It’s a great day in Downtown St. Petersburg, it’s the start of the fall season and Independence Day! As of late Friday night there were only 750 tickets remaining to be purchased to sell out Al Lang Stadium for the fall season opener. The Tampa Bay Rowdies are facing off against the Atlanta Silverbacks who they last played in the Spring Season finale. The Rowdies had a great win decimating the Atlanta Silverbacks 3-0. The Rowdies who are starting off the fall season after an impressive second place finish in the spring season are looking to continue the success. The productive football that was played last time against the Atlanta Silverbacks should be what we expect today from the Rowdies.
One thing the Tampa Bay Rowdies need to do better this game and for the fall season is to find the back of the net and finish in the final third. In the last match against Atlanta an impressive three goals were scored and Tampa Bay’s stark defense held Atlanta to none. I would expect even with majority of the players back to play, besides Richard Menjivar who is representing his home country of El Salvador in the Gold Cup, that players like Brian Shriver should still get time on the pitch. Since Brian Shriver came back for some action in the last two games of the Spring Season, the attack in the final third has increased. I think Thomas Rongen should stick with some sort of the same attacking style that was used to defeat Atlanta in the Spring Season Finale.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies are looking to utilize the the home crowd that allowed them to be undefeated at home in the Spring Season. With a projected sold out Al Lang stadium tonight they will be playing in front of over 7000 fans who will be expecting three points to start the Fall season. The Fall season is still young and a lot is expected from this squad but with the bar set high, this team can live up to the hype. The strong defense and great goalkeeping are a major tangible to the success of this team. I expect great play from Georgi Hristov who leads the team in assist to be the player of the match tonight.
You can catch the game on Great 38 for local broadcast in the Tampa Bay area and live on ESPN 3 at 6pm EST.
Come on you Rowdies!
