
So you're saying there's a chance. Let's get
into these Prinks Tire Cup standings here now
with the results on the weekend. Jason Rhode
Island of Sea came out victors. but it still
wasn't enough. Yeah. Uh, they ended up with a
one, one draw against Brooklyn and got the extra
point there as the, uh, tournament go straight
to penalties. They, uh, they won the shootout
there. It gets an extra point, two points there,
but like you said, not enough to really springboard
them. Uh, RFC ultimately remaining in third place
in the group, not picking up enough points to
advance or attain a wild card spot as Hartford
ended up winning. And because we didn't beat
brooklyn outright we weren't able to jump them
you know it's funny is when i thought about that
i remember the first tiebreaker going to how
you bested your opponent in the game i thought
that that was wrong because we technically did
did not realize that since the match is recorded
as a draw it does not count and you actually
move to the next tiebreaker that can have the
potential to be with that second point then where
the points should have already eliminated that
but in this case we didn't technically beat brooklyn
and with their higher goal differential they
remained on top. Not that any of it mattered
because neither one of these teams won the wild
card. So gonna ask you now, you know, we did
the same exercise when the Open Cup was on and
then we finally doubted who were the teams that
we were going to root for. Looking at the rest
of this tournament and the way it's going to
shake out Group 1's winner Spokane Velocity,
Group 2 Colorado Springs Switchbacks, Group 3
San Antonio FC, Group 4 Louisville City FC, Group
5 the pre -mentioned Hartford, Group 6 Charlotte
Independence and Group 7 Tampa Bay Rowdies. Who
are we rooting for at this point? I really like
seeing some teams here like Spokane Velocity
and Charlotte Independence. I think this is actually,
this is what you want from this tournament to
see that like, Hey, the parody is there. There
are teams in the, in us L one who can go toe
to toe with championship teams. I mean, looking
at them. So the way they, they announced the
matchups a few hours, we've got Rowdy's versus
Lou city, independence versus Hartford velocity
versus switchbacks and San Antonio versus the
one and only Miami FC. Believe it or not, they
are actually this year's wild card spot winner.
I don't know if maybe that World Cup mojo they
got from room in Locadia coming back. I mean,
they also put five past Sarasota considering
goals for is a very big deal here. That probably
helped them. I mean, looking at these teams,
I'm obviously going to root for independence
against Hartford. You know, we always I am curious.
I mean, you always love to see Miami being an
underdog and something like this, but I am curious
as well in the future if being in these groups
again, learning from the format, expanding and
making it better. Is it that a team that came
from one of the groups that only had five teams?
Was that a better opportunity than one of these
groups that had six or even the one that had
seven in it? I mean, six other clubs not making
it, but two from one of the smallest groups.
It doesn't surprise me that Miami advances on
when you look at the competition there. I know
FC Naples is a strong USL one side this season.
Sarasota Paradise trying to figure theirself
out, but then Sporting Jacks. I mean, they're
not exactly championship level right now. No
disrespect. They need a lot to work on. Miami's
been doing well so far this season not so surprisingly.
We haven't gotten points against them ourselves
yet I feel like this is the right team to be
in there. What's the what's the matchup? You're
the most excited to see them here I am kind of
curious like you do mention that I I wonder with
Miami FC Maybe they've slipped a little bit,
but they've been a little bit better this year
than they have in the past I wonder if You know
with room back having that stellar performance
in the World Cup does that? you know give their
defense an extra boost same with locadia coming
back is that they give their offense like are
they maybe a team to watch out for i'd be curious
in this especially in a one -off competition
where they can just have one good performance
and move on i think that's right then my final
question before we go to break it's good to see
two teams from the usl1 here advance considering
40 what two teams are in this in its entirety
Is that indication that this format is being
successful or like if we have seen no? USL one
teams advance would we have had to have rethought
the structure of this because if every single
USL one team doesn't make it kind of what's the
point of opening it up between the two leagues?
Yeah, no, it's good question. I think last year
we only had one right? I think it was triumph
that moved on criminal triumph So it's good to
see two of them move on this year. So I think
that means there is some success here in the
format I think with the way that it's not balanced
there's maybe still room for improvement but
overall I do enjoy this competition even if unfortunately
we did not continue on this year. So we will
all start rooting for Miami FC or maybe you want
one of these USL one sides but it should still
be a fun tournament to watch through but we've
got to go to break and when we return we're going
to talk all things about this Rhode Island FC
result on the weekend and talk about how Kano
prepared for the match. Don't go anywhere it's
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990 WBOB, that's sproutcoworking .com. Now let's
get back to the raising anchor soccer ship on
990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett and Jason Carey.
Getting back to this 1 -1 draw between Rhode
Island FC and Brooklyn FC. Wanna get into some
initial impressions here about the match. RAFC,
like we said, not able to move on despite the
two points. We knew going into that game, Jason,
that this team was not in the driver's seat any
longer as it was going to require not only a
Rhode Island FC win but also Westchester to do
some damage to Hartford Athletic. Neither one
of those things end up coming true. But we also
knew this game was going to be more than just
the result. We knew that this was going to be
a game about defending the honor of Rhode Island
FC, the momentum that they've been trying to
create and protect, but then also making sure
that they delivered a performance in front of
a home fan crowd. And I think that that's what
they got on the night. And then some. Yeah. Circling
back to what I said last week about like Clay's
comments, you know, sometimes these games, whether
or not maybe they mean anything per se in the
grand scheme of like the Like the table, like
they can definitely still build momentum, right?
Showing grit, determination, pushing through
adversity, you know, three, three games in seven
days, kind of a, kind of a bit much there, especially
after that West coast travel, the farthest that
we're going to see this year. Um, you know, in
learning at condos, not actually. A big fan of
that he was mad like he didn't say it in the
post game. We talked about going into Sacramento,
but he absolutely had words and thoughts. Does
not believe that a game of that level of distance
should ever be sandwiched as a midweek rotation,
and I think I have to agree with him on that.
Yeah, especially as we saw where right when what's
the? Orange County came out to visit us. They
then tied that in to visiting Hartford. Like
those travels make sense. Like, hey, if you're
going to have them go halfway across the world,
at least then have them stay close by afterwards.
Like, hey, just travel an hour down the road
and play the other team over there. So it as
opposed to having to go back and forth, right?
Could we have not played another game on the
weekend against the West Coast team to like minimize
that travel and looked at a different date for
this? I mean at this point this is something
that I think the USL will have to look at scheduling.
But, you know, ultimately getting the result
that we did, I think that'll the draw plus one
will kind of help be somewhat of a boost for
the team here. So it's a win, but it's not a
win. Yeah. Well, here's Coach Cano on his opening
statements and his very interesting comments
about the red card. So we'll start things off
with Coach Head Coach Cano Smith. So proud of
the team. It was a tough week to play a good
team, Orange County, the Django on our furthest
trip away to play Sacramento across the country,
which is. Ridiculous midweek, but we had to Do
what we had to do and then we came home and I
mean, I thought the officiating today was was
top class And to play with Ten men and still
come away with a result happy that we can send
everybody home happy with a shootout win and
cocaine cocaine scoring but obviously out of
the competition, so now we get ready for Hartford
next week next week will be slightly altered
because We need to give them two days off in
a row after such a long week. But yeah, it's
just one game at a time, which is nice. And you
prepare for it the best you can, which, Hartford,
we're a really, really tough team. You mentioned
the officiating did a great job tonight. Yeah,
excellent. You think so? Yeah, excellent. You
had no sarcasm whatsoever? What do you think?
I think there's sarcasm there. I just went with
it. I thought it was excellent. I'm not a sarcastic
person. I thought they were. I'm just meeting
you for the first time, so it's nice to meet
you. Sorry, no, I'm not, yeah, I'm not being
any way trying to be disrespectful to you. I'm
just, that's my answer that I thought the officiating
was fantastic. That's a good answer. Yeah. So
there's so much to unpack on that one. I we did
not go to this game. So let's just be upfront
with everyone. We enjoyed our summer a little
too much to World Cup. And so we did not go to
this game. So I don't know who that reporter
was, but they were a new reporter. And they got
the coach kind of special right out the gate.
And I've never heard Coach Kano apologize to
someone before. So lots of progress made. But
for anyone that's never met Coach Kano Smith
to say he's not sarcastic is it's just a cherry
on top. You know, Coach Kano hated hated. the
that referee did not he just couldn't afford
the fine probably because it would have Bankrupted
him and maybe the entire state of Rhode Island
for what he really wanted to say Yeah, I think
at this point he has to Limit what he can say,
especially in this case like at the end of the
day. Okay, fine We have two players who miss
a cup game next year Right like maybe maybe we'll
talk maybe yeah, man. I will see like it's like
it's not it's not worth him getting the fine
to to complain about it, but You absolutely know
that he was not happy with the ref. Yeah, and
we'll discuss the red cards a little later in
the show. So for now, let's talk about how Kano
approached this roster construction on the night.
Yeah, so bit of a some changes here. Koke Vegas
and net no change there. No change there, but
we saw a back line here comprised of Nick Scardina,
Kareefa Yao, Frank Nodarse and Aldair Sanchez.
Holy midfielders Dwayne Atkinson and Danny Rivera.
Expected, expected, right? Attacking midfielders
here, Joe J. Aquezera, Noel Fuson, and Augustin
Rodriguez, with Leo Alfonso up top. You know,
Jason, I mentioned last week on the show that
when we saw the men that Conor was going to elect
for this particular start, it was going to determine
the tempo, the pace, and the strategy behind
what he wanted to accomplish, again, knowing
that they were so dependent on a result from
Westchester to begin with. we asked ourselves,
was Kano going to go for it or was he going to
rotate heavily in the night here? What did you
think of the overall setup of this, based on
this initial lineup? Let's not talk about the
result because that's putting the cart in front
of the horse, but you see this lineup come out
and does that scream Kano's going for it or does
that scream something else? It's tough to say.
You have a really interesting setup here for
our holding midfielders, right? Two players you
would not expect to see there, Dwayne and Danny.
I mean, I've definitely seen teams who will pair
someone who's maybe we'll say Danny as a, as
a fullback has a bit more of the defensive qualities.
And then Dwayne has a bit more of the kind of
almost a cam attacking. Progress. So he, we clearly
know that he could pass the ball and carry it
forward. And so they're looking for some balance
in that pivot. It is good to see Danny get some
minutes. even if it's not in his natural position,
I doubt that we'll see him there more once we
have Zach and Clay healthy. I just, I wonder
also too, is this something that Conno's been
working on the background with Danny or is this
just a need? It, it, it makes me wonder with
how many injuries we have. It's hard to say if
this is just, you know, if everyone was healthy
and he, he put out this lineup, I'd say he's
probably like, I don't want to say like throwing
it, but he's not necessarily going for the game.
But considering the injuries we have, I almost
feel like this is somewhat of a necessity. Speaking
of injuries, we saw Clay Holstead on the streets
doing some, you know, on the ground reporting
earlier this weekend. Saw him, you know, we've
got the scoop directly from you that he was going
to be ready and available in the near future.
So that initial injury, not as bad as we thought.
My guess is, and based on the mobility we saw
from him, he's probably two weeks out at maximum
at this point. So the good news is we'll have
Clay Holstead returning much sooner. Don't think
he'll be available for this Hartford match on
the weekend ahead, but good to see him. Nevertheless,
maybe we'll be surprised by something in training.
He seems like a resilient young lad, but getting
back to Danny and Dwayne. Do you think that the
other benefit to this is unlike maybe in the
last match against Sacramento where we saw a
stylistic change with how they incorporated a
back five line with Aldair and Frank kind of
navigating some of those similar spaces and channels?
Do you think that because we almost kind of kept
the system in place better and it was a plug
and play now granted completely different player
profiles between Dwayne Atkinson and Hugo Bacharach.
Let's not let's not kid ourselves. Do we think
that that's more of a sign of the system starting
to click and players understanding that even
if it's a different player in that role in the
night, the job is the same? Yeah, I think what
we saw is that. You know our players have started
to get comfortable defending in a back four.
So we put them back into a back four. And so
we saw a bit more of a solid defensive performance
on the night there. And then from there, you
have, you know, somewhat like you said, plug
and play, maybe they're not exactly the right
characteristics or styles, but these are all
soccer players, right? They know how to kick
and pass the ball. So put them in, put them in
a position, give them some instructions and you
have a system where everyone else kind of knows
what they're doing. And we honestly didn't look
that bad in the first half with them in the holding
midfielder position there. There was a lot of
attacking momentum there. Well, yeah, here's
Coach Cano's words on Danny and Dwayne specifically.
It was some of the best all year. It was really
enjoyable to watch Dwayne play deeper inside
the midfield. I thought he dictated a lot. He
has a lot of ideas. He was spraying the ball
everywhere. Danny had limited minutes this year.
I thought he played well. So yeah, I thought
up until that moment, I don't think they had
much. I thought all they had was... Set pieces
and we want to be aggressive and but we have
to not give away unnecessary files I know they
want to be aggressive and trying to do what we're
asking, but you have to be calm and composed
in those moments Yeah, and we'll talk about that
at length in the next segment Dwayne Atkinson
making his fourth start of the season Danny Rivera
making his second career start with the club
Obviously, it's his first USL Cup career. But
again, maybe a player we thought we'd see more
in this tournament You know CJ Williams finally
we're getting to see him back on the pitch after
a 13 -game injury absence the player we didn't
see though Jason and we probably won't see him
now No, Jacob Castro was this the final swan
song because is there a world? where if we rotate
Castro out at the end of the season that we just
never see him actually on the pitch as an RFC
keeper. Barring any sort of injury. Yeah, I don't
see us seeing a keeper at all. It kind of makes
me wonder like, are they? Clearly we're we are
best with cocaine net, right? He he fits the
style that we play. He's a great keeper. Like,
you know, there's really no better option for
us. However, in some of these cup games that
you want to showcase that and give your backup
keeper an opportunity to play for various reasons
to kind of keep them fresh. But then also there's
always there's always potential to move players
on right? You can sell sell value. But then also
just give give your keeper rest. I mean cocaine
is not getting any younger. So I just I hope
I just hope that it doesn't come back to haunt
us that we kind of wear him out. We shall see,
but we've got to go to break, and when we return,
we're going to bring up the biggest storylines
out of the Prinks Tire Cup action on the weekend.
Don't go anywhere. It's the Raising Anchor Soccer
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page. Now let's get back to the raising anchor
soccer ship on 990 WBOB with Matt intricate and
Jason Carey Taking a look here at the goal scores
on the night Augustine Petty Rodriguez here in
the 19th minute slots home a pass from Quasera
right between the legs of the defenders I think
there was a slight deflection there, but still
made its way to that bottom corner Great to see
him get on the score sheet. We've been talking
for months now fans have been asking us You know,
when will pity take the next step find a goal
for himself? Obviously, I think what three assists
on the season but no goals yet to show for it
I think this is a huge turning point in his season
for himself even if it wasn't in league play
you got to ask yourself like the combination
of a right time, right place. It's a thing that
we don't see enough of from him. And now that
I've seen it, I want more. But more specifically,
I want to talk about the assist to that as well.
Joe J out back out on the right side. He may
have had an early night, but still. He looked
good. It was reminiscent of what he's been so
successful for out on that right side. Surely
the experiment minus injuries is over about keeping
him on the left. I know we can do the rotate
in the middle of the game and throw defenses
off. I'm fine with that. But if this has got
to be yet another case to be made that Quasar
has to predominantly stay on the right. Yeah,
I think this performance shows that Quasar has
found a spot here with us in the right wing.
And like you said, there's always opportunities.
Depending upon the way attacks pan out for them
to be flexible and move around But he's looked
the most lethal for us from that coming from
that right wing being able to either Shoot because
he's hit some some go lasso from there Or even
just to get in there and kind of cause some havoc
dribble and you know pass to one of the other
teammates Unfortunately, the goal was short -lived
as a go -ahead victory forward on NFC as Juan
Carlos over gone jr. Would have different ideas
on the night Jason, let's set this picture and
let's talk this out. This only happens because
of a Kreefer Yow emergency takedown that gives
them a dangerous look at goal mouth from the
top of the box. Definitely. And Kano just talked
about it too, about them wanting to be aggressive
and defending. But I think if you look at this
goal, you kind of have to give over gone his
flowers. This was a phenomenal free kick. He
finds the top right corner with a spectacular
free kick that Really nothing you you can't you
can't really fault. Okay for that unless he knew
that's where it was gonna go and even then it's
it was was top bins as they say I don't like
that over gone junior continues to find ways
to score against this club. He's been a bit of
a boogeyman for us at times. Yeah. Yeah. I think
he may across all competitions because unfortunately
so much of it is coming to Moose from USL one,
but I think him into Moose might be like our
two main problematic strikers when we're going
up against them. Uh, we'll talk at length about
some of this stuff, but really quickly that most
of the game from then on, it becomes a one one,
obviously some big moments, but from a scoring
perspective, nothing else happens. Despite some
really good looks at goal from both sides of
the teams. Getting into the penalties though,
Rhode Island FC does win 4 -3 on those after
an incredible save from Koke Vegas to start things
off. But then, Cosmic Justice, my friend, is
restored, Obergon Jr. going wide and missing
the net. That's what you like to see after a
player who caused us so many problems on the
night, not just the goal. We're talking the red
card. We're talking almost just harassing the
back line for the entirety of 90 minutes. It
was almost just like he needed to miss that for
for the world to feel like justice can still
be around. Yeah. And it's really good, too, to
see if we kind of look quickly at our eyes scoring
summary summary here. Scardina showed up, buried
it. Same with Shapiro Thompson and then Leo Fonzo.
JG Williams actually did take a good penalty.
He put it towards the bottom corner. It's just
unfortunately it was saved and then the Capitan
himself, Koke Vega steps up and just passes it
to the bottom opposite corner. I know it is possible.
Obviously I know it is allowed. I don't think
I've ever seen a keeper step up unless it's their
natural time in the order, which is, you know,
closer to the end. Maybe maybe not 11th, but
maybe 9th. and it goes in there. I don't think
I've ever seen a keeper taking it at the fifth
because arguably the most important spot on the
night typically for how these can go. It was
just magical. We'll talk about that in a second.
I want to get back into what Kano mentioned when
we had his interview a second ago. He mentioned
that this was some of the best football he's
seen all season. Do we subscribe to that beyond
the Hollywood ending for Koke and knowing that
he was playing through a lot of injuries on the
squad? Yeah, I mean Brooklyn made it clear they
had two jobs on the night here kind of pressure
our back line with route one Tactics you speed
and pace to try and dominate the set piece tactics.
They they were definitely causing us some problems
there in the back line You know and they've won
ten corners on the night with the majority of
them being generated from ill -attempted Crosses,
which were almost triple RFCs on the night Despite
being a man down basically for half the game
this match was more of our FC again shooting
themselves in the foot with poor finishing Despite
some high quality chances with shots I won't
be surprised to find a high XG here with five
shots on target and 11 of 19 from inside the
box How many times have we seen this team to
be so unlucky with their chances? I mean, I don't
want to be too hard on them because they they
did play down a man Oh, yes, no create a lot
of good chances. I'm actually very happy with
this performance, but it also feels like We kind
of probably should have won this to almost to
that point to like if you look at how they held
them and still like they didn't just turtle for
the rest of the game like they still took it
to Brooklyn. You almost would say like these
were evenly matched teams, but only once Rhode
Island went down a person on the night, right?
Yeah, like fight with one hand tied behind the
back. Exactly. I don't want to call it a handicap,
but I also have to agree with Kano and what you
had said a second ago about talking about discipline
plaguing this team right now from their last
five matches. Jason. 84 fouls. They're averaging
right now 16 .8 fouls per match. It's something
this team's going to have to figure out how to
balance between this aggressive play style and
the direction that they want to go moving forward.
Yeah, and I think there's just kind of a recent
moment in time, and I think we should see this
kind of balance itself out. This kind of happened
in the first year too, right? Conno's making
a talking point here. RFC is currently 12th overall
around the league with very much the middle of
the table place where you kind of where you want
to be. But I'd imagine that getting a red card
might be at the start of the second half, only
going to increase some emergency defending and
testing attitudes. So they kind of put themselves
in a position where like fouls just kind of had
to happen there. But did they actually put themselves
in that position? Because I mean, or were they
put in that or did Guido Gonzalez Jr. make himself
the man of the match and put them in that position?
I know we joke about the levels of like the level
of roughing. in the championship. But it's really
hard not to make this a talking point. And I
think we have to mention it this time. There
are times, and we've been correct, we have some
fans and friends who are refs. And sometimes
we'll say, like, I know you guys are frustrated
as fans, but those are fine refs. And we're always
willing to walk back our feelings if they'll
explain to us why. Unless it's Natalie Simon,
I will be a stan of hers for life. But this was
a very poorly officiated match. Probably the
most poorly. there's no other way around it well
and here's the weird thing is like even the commentators
were were like yeah that that wasn't that wasn't
even a foul so you know normally we do research
on the refs ahead of time we are familiar with
a majority of the names even when we see them
as listed as fourth official or one of the ars
like we're starting to develop a good understanding
when these names going to crop up in these matches.
I didn't see this name and I didn't because we
had too many podcasts to do that week as well.
I didn't really put like any research into it
so I just assumed either he was a lower league
ref coming up to a big moment in tournament play
or maybe he was like in NWSL or in the women's
game because I had never seen this name before
amongst championship squads. Well guess what?
This guy hasn't overseen a championship match
of any kind since 2019 and you know why Jason?
because he's been reffing at the highest level
of soccer in America. He's been an MLS ref since
2019. Not only has he been reffing at MLS games,
he also won the U .S. Soccer's Referee of the
Year in 2024. This is a ref that's supposed to
be at the highest echelon of quality of ref opportunities
and somehow We got that on the night. So when
you tell me that you're excited about us moving
up to division one and we're supposed to get
all these new resources and better access to
things like better refs, I don't see it happening
because if anything, it's going to get worse.
I mean, sometimes it has to get worse before
it gets better. Let's talk about the red cards
in questions. First, starting off with Franklin
Darcy's. His night was over, just five minutes
into the second half. After collecting a pass
from Kareefa Yow, cycling the ball, he gets the
dribble past Obergon Jr. and starts to take off.
Obergon then reaching out, grabbing a bit of
jersey, grabbing a bit of an arm. They trade
hands, touching shoulder to arm after the reach
out, and then Obergon Jr. makes a meal out of
it, claiming that he's been struck in the face,
earning No Darcey a second yellow and an ejection.
Make that make sense to me, Jason. Make that
make sense. Yeah, that's the thing is it doesn't.
I mean, you know, because he not because I know
Darcy picked up his first on the 35th. There
are some kind of poor decision making, you know,
from from the team a lot in regards to defensive.
They, you know, Brooklyn to their credit. We're
realizing, you know, these long balls over the
top, the speed that they have were really causing
us some problems and the calls were going their
way. So it's just kind of frustrating to see,
especially because you watch that replay and
at best he makes connection with a shoulder.
Which then the question I have for you on that
then is, is this card only coming out because
of the believed contact to the face? Because
the way I understand the game. Frank D 'Arcy
has the ball. He's dribbling. Obergon Jr. is
the one holding on him, trying to claw back and
get that. To me, if I'm looking at this as a
casual, if I'm only half invested in the game,
I'm standing in the fans, my initial reaction
is, well, at best, that's persistent infringement
from Obergon Jr. unless there's that facial contact.
Isn't that what this would be? Yeah, I mean,
this is not a red. It's not even a yellow. I
mean, Obergon is harassing him as he's trying
to kind of pull forward. It's just a really bad
call from Guido here. I mean, we have extra linesmen
as well, too. I don't know why none of them could.
Yeah, fourth officials right there. The AR is
on that side of the pitch for that moment in
time. I just, it doesn't make sense. Do we give
Obergon Jr. the credit for selling the acting?
Does he need to go now teach acting at a local
community college? Because it just doesn't make
sense to me how this could have even happened.
And more so to it than Jason, does something
need to happen as a repercussion in retro? for
this simulation from over gone junior like does
rfc need to make a case that had they been able
to keep nodarse on the pitch that they might
have found a winning goal in regular time i know
that that wouldn't have changed the results overall
in the standings but you didn't know that at
the time does over gone junior or brooklyn fc
do are they responsible for some sort of penalty
as a result of that because if that continues
to happen it's going to diminish the quality
of the league so i would think in a let's say
this was a regular game or like a league game
i i would think that you would I don't know if
it'd be fair, but like you could just take the
yellow from frank and give it to over gone and
that way it's accumulated towards their yellow
so they can still earn suspension. The problem
is this is a cup game though so at that point
it's really not going to do anything because
those reset maybe just to kind of. I don't know
mess up their transfer market stats that they
have more yellows I don't know but there there
should be some sort of discipline here I don't
know if this is punishing the team punishing.
Because these players are played so little, like
it. Obviously we need to kind of correct the
action, but like punishing the team so that they
kind of then take the action down, trickle down
to the player, and maybe there can be some kind
of punishment or fine from there. Do you do a
financial fine at that point? Do you do? Because
like you're right, hurting the player isn't going
to be what's good for the league. These are millionaires,
so like what would you do in these moments? Mean
it may spend him for his opening game of the
next cup for the next one possibly like hey you
you're acting Skills, you know caused another
player to miss a match So now it's your turn
you you miss you missed the next the match because
of that We talked about should the ref also face
a you know Some sort of punishment for this poor
officiating because the game completely got out
of control The problem is and we've seen this
in you know, bigger better leagues like Premier
League. They send them down a league We don't
want this guy in the championship at this point,
right? I mean, maybe all the way down to League
one or USL two. I don't know. Maybe he's got
to start from the bottom, work his way back up,
you know, prove his worth. Really quickly, we
got to move on though. Let's talk about Grant's
red because that's the second spoiler of the
night. This one almost feels even weirder to
a certain. Yeah. And so in the dying seconds,
Grant Stoneman comes in doing a flying ninja
kick, doing the trying to do his best Latana
impressing. And kind of just misses the ball.
AST sent a cross in, but it was deflected off
a Brooklyn player. And if you watch. the way
a ball, when it hits a player, it kind of changes
the trajectory. Jason, we don't need to explain
physics to our fans. They know how that works.
Apparently, who doesn't know is Guido Gonzalez
Jr. He might need to go back to school. Maybe
he can attend that acting class we mentioned
a second ago. Stoneman, who's been watching,
keep in mind, he's been on the bench this entire
game, watching bad call after bad call. And to
Guido's credit, he was bad for both teams. I
mean, he was missing very bad tackles, very late
challenges. challenges from our from from our
players. They're like, it's what saw Marlon LeBlanc
get a yellow card in addition to Conno Smith.
And you better believe that I'm updating the
graphics graphics package to include his new
yellow card next week on the show. But it was
it was not good at all. So Stoneman now coming
to the game. It's the dying seconds. The whistle
is going to get blown at the start of this goal
kick. And Stoneman's out of his mind and not
being able to understand, not being able to comprehend
that this isn't being called for a corner kick.
He runs by the he runs by the ref says something.
He smiles and keeps running and Gonzalez just
blows like it's it's just over for him. It was
actually really funny because he was so angry
that he's discombobulated. He grabs out his yellow
drops it and then like trying to find his red
like he forgot where it was. And then you know.
Of course because they all all knew he was not
roughing He was stoned and was like whatever
of course is gonna happen and ends up getting
a high five on his way off the pitch from car
Now I'll say this because we did get a couple
questions in the mailbag about it So just want
to address it in this segment some mixed questions
as to why it was a straight red card Per ifabs
rule 12 an initial instinctive disagreement is
usually accepted But clear, continual, or sarcastic
arguing by word, action, or gesture is a cautionable
offense. This includes sarcastically clapping
or persistently showing a lack of respect. So
these are the moments where a challenge can go
from, all right, you had your initial outburst,
you're continuing it, and now I'm going to have
to warn you with a yellow card. Hold on, hold
on. It changes and it crosses the line, which
is something you do not want to see when it becomes
offensive, insulting or abusive. And that is
when the ref has no choice but to issue a red
card. So the question now becomes, Jason, was
what Grant Stoneman, whatever he said and as
he ran off, was it offensive, insulting or abusive?
Because that's the pressure test here. I mean,
you know, unless they release the port, we'll
never know. Or if we can ask Grant and he'll
let us know. You know, hey, Grant, off the record,
what did you say? But honestly, do we think that
this was an ego hit to Guido? Or do you think
Grant actually earned this? Because to me, as
much as we've been kind of critical of Stoneman
lately, he's always been a journeyman. He's always
been a leader in this locker room. He's always
been level headed, even in these kinds of situations
and moments. I don't see a world where Stoneman
would stupidly even in that moment, do something
to earn a red card needlessly. I think it was
probably some sarcastic comments and then Guido
just kind of maybe, like you said, maybe took
a bit of an ego hit in there and just used his
discretion to upgrade it to a red card. So, um,
now our AFC defenders, Frank Nodarse and Grant
Stoneman are both going to be unavailable for
the 2027 USL Cup matches, assuming they're still
with our AFC. Uh, just so For those of you know,
if they were for some reason to continue with
another team, those will still carry over. Um,
but I'm curious, like that was a very poor performance.
Do, do we know if there's any ability for us
to kind of call out question though, see if we
can get any of that reviewed or overturned. So
plenty of time for that. yeah so i reached out
to the team they do not have an answer at this
moment but i did reach into some rules uh if
they are going to do it they have to treat it
the same way they would before the next match
so which means these things need to move quickly
there are timelines to it even though there is
no future tire Prinks Tires Cup match for Rhode
Island FC, there still are deadlines for them
to do that. So as long as we get a different
sponsor, then it doesn't count. They just can't
play a Prinks Cup match. Not sure how that works,
buddy. Not sure how that works. So I can't imagine
that they won't be charging or requesting a challenge,
excuse me, against Frank Nodarce's sendoff. I
don't think it's as black and white for Grant
Stoneman because all Guido Gonzalez Jr. has to
say is that like it was abusive to me. I think
that's too subjective. And so maybe that gets
under review because of what happened. But there's
not enough in it for me to see Stoneman's overturned.
I do think that as long as Rhode Island made
the act of decision, because remember, it costs
something like $3000 to make the challenge. And
if you lose it, like you don't get that money
back. So like, yeah, I guess that's also because
it's not just the next match. And so far in the
future, almost that's wonderful. And those things
like whatever, which is hope we have enough defenders
next year. But we've got to go to break. And
when we return, we've got the mailbag. Don't
go anywhere. It's 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. Back here on the Raising Anchor Soccer
Show. Didn't get to talk about Koke Vegas' first
professional goalkeeping kick in the penalty
shootout, but you were already there. You know
it. Instead, we're going to quickly discuss this
conversation that's been happening on Reddit
about attendance. Jason, what's your 30 -second
take on it? I see a lot of the same answers.
Parents are not happy about 730 kickoff. It is
like 50 % if not more of the answers. We've heard
this anecdotally from from our friends and just
kind of like reiterating that because I know
sometimes the club listens because they get mad
at us when they don't like what we say. It like
there are things like weather that people have
been saying. Can't do anything about that World
Cup. Maybe some better scheduling could have
been around there, but you know it is what it
is at this point. But yeah, clearly the the 730.
Combine that with just the fact that like it's
been raining a lot for some reason on Saturdays
and we've been told from the front office that
they will not be doing 7 30 p .m games next season
so that doesn't mean it's 4 p .m games that could
just mean 7 p .m games again but they are going
to be looking at that very closely i would also
argue too that like when you compare the numbers
because what started is the decline in attendance
but the summer months are always our strongest
and we're really just entering that having not
played a home game in the month of june in front
of rod Island fc fans so we have all these games
to kind of catch that up i would say if we really
want to start getting worried about attendance
in the needs to happen around the September break
when kids are back in school and maybe some other
things are going on. That's where we should be
alerted. But moving on, Alan P writes in, was
listening to soccer wise and heard that FIFA
pays professional clubs around $10 ,000 a match
played and that Miami FC is set to make around
$70 ,000 for their players contributions in the
World Cup. Does USL need to do more to get higher
profile players into the league? To a certain
extent, once we get D1 status, I think that'll
kind of just naturally happen over time. But
at the same time, I don't think we need to sacrifice
our teams for just like getting players. I think
if we continue to build strong and competitive
league. It's just naturally going to happen.
I looked at leagues that were below us in the
rankings when it came to FIFA evaluations. The
Uzbekistan Super League, Spanish Third Division
and the Qatar Super League or Stars League. Excuse
me. You could argue we're all on the same playing
level as us. So those there were a couple of
players that represented their national teams
in those particular ways. Joe P here saying this
was by far the worst job by a referee that I've
seen in years of playing and watching the game.
You know, it is bad when Each coach gets a yellow
car for complaining, but the game overall was
a good morale boost going into the Hartford match.
I mean, hey, listen, you're not wrong about anything.
The whole point now is that we never see him
again. Rich W writes in, Hey, Matt, just want
to remind you that RFC practices penalty kicks.
You know, it's so crazy. So RFC has now won both
penalty shootouts in 2026 Prinks Tires USL Cup
campaign. So good for them. I almost wonder if,
you know, the There's certain someone mentioning
like do they practice penalty kicks? Maybe they
they should they got that face is on the storyboard
for them They're like and I took that personally
If them hating me is what gets them going then
that's all that matters. Yeah In this particular
case, I don't think there's anything to look
at it just yet. We have a lot of firepower that
we can put in the attacking midfielder and wing
positions right now, less so in like the center
holding midfielder roles. But I think in this
case, it was just yellow card management. He
got a card for descent right after the D 'Arce
ejection. And I think what mattered at that moment
was just making sure Quisera like was pulled
and cooled down. James, uh, in the chat writes
in is, is, uh, over gone junior more hated than
siaha now. Ooh, uh, no, because you, you kind
of, you respect it. I almost respect the, the
like, he's playing within the realm of the game
where siaha just like, especially after the,
uh, kind of the taunting afterwards, over gone,
didn't like get up and immediately start laughing
and be like, haha, I got away with one. He just,
He knew what he was doing, and he's unfortunately
good at it. Stacy L. saying here, I know we were
down to 10 men, but after beating Brooklyn again,
what does this result tell us about where Rhode
Island FC stands in the Eastern Conference pecking
order? Ninth place, because we're forever ninth
until it's time to get into the playoffs, and
then we're road warriors once again. I would
chime in real quick and say full strength. I
think we would have won in regular. I mean, again,
one one draw with a man down and we had four
starters not available. I think that this was
an admirable performance. Jim S. writes, and
did anyone impress you this weekend to earn a
bigger role? It was great seeing Danny finally
on the pitch. Viva Colombia. I kind of agree
with coach. I think that I was kind of impressed
with busy. I thought that he would struggle in
that role, but he. Seem to do pretty well. I'd
be curious to maybe see him Try that once or
twice more if we want a bit more of an attacking
flair there as one of our holy midfielders Chad
be here says do we think England can take down
Argentina or are we getting a rematch of the
last World Cup final? Anything as possible Chad,
but the story writers want the rematch, you know
They do and so that's what it's gonna be because
it is never coming home I don't know. I think,
uh, France versus England or, or, you know, a
hundred year war final could be fun. Anyways,
guys, uh, that's it for today's show. Appreciate
y 'all joining us. Uh, we will talk to you soon.
Anchors up anchors up. You've been listening
to the raising anchor soccer show. You can follow
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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.