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 Jason. Rhode Island
FC defeat Monterey Bay FC 3 -1 in front of a
sellout crowd getting the job done and answering
the question of where the goals are going to
come from in this now post -JJ Williams era.
We're going to talk about the game itself, the
players who made the most impact in this match,
as well as the biggest takeaways from another
three important points. We're also going to share
some of the goals for this team ahead in this
back stretch of the season, and is another player
departing this club. We're going to talk about
that at the end of the episode, so spoiler alert,
you're going to have to hang on to the rest of
the show to hear the juicy goss, but... First
and foremost, I'm your host, Matt Entrickin.
Joining me is co -host Jason Carey. Mr. Carey,
how are you doing, my friend? Doing great, doing
great. Not looking forward to DJ Khalid striking
again, taking another one of our players, but
you know, it does happen. I guess you just will
have to, we'll have to move on and see where
you go from there. But it's so crazy that we
had a sellout during a Maroon 5 concert. Like,
wow. We are going to talk about that, but no
obituary. There's been a death in the USL today.
You didn't want to talk about the Super League's
president moving on. I was busy at work. I absolutely
did not see that. Straight to the Maroon 5 news
then. And yeah, that's right. I mean, listen,
you know, there's only one artist that's going
to beat Maroon 5 in Rhode Island on some philanthropists,
you know. birthday bash and of course that's
gonna be Taylor Swift even if she's not there
herself the folklore night being the first sellout
of the season I had to go back and check I thought
we had already had one at this point but this
is the first official one there's two that come
very close at knocking on the door of a sellout
but this is the first one of the season so far
yeah and so it's great to finally get us to see
a sellout especially you know we had quite a
few last year um it's kind of sad that it did
take T swizzle night to get us past the line
though um of course it was another gloomy day
it didn't rain during the game it rained during
the tailgate so some fans are saying that if
rain at any part of their rfc experience that
it constitutes as rain others are very like Let
line in the sand. It has to be in the 90 minutes.
Which way do we go? Because it was a win. Which
way do we go with this result? OK, and then what
if it tech? What if it only range during halftime
and not during the game? Does that count? We're
adding too many layers to this. Listen, if you
believe that it only is when we win when it rains
and you feel like the rain can be accounted for
in this match, more power to you. If you're a
diehard and now this breaks the statistical likeliness,
then that's fine too. The point was is we won.
We went against this team, Jason, and we did
it in front of a sellout crowd. That's what's
the most important part. What's important, too,
is RSC actually won on a theme night and actually
second consecutive theme night, right? Because
we also won on that bunny night when we had Star
Wars night earlier this year. That was not. We're
talking about Star Wars. I mean, you cut me off.
We were unsuccessful last year, I think, on Theme
Nights. Yeah, well, you cut me off at the end
of last show because I brought that up very last
minute. You're like, nope, we're just going to
end it right here and there. We do pull off the
win. We pull off the win in front of fireworks,
no less. I guess I'm just kind of curious, just
taking it away from the performance for a second,
looking at the optics. Should we be concerned?
I mean, again, we get called being homers all
the time on this show. So let's look at this
analytically. If we were big business people
for a second, Do you ever get worried now seeing
how we're in year three, year two in our forever
home and attendance is not it is down. We'll
talk about that in a second. But we also are
just shy of getting some sellout games. Should
we start to worry that we need fans need to do
something different? The club needs to do something
different to continue to attract talent? Or has
it been just this rain has just been getting
in the way of a lot of delivery of fan experience?
I think there's a few factors here. We we look
at. you know there being every single game this
season with the exception of what won at 7 30
so i i don't think that's helping i think a variety
could have helped especially there were a few
days where it was kind of nice at 4 pm Then some
clouds kind of rolled in like, you know, maybe
we could have had a few additional sellouts I
went to the Red Sox game yesterday got there
at 12 o 'clock in the afternoon Pouring rain
did not have an umbrella did not have a jacket
because I was told the weather would be perfect
I just didn't realize that we had to get through
bad weather. I'm not even joking first pitch
The skies opened up the sunshine came dried everything
up and it was perfect weather for a baseball.
It's like it's like How can, how can the Red
Sox get that lucky when they have to do this
170 times a season and we're asking for 12, you
know, to 16 home appearances in Rhode Island
and it seems like we strike out left and right.
No pun intended on the baseball. Yeah. And like,
I think there's just a few other factors this
season. I wouldn't be too concerned if we get
to years four and five and we're maybe struggling
and we start to see the numbers go down, then
we might have to start asking some more difficult
questions about like, What does this team need
to do from a business perspective to like get
butts into seats? But right now I'm I'm gonna
kind of just put a pin in it circle back. So
the club didn't announce the Westchester Prinks
Tires Cup game as a sellout, but when you look
at the attendance tracking stats, it was at like
ten thousand six hundred our Official capacity
is ten thousand five hundred and then we have
like the five hundred standing room only tickets
That should at least qualify us as two sellouts
for the season, but when you pull up the attendance
tracking stats from John Morrissey at backheeled
now, Rhode Island still in fifth place in total
attendance in the league, averaging 8 ,078 tickets
distributed because we know that's not turnstile.
However, so far year over year in that change,
they're down 2 .3 % so far in season. The only
the only silver lining is every club in the top
five is down by about two to as much as four
percent With only Sacramento and Louisville in
just decimals of change there, but every team
is down Where's that World Cup bump that we all
thought was coming Jason? Is this it now because
this is you know a couple weeks removed from
the World Cup as weird as this to say it's been
about a month since the final I mean Maybe there
just isn't going to be one. It's hard to say
maybe when we look at this cup maybe advertisement
wise, you know, did the leagues do enough to
get their name out there? Do people who got their
like, you know, their, their soccer hook in them,
do they know the us all exists? Right? Like I,
it, it's tough to say, I think we got to give
this a little more time. I think there's like
extraneous factors to that to kind of factor
in with, with people, you know, being broke.
Like there's just it's hence why everyone was
at the free Maroon 5 show I mean everyone in
the chat right now is talking about how they
should have been there instead not because they
missed it on soccer But this guy only has a birthday
bash, you know, and he's a Healy by the way There's
a there's a Healy that's a part of Rhode Island
of Sea. I'm curious about the connection. I'm
sorry Yeah, I mean, but every ten years how do
how does Rhode Island in ten years? coordinate
Joe Healy's celebration at Centerville Bank Stadium.
Put that as a long -term strategy and a long
-term plan. But listen, we gotta move on. Really
quickly, gotta talk about J .J. Williams. There's
no post -game interview to use because, and I'm
firmly of the belief that this is my fault, I
asked players about J .J. Williams. and they
were not appropriately set up to answer that
question in an official capacity. So I've now
noticed that the video and the audio has been
strategically cut. So I won't comment on what
they said out of reverence to the communications
team and the efforts that they went about, but
because of that, we can't pull any of the conversation.
But like the club is still on their... soapbox
of saying that there is no conversation at this
time. There is no dialogue that J .J. Williams
is simply not available for selection on that
Monterey Bay game. And yet then we see pictures
from fans of him signing autographs in Scotland.
So, Jason, I don't know, like people people ask
me at the game, like, well, no one said anything
at why our hearts and what I see waiting so long.
to announce this. I have some theories, but they're
just theories. We may be talking to some hearts
podcasts this week about it if the deal goes
through. Do you have any speculation or any insight?
You've been a fan of the game long enough. Why
has this trade not been announced yet? There's
probably some sort of difficulties because it's,
you know, between two different countries, visa
issues, weird things like that. I mean, you I
think it's interesting too. If maybe there's
like US soccer media is not prepared to handle
some of the transfers the way like it gets crazy.
If you you've kind of follow European soccer,
like the transfer rumors and all the movement
and a lot of that stuff also can happen very
quickly. Like maybe some of it's so much of it
happens behind doors that by the time people
start to get wind of it, a lot of times it's
just done. Right. There are plenty of long drawn
out sagas that happen from time to time. But
I think it's just a weirdness with US soccer
media that, and the club maybe too, being very
new, not knowing how to approach some of this
stuff. And I think also at the end of it too,
we've got to remember that hearts are not going
to want to have egg on their face. If there's
something wrong with JJ from a medical standpoint
where he's been hiding an injury or something
that we don't know about or that his ITC doesn't
clear for some reason from an immigration status
like why announce a player to then only find
out because you couldn't wait an extra couple
of days oh well he was never available to begin
with so then the trade is rejected and then you
know JJ in all theory could come back to us I'm
not saying any of that is the case but there's
no reason to do it some people asking because
we talked about well the league deadline to get
him in for certain performances for certain matchups
was last wednesday at at 11 o 'clock you know,
UK time. Well, that was specifically for the
Conference League, right? Right. But in addition
to that, though, they could have already submitted
the paperwork. It's just getting it under the
approval can come after the submission. That's
what the most important part is. So some people
saying, hey, we didn't hear the announcement,
so this must not be happening or now J .J. is
going to miss out on something. We don't know
when that that paperwork was finally signed.
It could have been by that date. It may have
been later. But if it had been made by that date.
that would not hold JJ Williams back. We just
have to now wait and see what that will look
like. So I am still very much from the answer
that JJ Williams is gone. And if you haven't
seen the photos of him in Scotland, I don't know
what to tell you. JJ Williams is no longer a
player forward either, even if the team can't
come out and say that yet. So I still anticipate
hearing from hearts any day now. that our former
forward is now living his best life in the Scottish
Grey Highlands of the Northern, I can't even
say UK, because if you ask a Scottish person,
they do not want to be associated with that at
all. So nevertheless, it's good to see him on
his way. And listen, this game did not feel like
it suffered from J .J. Williams's presence not
being there. We're going to talk a lot about
that tonight. Want to really quickly dive into
what Kano had to say before we go to break, you
know, The first questions we asked him, he talked
about the quality of Rhode Island FC, making
sure that they didn't let a team like Monterey
Bay get the best of them, and then most importantly,
capitalizing, excuse me, when they would see
Monterey fatigue. I think that first half and
that second half are different examples of where
Kano was going in this night. I think the first
half, we kind of get... a surprise you know gift
of a goal and then maybe to a certain extent
hand that right back to them even the playing
field if you will and getting reset for the more
important round of the fight which was that second
half as Rhode Island FC really started to get
in the swing of things you know Connor went on
to talk about again the importance and the vitality
of the set piece offense going on with this Rhode
Island side now I mean it is so weird to go from
2024 Jason where we were feasting famine in 2025.
I mean, famine. And it's like we're back at the
all you can eat buffet table, just getting goal
after goal from set piece wizardry. Yeah, it
is interesting to see that kind of change and
in the way that we've gotten a lot better at
set pieces. I think that's definitely been an
emphasis from the team this year about kind of
making sure that they attack those moments. and
talking about the quality of the team, capitalizing
with Monterey Bay, FC, Fatigue, Drake. They closed
out the game well. They started strong, even
if you want to argue that maybe it was somewhat
of a give -me. I mean, 11 shots in the first
half, 13 shots in the second half. Meanwhile,
Monterey Bay limited to three in the first half
and four in the second half. This was definitely
a team that didn't have answers in the fact.
that they got one goal I think that speaks to
something about maybe this was a gimme from both
sides there on that opening half yeah absolutely
well we got to go to break and when we return
we're going to talk more about this game the
stats there within and break down how Kano approached
setting up this game don't go anywhere it's the
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get back to the raising anchor soccer ship on
nine 90 WBOB with Matt and Jason. All right.
After the past weekend here, our FC still sitting
in seventh place. How, how is this still thing?
I mean, we're neck and neck there with Indy.
So they, you know, They just keep kind of matching
us here at this point. So they have the tiebreaker
Now on an eight four in seven record, you know
It's so interesting seeing indy get a win against
lou like that Like I talked last week about how
most of the teams in the upper echelon of the
conference kind of had gimme games I may have
put too much disrespect on indy's name in that
regard because I didn't see this as an opportunity
for lou To let go but then in that same conversation
that same breath if you will jason I also talked
about how important it was for us to win this
game so that we could continue to bank those
games in hand and not chase down the stretch.
Didn't even realize looking at the stats here
of the league standings, India 11 is in an exact
same position with two games in hand on the rest
of the conference alongside of us. This is an
exactly mirrored situation. We just have a better
goal difference. So you could say we have a better
defense or a better offense or both. But Indy
11 quickly being our mirror opponent that as
we fight up the Mortal Kombat table, we have
to do that mirror match before we fight the end
game boss. Indy 11 is going to be probably someone
we're going to have to take a second look at,
especially with our run in later in the conference.
Absolutely. They have given us problems in the
past, but at the same time, they're also one
of those teams that in the few seasons that we
have been paying attention to the USL now, they
tend to kind of fade away second half. So You
know, we'll talk about a little bit later on
in the show about like, you know, our hopes for
playoffs, but they're not one of those teams
that concerns me as much. I feel like they're
going to kind of fade away a little bit. I mean,
lots of conversation for that midweek game. Obviously
we won't beat them though, you know, but that's
the thing though, right? It's a midweek game
against them at home September 30th. Now I. I
kind of had teased that that was one of the last
set of period of time where we didn't exactly
have as tough of a schedule. I may need to rethink
that now because then it's Charleston, it's Indy,
we get a fun... I'm not going to disrespect Brooklyn
because Kano made it really clear in the post
game that any team is beatable on any given day.
So let's just say Brooklyn is going to be a very
fun away trip for fans in Defiant 1636, but then
it's right back into Detroit City, loud in which,
okay, they're imploding. Then it's Pittsburgh
and Hartford. So like not a lot of wiggle room
into these final games of the season. I didn't
realize how much emphasis on the midweek game
that we're really going to have with that in
the 11 match now. Best news though, Nicholas
Murray bumps us right back up to single digits
9th in the power rankings and we all know that
power ranks and power rankings is where you live
and die, right? You love to see it. It's the
only thing important. So let's get into this
game itself. Let's talk about how Kano prepared
for the match. And specifically, we had lots
of questions about what forward or what attacker
we'd see at the top of the pile. Let's talk about
this. Yeah. So mostly a very similar lineup to
what we've seen now here for a little bit. Koke
Vegas and Net here with a back four of Nick Scardina,
Grant Stoneman, Frank Nodarse and Alvear Sanchez
with Amos Shapiro Thompson and Hugo Baccarac
as your holding midfielders. Jose Quisera, Petit
Rodriguez, Yutaro Tsukada, and Leo Alfonso up
top. Like I said, pretty close to what we've
expected here. It's generally difficult in our
history of doing the show about guessing Kano's
lineup, right? We used to always do the wrong
Wednesday. Yeah, but that was fun because we
thought we knew better than Kano, or at least
we thought we knew. what Connor would do. This
was probably the first time ever where there
was too much choice and not enough to I had someone
and they listen to the show and they are a important
contributor to the larger Rhode Island FC ecosystem.
Challenge me and say why would Dwayne Atkinson
not be considered when we were talking about
an option at the front and I hadn't even thought
about that. So that was something that was even
an expansion beyond the players available. Yeah.
I would argue that Dwayne Atkinson has not proven
to us that he deserves that, though. I don't
disagree. But the point was valid, even if he
could still his hat still be thrown in the ring
there. I think Leo Alfonso is the closest of
our forwards to an actual striker. So it kind
of makes logical sense. But back to Conno selections,
I think to a certain extent, he's been hamstrung
this year with injuries and us losing players
left and right. So I think that makes it seem
like his choices are becoming a little bit more
predictable but I also think that he's solidified
his kind of tactics if you will maybe a little
bit earlier in the year and in past years we've
felt like we're still tinkering kind of later
on in the year we've seen a lot less from that.
from him this year so talking about the man of
the hour in that front spot leo afonso scoring
his fourth goal of the regular season his fifth
across all competitions uh it puts him right
neck and neck with georgia kuzera as the second
place uh goal contributor if you will from a
goal perspective on this team afonso now gets
the honor of having the fastest goal of the season
and the fastest goal ever in Centerville Bank
Stadium history for Rhode Island. You know the
fastest goal of all time is still going to be
Chico. I don't know how you beat under a minute
for a while to come. I know we need to talk about
the goal itself. Is it too soon to be elevating
Afonso? Do we need to break down that sequence
of play first before we just say Afonso is the
answer to all our hopes and prayers? I mean I
don't think we need to you know start like having
like statue building plans for him or anything.
Like it's, you know, you got to play at least
two seasons before you even consider the statue.
You've got to give him credit for finishing that
chance, right? Like we've seen, you know, greater
players miss open nets. Don't call out Prince
Sadie like that to this group. You know, it's
not, it's not always easy. So But at the same
time, if we do want to be maybe a little critical
or a little analytical of the actual play there,
I mean, we saw Monterey Bay trying to play out
from the back. They missed past it. RAFC were
doing well to press high. And Leofanzo picked
the ball up and capitalize. And so you've got
to give them credit for that. But like we said
a little earlier, sometimes those feel almost
like a gimme, as if... You know, Monterey Bay
kind of shot themselves in the foot there. You
know, last show we talked about how and even
Kano said about having the ability to finish.
He talked about having the capacity to match
Monterey Bay and capitalize when they fatigued.
I don't think the fatigue came in the fifth minute
of this match. I think this was just a mistake.
But we said that Monterey Bay's biggest Achilles
heel is there. inability to play tightly well
-organized game. They were going to have a leak.
They were going to make a mistake. There was
going to be a defensive lap in judgment. We just
thought this would be something to Kano's point
where the fatigue kicked in in like the 60th
minute and beyond. I don't think anybody expected
that to be kind of such a blunder in the fifth
minute of this match. It's great for it. And
to your point, It's like, yeah, Afonso is expected
to score that. We can talk about the XG of that.
But at the same time, if Afonso gets that wrong,
we don't even talk about Afonso getting a start
next week because that's like one of those ones.
Regardless of having 24 shots on target, you
got to put those away. Yeah. Well, that's kind
of the life of a striker. You live and die by
whether or not you can convert chances. And sometimes
you only get one or two a game and you got to
make sure you put them away. So I think this
will give him Kind of that potential nod. But
I mean, there's another player that kind of made
it to be will will get to here in a moment to
who looks pretty exciting as well to real fast.
If Afonso now with that goal scored, does that
lock him in as kind of a guaranteed start? We've
seen Kano ride the hot hand. We've also seen
Kano reward success. Do we expect that Kano or
that Afonso needs to be a part of the starting
DNA for this next match? I think like you said
with with Kano riding the hot hand. I think that
there's a good chance that he will start again,
especially that, you know, Foyo only got 10 minutes.
I think if he got a larger number, we could expect
him to maybe kind of come in a little quicker,
but I kind of expect to see that build for like
next time 30, maybe then a full half before we
actually get to see him do like a full 90. Fair
enough. Moving on to the other players that contributed
in this game have to recognize you Taro here
and his contribution on the night. You know Jason,
he goes from 15 minutes in his debut. Then he
gets a goal. He almost gets another assist. Now
he gets his first official assist with Rhode
Island. One goal, one assist, four appearances.
Is this kid the real deal? I mean that that's
a goal contribution every other game. Those are
pretty pretty good numbers in a very small sample
size here. Um, you know, I, it's hard to put
a verdict out just yet. I'm happy with what I'm
seeing from him. He he's very direct. He's a
very skillful player. I'm curious to what his
ceiling is because with a small sample size,
it feels like there's, there's a real talent
here. Like a player we may lose in a season or
two to another move that he just might. Well,
we have to buy him first to lose them. I mean,
Orlando's probably salivating. Yeah. Chomping
at the big going, oh, we'll take him back. I
mean, even with loans, we lose them too. So who
knows how, you know, we need to do good, but
not too good. And then everyone talking in the
chat and I think kind of what you're hinting
at, Osmond Foyo making his debut here for Rhode
Island FC coming in as a second half substitute
in the 80th minute. It was a brief stint, but
man, did he give us a a teaser? of maybe what
could really be in store of bringing that type
of electricity to the attack here for Rhode Island
FC. Does the future look good with Foyo at the
at the front of this? Oh yeah, like you said,
it was literally 10 minutes of play, but like
he kind of looks like he's the real deal from
that 10 minutes. He the goal that Stoneman scored,
he nearly could have scored that himself. There
was another opportunity with he was in front
of net. And then, like, at the very last dying
end of the game, he kind of flicked the ball
forward and tried to, like, chip the keeper in
the top corner. I mean, he could have had two
or three goals, like, right off the bat. Not
just Foglio, but now if you really look at our
front three, all three of those players are ballers.
I don't think we've ever had ballers in the...
across the entirety, the width of our attack.
You're now looking at Jojea who can, and maybe
he hasn't done it as much as we'd like to see,
but we know Jojea can take on defenders one -on
-one. We have seen now in four games, Utaro being
very comfortable. at taking on the back line.
And now in just 10 minutes, Foyo has shown a
side of what we like. It's like Kano's vision.
It took him three years to get there, but this
player profile, it feels like this is the next
evolution we saw. We talked about it. Is this
attack evolving right before our very eyes? I
think that's it. And like I'm starting to wonder
if the departure of Williams is one of those
things where you have addition via subtraction
because Will never call Williams not an important
part of this team, but he was a He was a he was
a striker striker, right? He was a get the ball
to him hold up the play Take a rip win his aerial
duels He had technical ability but it came more
like the physicality of it Foyo just seems fluid
out there like he he seems like the ball is just
an extension of where his mind wants it to go
and Don't know that I don't think I've seen that
around the USL like not even Cal Jennings had
has that in his wheelhouse I I don't know of
a striker. I've seen play with Elegance, maybe
is the right word. I don't know but I want to
see more of it. I'm curious where that goes We
do have foyo's audio from it and this is just
kind of as his debut What he had to say about
his first game his thoughts on Rhode Island and
the championship overall. So here's Osmond foyo
before coming here I didn't know what to expect
you know you know coming to US everyone's always
had this perception about American football you
know and I wanted to be one of the first ones
to say you know what is actually good over here
and I think coming here is exceeded my expectations,
definitely, you know. My first trip being in
Florida, Tampa, you know, I wasn't featured but
I got to be around the squad and I enjoyed my
time. From the minute I've got here to now I've
enjoyed it, so I'm just looking forward to the
coming years. It's always been heard that it's
not that technical, but I can say... over here
is very physical you know I've just played about
15 minutes and I can tell you it's very physical
and I like that I'm a physical player so it's
definitely you know definitely changed my perception.
You know what speaking to the manager I only
had one goal and to come here and do well for
the club you know I want to score goals I like
scoring goals. and I just think it's a great
time to do that, you know, step up. I'm 21, I'm
going to be 22 soon, and I want to make a name
for myself over here. Obviously, I can say I
want to score goals, I want to do well for the
team, and I think that's never going to change,
but it's also to get that happiness back, you
know. I think being out for, like, this probably
season's been inconsistent for me, so it's just
ending the season on a high and then getting
ready for next season to hopefully win the championship
again, so. I'm looking forward to that. Do you
feel like you're match fit? Are you ready? Because
you're kind of in a pre -season right now, right?
Yeah, yeah. So obviously with the fitness coaches,
you know, we're working hard. I'm working hard
to, you know, it's not easy to get match fitness
straight away. And I know that I have to be honest
with myself, but I'm someone who works hard and
I think a week or two, I know I can be a dog.
I know I can be a dog, Jason. You've got to love
his answers. I think the interesting thing, and
I don't know if it's connected to all the other
things that was attached to his name before the
transfer, but I just want to find the happiness
again in my football. I mean, he's playing down
in the National League for a period of time being
loaned. He was with Wimbledon. He started at
Chelsea Academy. I don't know if he's gone through
the grinder a lot as he's just moved leagues,
moved teams, and hasn't found that home or if
it's the other stuff that's just kind of maybe
taking the joy out. So hearing that and hoping
that we can get a good, you know, 18 months out
of it, I don't see if this is a small sample
size of what we're going to get out of this guy.
I don't know how we hold on to him for more than,
you know, 18 months at that point. Like, and
you know, hey, that's the cost of doing business.
We've talked about now, Clay Holstead, J .J.
Williams, and maybe this other player that we're
going to talk about at the end of the show. It's
great to see, it's a great problem to have, but
at the same time, man, was it fun to see Foyo
out there? We do need the Froyo Foyo t -shirts.
We need it all now. I am totally a fan. I mean,
can Greenline do some sort of collab there? Can
they make a Foyo Froyo? I don't know. But speaking
to Foyo, speaking of what we saw from Afonso,
speaking of what were the production, we're kind
of getting out of the wings now. Is this the
future of our attack? Do you think that Are you
seeing the dots that Kano is trying to connect
at this point or is there more to come? I mean,
people are questioning, you know, do we even
need another attacker at this point? We do. We
do need another attacker and that will come.
But, you know, is this are we going in the right
direction or is this not enough evidence yet
to say this is this is the new RFC? It's a very
small sample size, so I don't want to like get
carried away. But I think that it's still from
what I saw looks good. Obviously, we're going
to need to maybe test it against a better opponent
than Monterey Bay. So in that regards, we're
going to have to see how the attack evolves.
Boyo is a tall guy and he said that he likes
to play physical. So are we going to still try
some of that style where we're lobbying it up
to him or with all the skill that he has, are
we going to try and keep the ball on the ground
a little more? I mean, with only 10 minutes,
it's hard to Really extrapolate that into like
what are our tactics for the rest of the season?
So I'll be paying attention that was would continue
really quickly though. We saw Eric Klein for
ten minutes He's a lone player He looks tidy,
but it also is like This is not a cocar in is
this this is just a role player on the squad
Or do you see him breaking his way into the actual
team? i mean that's tough if you look i i don't
i don't know enough about division three you
know i'd have to lean on like josh and i kayla
pong rats from the from the revolution side of
things on this but uh what i do know is you know
looking at his stats and kind of and i did talk
to the club you know hey like this guy has predominantly
been playing as a center back in the next pro
system and they've said no We we see him as a
CDM. I feel like it's very akin to the you go
back a rack of everyone thought we were getting
a center back out of him. He I think he even
started as a center back for his first three
games because we were so light on back line defenders
and then you see him transitioning like, OK,
cool, I'm fine with this. I think Eric Klein
is a little bit, you know, is he team you go
back? Correct? I don't know. I don't see enough
that it bothers me and I see him playing. the
positions that he's Like I went back just a little
corporate to answer your question Yeah, he's
no corker and to watch specifically just him
to his last ten minutes and He actually was playing
a little bit further forward and then you go
he was you know, comfortable on the ball I don't
remember him losing it. It just it's like okay,
but at the same time I'm like, I don't know if
I see enough here to know What his role is in
this team? Well, I mean, Eric Klein doesn't benefit
from Corcoran's dad being the vice president
of, like, U .S. soccer. So I'm not sure if you
can even make that comparison. Having said that,
I think that he could be just one of those important
substitution Marky Barra -esque players. Just
get out there. Don't make, like, I think a good
night for Eric Klein is when we don't even know
he's on the pitch. Is that fair? That could be
fair. All right. Well, then we've got to go to
break. And when we return, we're going to talk
more about the biggest storylines out of this
match. Don't go anywhere. It's the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show. Fans, as the weather becomes more
and more unpredictable, be sure to check out
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Mother Nature has in store with the 990 WBOB
weather page. Now, let's get back to the Raising
Anchor Soccer Show on 990 WVOB with Matt Entrickett
and Jason Carey. Back here on the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show, getting into some of these storylines,
want to talk more about some of the goals, but
kind of also... tying this all together to a
larger storyline we've talked about, where Jason,
when this team is flying, you see the attackers
getting the flowers, you see the goals, but we
always then talk about what the defensive performance
has to do to put in the work to get that game
across the finish line. When we win, the defenders
are also elevated, but now... Defenders coming
in with some huge goals on the night as well
You go back Iraq scoring his third goal of the
season across all competitions the fourth It
was Rhode Island FC career while Grant Stoneman
scores his first goal Since 2024 I had to crack
and make sure like we talk about grant as this
legacy thing in USL, not just Rhode Island OC,
his time with the loyal and the importance of
that relationship from day one when he got brought
on alongside Koke Vegas. We know that the defenders
aren't always exactly goal machines. We know
that Frank had an incredible first -year season,
but Krifia not putting up a lot, Ahmed Mubica
not putting up a lot, unless it's closing down
playoff games with penalty kicks. That's just
not their role on this team. didn't realize for
a guy who's been with us for three seasons that
the last time he scored was almost to the exact
day, two years prior, in an El Clamaco game,
nevertheless, where I think Joe Brito kind of
steals all the thunder from that game, because
everyone remembers where they were sitting at
Burns Stadium at the time. Where do you want
to go with this? Do we want to talk about the
defense and keeping Monterey Bay contained, except
for that goal? or do we want to start with the
flowers of giving hey we now have defenders stepping
up in those roles that Kano was asking where
would these goals come from what's going to come
from our defensive unit yeah i mean it's good
to see them contributing especially because there
is that question mark of you know where do the
goals come from without JJ and sure we could
say it was a uh poor team but in Kano's eyes
i mean every team in the league is We should
just say it right now. I mean, I know it's down
here somewhere. Kano Smith, I asked him, you
know, you got to beat teams like this. And he
said, no, any team there's parody in the league.
And I agree with that. There is a ton of parody.
But then we said Monterey Bay is kind of the
basement of the basement dwellers. And when I
asked if we were going for a home playoff game
or not, he said, every team is still looking
for a playoff game. And I looked him dead in
the eyes and I said, do we really want to say
out loud that Monterey Bay and sporting Jacks
think they're getting a home playoff game? It
was a telepathic communication, but he knew that
there are just some teams that are not vying
for a home playoff game at this point. He doesn't
want to give you the sound bites. No, the sounds
are out there, but I'm not getting them into
that. I don't play them. But yeah, like it's
good to see us getting goals, especially there
was a little bit earlier, you know, I think both
of us may be a little questionable about grants
like role in this team, but. He's proving that
he still is a valuable member of this team and
that he think he still has a spot in the squad,
especially with. There's no creepy owl, so he's
coming. I talked to him at the at the game. He's
he is weak or weeks from getting back out there,
so we will have a creepy out available to us.
Maybe he has to earn his spot back. He's probably
going to go through some match fitness himself.
But yeah, I think these players have earned it.
I mean, I want to ask you this question. Do you
think Hugo Bacharach has ever scored a lower
goal than that without using his feet? Because
man, that guy got down to the ground, but I went
away. It is a diving header, but at the same
time, it's one where when you're that tall, like
there's there should be a special award when
you dive that low. They just normally you think
of diving as you're running today. It's like
he just fell to the ground to knock it in. it
was it was a beautiful goal it was a great assist
from utaro i really actually want to talk about
the stoneman goal more it's a it's a rebound
it kind of was what happened to us the previous
week where with that goal that ball should have
gone off or out of pit off gosh i can't talk
tonight out of the game instead it deflects off
of revira um russell cicerone picks it up for
tampa and flicks it on to get the second goal
in 90 plus in this one it's kind of the same
thing a ball that doesn't clear gets brought
back in we're still in a dangerous position in
their final third with a lot of our players in
the box. It gets tapped around like a pinball
a little bit and then Stoneman with the the execution
you know getting the the goal there in a lot
of ways like think about how many times that
Stoneman would have already been retreating back
to get into defensive shape. The fact that he
was still there had that nose for goal is not
something we've seen from a tenacity in this
team. over the last three seasons. And that's
kind of what makes me think is the attack evolving.
Obviously, we're up a goal, but do we get that
comfortable that it's like, yeah, so get out
there and see what you can do, cause some extra
damage. Don't worry about running and getting
back to the back line. Yeah, no, absolutely.
We in the past have not seen enough players crash
that box and really like go for that extra goal.
Maybe there are times when we didn't feel confident
enough that we were protected in the back. because
if if you miss that you know you can set yourself
up for a counter but so far this season it's
done really well for us um i i do want to jump
back here to the first half for a minute though
i mean we had a very strong start right scoring
in the first 10 minutes even the first five minutes
if you will is huge and we know that our afc
struggle when they go behind do you have any
concern though that we gave up a goal nearly
10 minutes later to equalize it We're still,
if you will, in the driver's seat because they
scored first, but to have them answer that quickly.
I mean, we saw this, I think, earlier in the
season. I'm very reminiscent of the early games
of 2025 where we would score very early and then
we couldn't. We couldn't hold on for the next
five to 10 minutes. A team would equalize. I'm
thinking like the Phoenix game. the was it oakland
they got the one and then we put the game to
bed uh it seems like it's a trademark characteristic
of this team until like either they chase or
they get that if they get that early goal it's
like something hasn't settled in with the team
and that's when they're at their most at risk
of their performances in that next five ten minute
battle um i wish i could remember the game earlier
this season where it happened it might have oh
i think it was louisville actually where, yeah,
because we got the initial goal, then Louisville
came back, then the next goal happened, and then
it was still 2 -2, and then red card sent us
into a completely different stratosphere. Kano
has always talked about this team needing to
find patience, but they need to find courage,
and it's a balancing act. You combine that with
the physicality of this team and the number of
fouls and cards that they draw, it's a slippery
slope for Rhode Island. I think at this point
in the season, you just got to go with the trust
in each other and say, hey, like we're going
to score again. And I think we've been saying
this all season. Don't worry about the clean
sheet as much. Try to protect it. But as long
as we're winning games and it's three to two,
two to one, like that's getting the goals, I
think is more important than some of those games
where we've seen that one nil gritty game where
they grind it out and they get that goal in the
80th plus minute. I do think it is an opportunity
for them to get better. My question to you though,
the equalizer itself, where was the mistake?
Because I saw it, I watched it several times,
and I don't know that I see anything wrong with
the play. It goes from a 4 -on -2 where you've
got the back left side of the defense containing
the winger in Glasgow and the striker in Atoya,
and then Skardina and Stoneman are closing down
on Paul on the left side. and then it's just
an untracked open run at the top of the box.
Paul distributes it back to LeJet who's screaming
in unmarked and just puts it away. I mean, LeJet
was a US men's national team player. He's an
MLS caliber player. He played in the Premier
League. It's not like he can't do this. Did they
do something wrong or is that just a circumstance
of tactics breaking down and opening up a defense?
Going back and looking at the goal, I don't think
that RAFC really did anything wrong there. there
are times when you speak to the praises of legit
like he is a very talented player legit or legit
by the way because talk about having too many
of the similar letters on the back of a kid it
is ironic that they have both those but like
legit is a is a talented player and if you give
him that kind of that much space at the top of
the box like he's gonna put one away And there
really isn't much you can do about that. The
only concern I have is that is two goals in a
row with an unmarked runner at the top of the
box while we are. Crashing on the only thing
I would say if there was not a mistake, but a
better way to play it defensively, if you are
going to put that many numbers to contain and
push the ball out wide, you've got to intercept,
especially if it's a low. cross to the feet,
like a through ball to the feet inside the box
to a waiting striker, even if his back's to goal,
that is a dangerous precedent to set. If it's
in the air, you know, a lot of different things
can go wrong at that point from just a flick
on a redistribution or an attack. But I think
when that ball just finds him right at his feet
and there's four people trying to lock them down,
that is a little bit more of like, OK, here we
buckle up, everyone. Here comes here comes the
problem. Yeah, absolutely. I think that there
may be some. Like things they can look at in
regards to maybe not being so open in the midfield
But the end of the day they still got the results,
so I'm not gonna harp on them too much for it
agreed now the importance to your point though
is you know it does we end the first half equal
but make some adjustments, whether it's mentality
-wise, it's tactically. Kano said in the post
game that he felt that the team played with more
courage in the second half, getting the ball
more into Monterey's defensive third, playing
with the press more consistently. I think overall,
Kano's adjustments, I think it all worked. I
mean, it definitely worked. We saw the scoreline,
but I think we saw this team come alive in a
different way that Monterey just wasn't prepared
for in the second half. Yeah, I think there's
definitely a better intensity from the team in
the second half in regards to like some of their
defensive actions. Funny enough, though, when
we look at the attack, statistically, our FC
first and second half are almost identical. It's
just kind of getting the whole squad to kind
of work together. If you will, I would argue
that part of that is maybe just the attrition
kind of they they wore their opponent down. but
they really went for it when Monterey was starting
to fade and that's what's important here. I mean
in the second half alone 19 touches in the box,
Monterey really didn't have a count. I looked
at their activity line. combined with their low,
low block that they had for the game, only six
touches into the opposition box with four shots,
and they were very poor XG shots, definitely
kind of put Monterey in their place on this game.
And that's important because, you know, whether
Kano says it's because there's no such thing
as a freebie or there's parody, fine, what have
you, but we needed this win. Kano said one of
the other things that was his intention... Beyond
it because he would not admit that we are going
for a home playoff game He said that we are looking
to win the next game and the next game and we
take it one game at a time But he did say that
one of his intentions is always to send fans
home happy When you look at this is a home playoff
berth even possible still I mean, I mean like
do we do we really believe this is still happening?
So I think it's absolutely possible. But if we
take a quick look here Like let's look at the
table and consider who is ahead of us right now.
So We're tied with Indy right ahead of us, right?
Okay, so Indy Like I said, I I don't know enough
about them, but generally they tend to fall off
Louisville is one of those teams that is a perennial
powerhouse, but they aren't the same team Okay,
so if we argue that if our FC continue their
form if foyo is the real deal if Sukada still
continues to play well and our tack does not
suffer Cool that we can get past them that gets
us to fit Well in front of us is Pittsburgh Detroit
and Charleston who are all in good form right
now And it's just like I don't think that it's
impossible But I almost wonder does our FC have
to take it even further to a higher gear that
maybe we haven't seen them get to Because we
know in a one -off situation our FC can beat
any of these teams Then I got it's that it's
that battle of attrition over that long period
of time Like you brought up the the schedule
towards the end of the year there and like that's
gonna be the true test there Can we go into that
those last four or five games and can we come
away with like? 11 12 points from that so then
is it less about I mean obviously we have to
do the work But really I mean the fact that Louisville
is in fifth place an out -of -home playoff contention.
There's a lot of this fall with the Mental fatigue
that's going to be taking place like in an organization
like that There has to be like conversations
about like who's getting fights to Louisville
to not make home playoffs That is a fireable
offense Whereas if you're like loud and like
we made the playoffs like we get a participation
trophy for the night That that that can change
everything I I just it's not so much and the
reason I keep asking this isn't because of foyo
or Afonso and the resurgence of this attack I
just I look at the teams in front of us and while
I do think we can win every game with the exception
of maybe one or two left in our season I also
think I don't see any of these teams dropping
points except for when we play them and then
it's not enough to get us in like that six point
swing won't be enough to get us into a home yeah
and that's the problem is because this is such
a marathon we we look back at things like sure
it was early on in the season but that that you
know, draw against, uh, um, sporting jacks. Oh
man. Like that, that's two points there. We could
have like, you know, like, and you start to go
back and look at some of these, you know, drops
points throughout the year. And those are the
reasons why it is so difficult to get a home
playoff spot is because you have to maintain
a certain level of consistency. And that's just
not really this RFC team is strong point. It's
very much a, Hey, we are a late season team.
We kind of get into form at the right time and
take that form into playoffs and then absolutely
no one wants to play us. Well, I know we're in
seventh, even though you could also. for fun
say that we're in sixth place the good news is
Jason that of the five teams and points wise
but let's count Indy as well then let's just
say of the six teams we got to go through to
get an advancing opportunity the best news is
five of those six we all still have a game to
play against them so that's five games of a six
point swing not impossible very much still in
control of our destiny but a lot of these other
teams we have not put ourselves into the best
position possible. So it is going to be a tough
road ahead. But speaking of tough roads ahead,
we've got to go to our final break. And when
we return, we've got the big news that everyone's
been waiting for, as well as the mailbag. So
if you have questions, get them in and 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. Another player gone here. Yeah, so it
hasn't been on the discord. Listen, it hasn't
been officially announced and this is something
that I was not going to talk about. But once
once the discord starts talking, it kind of unleashes
me or releases me from the things I can and can't
say. There's a few detectives inside the supporters
group inside the more hardcore fans of Rhode
Island FC doing the digital cyber stocking that
we need on a daily basis. I mean, it's the same
way they found out. about the most recent departure
of Clay Holstead. We had known about it for,
I don't know what, six or seven days, but we're
asked to not share anything to just make sure
that we protected the deal and didn't interfere
with anything. And then this same individual,
which he will now just be known as Detective
Jake, finds, you know, Clay Holstead changing
his profile to FC Dallas. before we can break
anything. Well, Detective Jake back at it again
as he went on to discover that Omidy Jope no
longer following the club on social media. I'm
not sure, Jason, if Omidy ever put Rhode Island
FC posts up on his account. It very much stops
right now at his time in San Diego. Sometimes,
though, players that have that MLS... experience
they won't post lower division so that if an
agent or a team or anyone comes knocking so it's
a deal player this is the caliber of player that
we see but yes how many joke very much not engaged
in any of the socials for Rhode Island now that
is not indicative of anything of course but I
can also share that we have not seen Omidy Jope
at any practice in quite a while. He did not
make the team sheet. He hasn't made the team
sheet since Birmingham. So he hasn't been on
any team sheets for Tampa Bay or now this Monterey
Bay game. In fact, I asked at the Colorado Springs
game where he had also not made an appearance,
where was Omidy Jope? And Kano had said at that
point that he had not been chosen for the 18
man roster. Didn't think of it at the time. I
kind of questioned that too. Like it felt like
If Kevin Vang is on the 18 and Omni Jope is not,
what is going on with this, right? Yeah, and
so we've been without him for a while. There
was an injury, but we know that he came back.
But he was still not getting selected, so it
kind of felt like there was something wrong there.
Considering that we've done well for the most
part defensively without him, I wouldn't be too
concerned. We've seen this in the past throughout
this team where. I'm just speculating here, but
maybe burn out or something, if you will. And
maybe it just something. Let me share what I
know. I can add to that a little bit, right?
So there's conversation about, you know, like
in the chat, who's getting engaged? Obviously,
Grant Stoneman having the biggest week of his
life goal win and getting engaged. So some conversation
about that, you know, getting to joke now with
this. The big people are asking. Oh, is this
a transfer? Is this a trade? Is this a release?
Is there is there problems? You know is something
rotten in Denmark and or Senegal I guess you
could say in this case and You know, we don't
know that that's the one thing we're not quite
clear on about this What we do know is that he
hasn't been around for practice He's not been
discussed as an injury and he's now cut all of
his relationships on social media That leads
me to speculate because we haven't heard about
any trades or deals coming across. Normally,
and I'm not saying we're that important to this
organization, Jason, but normally someone gives
us a scoop. We either hear about it from the
club itself and they ask us to embargo it, or
they ask us to just hold off. We hear from the
outbound team, or excuse me, the inbound team,
like, hey, we're hearing about this player profile.
What can you tell us about it? Kind of one of
the things that's going on with Williams right
now is we have we have Scottish groups reaching
out to to confirm things. Very radio silent.
And the last time I saw this level of radio silence
was Amima Bika, who just disappeared like fairy
dust. He was just gone overnight. We didn't we
saw the it was that five o 'clock or eight o
'clock at night on a Friday announcer where when
you announce it like that, you're trying to bury
it like just forget it. Don't ask me questions
happen. I'm not going to be available for something.
And so this feels more akin to that. And so,
you know, New Mexico United released a player
today, you're getting into that part of the transfer
window where if Omni -Jope, whether it's because
he's choosing to leave the team or Kano Smith
is telling Omni -Jope, I don't have a position
for you or I don't have the level of contribution
that you're expecting from this team is going
to be made available to you. And if that is the
case, kudos on Kano for telling him as such,
because why lie to a player that, you know, hey,
if you're playing time is going to get diminished
because Frank Nadarse has earned a way into left
center back versus left back. And when Kareef
and Grant start fighting it out, like, you know,
even though we thought Omidy was CB number two
behind Kareef, if he suddenly dropped to CB five
or CB four, maybe Omidy is not that's not where
he wants to be in his career. Right. So we just
don't know these things right now. But what we
do know is, is that This is something where Omni
hasn't been seen now in almost three weeks, and
now his digital footprint is matching that. I'm
confident in saying OmniJope is no longer with
the club, even though it hasn't been officially
announced. And if I'm wrong for that, you know,
fine, so be it. But like, I'm willing to put
the good name of raising anchor on the concept
that OmniJope is. You don't go and unfollow your
boss all of a sudden and somehow expect to walk
back into work on Monday. You don't follow your
boss to begin with if that's how you're going
to play the game. That way there's no ill will
later. We're talking about soccer players who
need a social media presence as opposed to a
normal job. Like this is... I know this is a
dumb joke, but and given the age that we are
compared to probably some of our demographic
But do you think how many people in Rhode Island
of see do you think would put Connor Smith in
his top eight for myspace? I Mean all the players
would have to write. I mean, okay, then flip
it. Who does Kano have is his topic. I Mean,
we know it'd be like Zack Aervo JJ Williams,
maybe not JJ anymore since you know, he's leaving
but that would be a fun exercise so Rhode Island
of see admin i know you listen as well we usually
address the ownership and management but admin
do a myspace top eight for the players and kano
and see what happens create the chaos that you
deserve to have and yes everyone would have tom
as the number one that's the cop -out answer
but yeah anyways i jope is gone everyone needs
to commiserate is this the end of our transfers
i don't know i mean i'm still hearing rumors
that we're getting an mls next pro or an mls
strike i keep hearing the word mls and i don't
know if that's that like 29th player on the allocation
roster spot, the supplemental roster spot, or
if it's an ex pro player, I'm still thinking
it's that Philadelphia striker. I feel like that's
right. My bones and my jellies are telling me
that that's something we're going to get. But
now do we need a next pro striker or defender
now? Is Eric Klein going to be our center back?
Well, and so that's the thing is we have Klein
and then we go back Iraq. We've seen CJ Williams
actually get some minutes if And then if Kareefa
comes back healthy, I think actually we could
probably get away without grabbing another center
back. I would still want a backup strike. If
Foyo is the real deal and he's our starting striker,
you still want a body to be your backup, like
worst case scenario, or even just give Foyo a
rest. Like, Hey, the last 10 minutes we're up
four nil. Like, here you go, dude, go. try something
see what happens yeah no i i think i think it
doesn't hurt to have bodies we're gonna need
the depth when it comes to playoff time you just
never know what's going on there so we shall
see and when the anywhere but the club hasn't
announced anything yet guys they haven't announced
jj williams yet so wait for the williams announcement
and then let's find out if they announce amity
jope or we see him on the 18 man roster next
saturday and i've got a lot of explaining to
do so could you think kano Do you think kano
hearing this would then just just uh like bite
us like let's just assume everything had happened
and like all that's been waiting for is to sign
like the release clause and Omni's already got
his bags packed and you know Maybe he's ready
to catch a flight next sunday after everything's
official and connor's goes up. Hey listen, there's
this podcaster You know him you were on his show
You need to come back just sit on the bench.
I would love the the amount of like Pettiness
just to spite us kano's not petty kano and I
have a good relationship. I I know I joke all
the time But Kano and I have a very healthy relationship,
as long as a microphone is not recording, okay?
That's all that matters. He's very well media
trained, everyone. He's very well media trained.
Let's get into these mailbag questions. Not a
lot tonight. Forgot to post on the socials, but
shame on all of you. You know it's Mondays, you
know it's the mailbag. But nevertheless, we do
have some good ones. It's a quality over quantity
kind of night. Andrew S. writing in, is legit
the most accomplished slash decorated player?
that RFC has ever played against? Possibly. So
do you remember, was it last year or the first
year when we played Oakland roots? Was Dom Dwyer
still on there? Did he play? Has Dom Dwyer more
accomplished than Sebastian? So we are legit
homers, but like Dom Dwyer was for a while, like
the starting striker for the U .S. men's national
team. So we have to kind of. Did we even play
him though? He didn't make the trip from Oakland.
He didn't know that he was on them. I just don't
remember if he played. I just remember Paul Blanchett
from that game. I don't remember Dom Dwyer in
that match. If he didn't, then I'd say probably
legit. Dom Dwyer is a diva. He probably did not
travel all the way across the country. He probably
stayed in Oakland. I mean, thinking about other
like decorated players that maybe we didn't play
against, but are in the league. I mean, like,
you know, you look at Drogba. Well, I mean if
we're taking it well, he's not he's saying rfc
is but yeah, yeah league -wise it's drogba If
it's rfc, I think legit. I think andrew I think
that is it and that is not because we're stands
for Sebastian I got to see it. I used my press
credentials for good for one time went up and
talked to sebastian after the game I don't think
i've ever talked to an away team player unless
they were a former rfc alumni That was a lot
of fun. But yeah, I think it is sebastian legit,
uh chat If you've got someone else one agadello
saying lagardello, that's fair one on I feel
like water yellow and the jet are in that same
like what if both of them are players who Had
pretty good peaks, but I don't think that one.
I get elo ever reached he probably has more caps
for the US men's national team and Like I'm not
a hater against one. I get Ella I just don't
think he was ever like that actually good. My
only argument is like Sebastian legit got Just
absolutely destroyed in a US men's national game
against Honduras and it never his career just
never like survived that Yeah, Honduras does
like knee breaking tight, right, right? Juan
Agudelo is only 33 right now and he's already
retired from football He left San Antonio at
the end of the first season that we were all
playing together Sebastian still playing so like
will he get to Agudelo's numbers? No But I mean
he wasn't a striker either so That's that's a
hard comparison to say, like, what is the equivalent
for a midfielder slash winger versus a strikers
production, right? I don't know. But I think
Agadillo should be thrown in the mix. I think
that's a fair assessment. Someone's saying Altador.
I don't think he did. I did not play against
him because I. Well, yeah, that would have been
gosh. Yeah, that would have been. Or maybe he
maybe did he moonlight in a game? No way. No
way. No. Chad is, Chad is out of control right
now. He did not play in the USL championship.
Ooh, I do like this answer. Bill Hamid. That's
a good one. And we could even go through the
rest of Miami FC's Portland Timbers project too.
There was a lot of players, but Bill Hamid, that's
like, that's a good one. Yeah. I like that a
lot. But I also think about like in the thing
is it's so hard to like compare, you know, apples
to oranges in regards to positions. Bill Hamid
is not like. There because the US has such a
history of good goalkeepers. Bill Hamid is like
he's down there compared with when you look at
like Tim Howard. We didn't didn't Tim Howard
play for Memphis 901, but not against us. Oh
yeah, yeah, that's yeah. The answer then would
be either. It would either be Tim Howard if it
was just all time. It'd be Tim Howard or it would
be. uh drago those would be like the best of
best that the leagues ever probably had but against
us yeah it's probably maybe landon donovan wants
to suit up in an open cup game and then just
we can play against him and then him and tim
howard can come out of retirement then we can
say that but all right we've put too much time
into this one uh elroy room is elroy room is
another good one but Good shout, but I mean very
very recent. Yeah, but it's also just keepers
like yeah, you know, all right Yeah, Joe P here
says this is a good morale boosting when after
losing JJ It seems that coach Kana was going
with pressing and playing to feet when Alfonso
is in there and playing over the top when Foyo
comes in The only negative was leaving legit
unmarked for his goal. Otherwise, it was a solid
performance. It's against a team they should
beat. Yeah, I mean, I agree with everything Joe
said on that. Except, you know, it's not a team
they should be because according to Kano Joe,
there's no such thing as a give me. So I agree
with that. I am really curious about is the to
his point about going over the top and route
one for Foyo. I don't think it needs to be that
this video could get to balls so quickly. J .J.
was never there to do that. He can if it's played
into the right spot, he can run into it. But
that's the crazy thing, too, is like we talk
about tall players always needing like that extra
mint like second to get like tall players, typically
not quick. Right, like think about when you saw
Ami Mavica run like a giraffe. Like he could
get there in six steps when it would take Kevin
Vang 37 exceptions like like Holland, right?
But like like tall does not always inherently
mean quick. I don't think JJ was that quick,
right? Foyo is very fast for his height and I
think that if that's the sign of things to come
to Joe's point It could be really exciting and
it gives us just different dimensions to our
attack So I don't hate it Bob D writes in all
NFL NHL and MLB teams make trades with their
prospective opponents Are usl championship teams
allowed to trade a player from one usl team to
another all I've ever seen are loans and cash
transactions Absolutely, but the thing is with
usl Like they tend to have short con like a lot
of these players are on one two, maybe three
or contracts at best Often they end up just doing
you see a shuffle at the end of the year where
teams will let go of eight to ten players and
those players will just get kind of cycled around
so when we look at Like actually picking up players
The reason why is because a lot of it does come
from loans. These teams are not in a position
to have the capital to go out there and spend
tons of money to buy out a contract and bring
players. And the reality is trades are kind of
not really a thing in soccer. Like you just don't,
it just doesn't happen. You don't, you let a
player's contract run out and then you just pick
them up. That on some rare occasions you see
that they will happen at the same time, but they'll
both have, and this is talking more about like
global soccer, the reality is they'll both have
numbers attached to them and be like, cool, I
sell you player X for 50 million and you buy
player Y for me for this money. And you, you're
kind of just balancing out the sheets at that
point. It's not directly a trade in the same
though, too. And this is maybe something we will
consider when us all gets a premiere. Is that
because parity exists in the league, you do not
want to strengthen your opponents. So you do
not always trade with them. You look at, okay,
I don't want to trade with Tampa Bay because
I don't want to make them stronger because I'm
going after the title against them. But Loudon
over here is they're struggling. They're trying
to stay in the league. They're willing to give
me X amount of money to buy this player. I they're
not a threat to me right and all the player to
them and that's that's the strength of Leagues
like the MLB all of them that Bob mentioned because
they all play in divisions And they don't have
to run into those teams until you're in playoffs
Maybe there's an inter -conference matchup But
like for the most part the damage that you could
do to yourself by giving a player You know whether
it's for good or bad to an opponent. It doesn't
have the same ramifications of knowing Oh, no,
we're gonna have to play this team two times.
We're gonna have to see that player again And
have we made them better because we know the
qualities of what that is. So it's not it's not
impossible, but it's just really irregular. And
also, too, like how often when you only have
twenty three people on your team, can you say,
hey, we really need a right back and this team
really wants the center back and we have a third
one that's really good that like the universe
just doesn't work like that, considering how
much of our talent is taken from, you know, collegiate
division three. washouts from Division 1 and
then that random scouting network that goes abroad.
I can't wait to see if that happens more, but
I don't ever see it being... Even when Premier
shows up, I see it being like a trade with Premier
to Championship. Like we have a player that's
not working out for us, but we see the qualities
of your Championship player. Do you want to make
a trade there? And then even then that might
not answer the question because then it's not
League to League. It is League to League, but
it's not within League. It's hard to say. What's
the next question? Yeah, Stacy D here says I
heard you get a shout out on USL all access When
are Mike and Devin on the show? I talk to Devin
regularly. So he is always welcome back. He's
just very hard to track down. Normally we ask
him if he can be on an episode and then it's
like, Oh, I've got seven very busy and it's like
a really weird time slot. He's like, I have like
30 minutes on a random Tuesday. I think he offered
once to do a prerecording for us at like five
30 in the morning on a Tuesday. Yeah. So, uh,
but you know, also as much, I do love Devin and
he's Always welcome back. I think we got to connect
more with Mike Mike Watson is young I'm sure
he's just as busy and he's they both have like
five kids each so like they're always out walking
the cat We will get them on Stacy at some point
It may need to be a playoff when like CBS is
sponsoring they can tie it into their broadcast
package So they can use our conversation in the
in the match But I will work on getting Devin
or Mike or both on the shore. Maybe they should
invite us back onto theirs again Yeah, we'll
go there Rachel M. Wrightson. Do we need another
player at this point or in Foyo? We trust I mean,
you know, it's old. Rachel's already sold. I
mean, I'm kind of sold on what I saw in folio
too, but I also don't want to like, you know,
put the cart before the horse. If you will, I
think we still need to see a little bit more
of them. Funny enough, going on the rewatch of
the game, there was an ad to, you know, go buy
more tickets for our IFC. And it was of course,
of showing Logan Dorsey. He's still, I think
he's still on the front page of Rhode Island
FC .com. I'm not sure that that's what we need.
We need a backup rotational striker who is not
going to say, Hey, you're not giving me enough
minutes. Someone who is looking to prove themselves
and develop. And that's probably what I'd say
we need at this point. Uh, Eric N says, was this
RAFC's most complete performance of the season?
I don't think so. I think that, uh, I think it
was like, I think the color speaks game actually.
was the most complete. It was a hard -fought
game. We got the goals where we needed. We earned
our goals in that match. The Charleston game
just felt like it was like a landslide going
our direction. That was just a fun game. That
might have been the goals gore, but I think a
game that like really we fought tooth and nail.
Maybe Charleston, but I'm leaning more towards
Colorado Springs. How about for you? Was this
the complete performance of the season? I don't
mean it because it wasn't a clean sheet. I mean
it more from... I just think I think that Colas
Biggs is a good shout, especially because they
are a bit stronger of a team than Monterey Bay.
Well, I don't know if there's the strongest team
in the world. I'd say a bit stronger. Do you
know where they are on the table now? I don't
know, like ninth. They're in ninth place. They
have now lost four of their last five league
matches like bad indicator. Shows you again.
How much land side will bring you down cheat
and rely on altitude but um But yeah, I mean
like from that perspective you're maybe cold
speaks. It's not the best example, but they fought
hard in that match I just I saw more out of it
from Colorado than I did from Monterey who also
have lost four of their last five so maybe maybe
neither one of those is a complete performance
and we just beat teams that at the bottom of
the table you're supposed to be even though Joe
and I Can't say that out loud in front of Kano.
Anyways, I'm rambling. We're running long. We
got to get out of here, Jason. It's been so much
fun. I can't wait to talk more soccer later this
week. We've got a fun. week ahead with the Watch
Party for Defiance 1636 at the Guild. And for
those of you that are supporters, just remember
this weekend's Watch Party will be hosting a
raffle of signed items and special ticket packs,
along with proceeds going to the Tomorrow Fund
to fight childhood cancer. And there's also going
to be a taco truck, my favorite taco truck, your
favorite taco truck in the state of Rhode Island,
Mr. Cokie's Tacos. So come on out, have a good
time and hang out with Defiance 1636 for this
Watch Party. Yeah. Thanks y 'all for joining
us. We'll catch you next time. Anchor's up. Anchor's
up. including 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.