Here's how RIFC outlasted Brooklyn FC in wild penalty shootout
· Yahoo Sports
PAWTUCKET — Rhode Island FC is back in its routine.
The three-week World Cup break left the club with an important start to the summer stretch. Saturday night’s USL Cup group match against Brooklyn FC was just another step in return to normalcy.
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The match result on July 11, a 1-1 (RIFC 4-3 in penalties) finish at Centreville Bank Stadium, mattered less than the rest of the USL Championship league slate. Rhode Island, lifted by Koke Vegas in penalties, was a longshot to advance from group play after it lost to Portland Hearts of Pine. But now it can focus on the true task — making the USL Championship playoffs and hosting a playoff match in Pawtucket.
“I've personally challenged him this week to raise his level,” manager Khano Smith said of Vegas. “I think when we're at our best, he needs to be at his best, and that's him tonight.
“But at that moment, you want your leaders to step up and push the team forward, drive the team forward, and I thought he did that tonight.”
Vegas, on his first professional penalty kick attempt, sent Brooklyn FC’s Lukas Burns diving to his right while he cooly slotted the winner the opposite way. Vegas also denied Rocco Romeo in the penalty shootout to help Rhode Island to a 2-1 advantage after Amos Shapiro-Thompson buried the ensuing attempt.
“With the penalty shootout, I knew that we didn’t have any chance to go to the next round, but for me it was very important,” Vegas said. “Send everybody home happy and we did it. I know that my celebration doesn’t go anywhere but I think it was a good moment of connection between me and the fans in the stadium.”
The match might not have mattered for either side in the tournament, but the compete level rose in the second half with nine total cards booked. Grant Stoneman was sent off in the 90th for violent conduct and Frank Nodarse picked up two yellows in 50 minutes. Both managers were also assessed yellows.
“I thought the officiating today was top class,” Smith quipped. “To play with 10 men and still come away with the result, happy that we can send everybody home happy with a shootout win.”
Agustín Rodríguez put Rhode Island ahead in the 19th minute after Jojea Kwizera found the midfielder in the middle of the box from the right wing. But the visitors leveled four minutes into first-half stoppage time on Juan Obregón’s set-piece scorcher to the top right corner.
“I thought up until that moment [when Brooklyn scored], I don't think they had much,” Smith said. “I thought all they had was set pieces, and we want to be aggressive, but we have to not give away unnecessary fouls. I know they want to be aggressive and are trying to do what we're asking, but you have to be calm and composed in those moments.”
Rhode Island only has league games for the rest of the year and doesn’t have a weekday match until September 30. It’s a welcomed change after returning to play with a weekday match at Sacramento Republic FC, which is the furthest the team has to travel this season. The club doesn’t have any byes for the rest of the season, as the snowstorm at the beginning of the year pushed a match to the back end of the schedule.
“It’s always good to be back on track, of course,” Vegas said. “I would say that it was not the easiest way to come back with three games in one week. It would’ve been easier to go one game per week, but it is what it is. We know how the schedule is in the USL in general.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Here's how RIFC outlasted Brooklyn FC in wild penalty shootout