Dueling in the Desert

RIFC look to right the ship tonight against Phoenix Rising

Author

Ryan Healey
March 22, 2025

Good morning Tide Talk faithful and happy Match Day to all those who celebrate. RIFC kick off tonight at 10pm EST against Phoenix Rising FC. Quite frankly, I’m happy we’re getting our annual Phoenix game in early because I am having a horrific time trying to spell that correctly every time.

The Tide look to get their first points on the board this season after a disappointing 2-0 defeat in Charleston last Saturday. While that was a tough match, there were some clear positives and things to work on that hopefully Coach Khano and Co. can build on tonight.

A bunch of the Tide Talk crew will be at The Guild in Pawtucket with The Defiance 1636 for this one. We hope to see you there!

Pro/Rel USL!

In major news this week, the USL announced that a supermajority of owners voted in favor of adopting Promotion and Relegation into the USL. There’s still plenty of questions around what this looks like in practice but it’s an incredibly exciting next step for this league and US Soccer overall. To break this down, we had to turn to our Transatlantic Correspondent Scott as he’s lived this his whole life.

USL votes to adopt Pro/Rel - historical move making it a more serious league than MLS - Tide Talk

On 18th March 2025 the USL owners voted to implement the globally accepted model of hierarchy of teams within the league system, shattering Eurosnobs’ ability to mock them. ‘Deeply unserious’ ‘closed league’ and ‘non competitive’ are all pejoratives that non-Americans can only level against the MLS as of yesterday, as the USL steps confidently into […]

tidetalkri.com/2025/03/20/usl-votes-to-adopt-pro-rel-historical-move-making-it-a-more-serious-league-than-mls

To the content:

Matt 🖐️ s is back at it with his Prematch Lookout. And not so spoil it but yes, he did fit a Simpsons GIF in there, don’t you worry

The Prematch Lookout: Phoenix Rising vs RIFC - 3/22/2025 - Tide Talk

Can we start over? It’ll be a long 119 days from our last match out in Colorado Springs when RIFC kicks off against Phoenix Rising on Saturday night to start the season. We get to turn the page on a new seas-. OK, OK, it wasn’t that bad. RIFC lost 2-0 last weekend in Charleston […]

tidetalkri.com/2025/03/20/the-prematch-lookout-phoenix-rising-vs-rifc-3-22-2025

The 🐐 Patrick McKenna has you covered in his Pre-Match Essentials. Go give that an upvote on Reddit!

Pre-Match Essentials | Rhode Island FC @ Phoenix Rising FC | Sat Mar 22, 2025 10 PM ET : r/RhodeIslandFC

Rhode Island FC is back in action this Saturday night, March 22, heading west to face Phoenix Rising FC. Both teams are still hunting for their first win of 2025 – and this one has all the makings of a firecracker.

www.reddit.com/r/RhodeIslandFC/comments/1jghayy/prematch_essentials_rhode_island_fc_phoenix

Matt and I were joined by Owain from PHNX Sports in the Away End to preview this match and talk a little Pro/Rel coming to the USL. Make sure to join us Sunday night to celebrate Tide Talk episode 100!

Up the Tide!

Ryan & the Tide Talk Team