Over the last several months, as Rhode Island FC began announcing its long list of roster signings and unveiled its branding and plans for a new stadium, USL Show co-host and Protagonist contributor Phil Baki was impressed. In his words, the club had done “some of the most serious behavior we have ever seen from an USL Championship expansion side.” Now, less than a month away from its regular season kick-off against New Mexico United, the club is even more locked in and ready to prove itself as it launches its inaugural season.

But building a roster from scratch can be a tricky thing, mixing twenty-something new players together in hopes of finding a winning formula. There’s plenty that can go wrong. As the Rhode Island attempts to find the magic mixture as the regular season approaches, the team has spent extended time in Florida during February, scrimmaging and practicing together. New Head Coach Khano Smith has been hard at work, crafting a starting eleven ready for the Championship and he discussed the process with Protagonist last week. “We've done a lot. We've had two games, and it was a really good gauge for us. We're trying to accelerate that team building process, we've been doing some team building stuff. We've obviously been doing a lot of training.”

Coach Smith speaking with his team. *Image courtesy of Rhode Island FC*

As Smith spoke about his team, it’s clear he’s just as confident in the process as many of the outsiders are, but he freely admits that success won’t come easy. “We feel like the team's right where we should be, but we've had days of training, where we felt that as a group it probably wasn't a good day. But you also say to the players ‘if you don't struggle, then there's no growth.’ So, yeah, the struggle is good…The players are buying into the style of play that we would like to have. And they know it's gonna be ups and downs, but ultimately, we're just trying to become a good cohesive group of people, human beings, players that are pushing towards a common goal.”

Because the roster had to be built from scratch, there was some mystery about the direction and who might be picked up by the expansion club. Rhode Island did not disappoint. Smith, who is also the Rhode Island FC’s General Manager, has amassed an array of talented players who should have an instant impact. Included in that collection are two players who played for last year’s Players’ Shield winners, Pittsburgh Riverhounds. 20-goal scorer and USL Golden Boot winner Albert Dikwa and midfielder Marc Ybarra. Clearly the club is hoping that pairing can yield similar results in a new setting.

Marc Ybarra in action against OCSC. *Image courtesy of Rhode Island FC*

Ybarra sees his pairing with Dikwa as a match in mindset. “He's someone that I spent two years with in Pittsburgh. And we have similar competitiveness. We both love winning, That's the most important thing to both of us. So just kind of bringing that intensity in our experiences from Pittsburgh with us. Hopefully that will contribute to the group.” The group, of course, is a mix and match of players who will have to compete quickly in a league that values cohesiveness and teamwork. While some might be worried, the newness of the squad is a plus for Ybarra. “I think what's gonna be key for us is there's nobody established here. There's no one that you can look to who's been at the club for six or seven years where you're like, ‘this guy knows his way around the facilities. He knows what he's doing.’ So I think what it's gonna take is all of us being able to come together quickly, and to fall into our roles quickly, and get comfortable with those roles.”

The club’s time in Florida was clearly hoped to get that process jumpstarted and both Smith and Ybarra seemed fired up about the team’s time in the Sunshine state. Ybarra discussed his hope of bringing the current camaraderie back to Rhode Island. “It's been really exciting and a new experience for me being able to do a team trip like this. It has been really cool and just the amount of time you spend with the guys - at meals, at training, after training - it's a really great way for us to be able to learn about each other on and off the field in a really condensed amount of time. So the day to day so far has been great and heading back to Rhode Island, hopefully, we can keep those bonds going.”

For Smith, he’s hoping the trip pays off in club attitude and approach to the season. When asked what we should expect from his squad, he was clear: intensity. “We’ve talked a lot about being intense and that's in possession and out of possession. Ultimately, we would love to have the ball the entire game, but that's, that's fairy tale stuff. There’s probably only one team in the world that really does that and that's Manchester City. So the rest, the rest of us have to find a way and find little nuances to be better than the opposition. So we certainly wanna be an attractive attacking style team, that's creating goal scoring opportunities and being able to win the ball back from the opposition as quickly as possible with intensity.”

With a roster that will rival any of it’s Eastern foes, Rhode Island looks well-prepared to make its mark right away. Coach Smith has high expectations for his team to shine and bring the intensity from the first whistle. And given the way in which the entire organization is approaching this season, there’s little reason to not take him at his word.

- Dan Vaughn