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The Basics

Tampa Bay Rowdies at San Antonio Scorpions

Sunday, August 19 at 8:45 p.m. ET (7:45 p.m. CT)

Heroes Stadium, San Antonio, TX

The match can be seen live at www.RowdiesSoccer.com or by clicking here.

And be sure to follow us for live updates on Twitter at @RowdiesSoccer.

Records (W-T-L) 

Tampa Bay: 10-5-6, 35 points, 2nd place

San Antonio: 11-6-4, 39 points, 1st place

Recent Success
Last Saturday, Tampa Bay played to a scoreless draw against the Atlanta Silverbacks at Al Lang Stadium. Tampa Bay visits San Antonio in a crucial match up with only seven games remaining in the regular season. Heading into this week’s match, Tampa Bay is undefeated in its last five league matches, including three wins. Overall, the Rowdies are unbeaten in nine of their last 10 games. With a win, Tampa Bay could eventually pull within one point of San Antonio.

Series History

Tampa Bay trails in the all-time series, 1-0-2 (W-T-L), with the victory coming in dramatic fashion in a 3-2 win on June 23 at home.  

Last Meeting

The Rowdies came back to defeat the Scorpions 3-2 on June 23 with two goals in the final minutes. Luke Mulholland scored on a spectacular free kick in the 88th minute and Tsuyoshi Yoshitake added the game-winner in injury time, his second goal of the game.

Rowdies Notes
The Rowdies have won in three occasions on the road, tied for second-most in the NASL. Forward Mike Ambersley has eight assists on the season and he has now picked up at least one point in seven of the last eight matches. His five goals are tied for second on the team. With eight assists, he leads the team and is tied for most in the NASL.

Tampa Bay currently has only given up 24 goals this season, fourth fewest allowed in the NASL. With the draw against Atlanta, goalkeeper Jeff Attinella picked up his seventh shutout of the season, and 12th clean sheet of his career. He leads the league with 88 saves, and is fifth in the NASL with a goals against average of 1.14.



Scouting San Antonio

The Scorpions are currently first in the NASL with 39 points. San Antonio is coming off a 1-0 victory on the road over Minnesota, at NSC Stadium. They are currently undefeated in seven of their last nine matches and have only lost once in their last 10 home games.

San Antonio is led by forward Pablo Campos who leads the league with 16 goals. Midfielder Walter Ramirez and forward Esteban Bedoya lead the team with five assists, tied for third in the NASL. Goalkeeper Daryl Sattler leads the NASL with a goals against average of 0.59.

The Scorpions have scored 36 goals in the 2012 season, most by any team in the NASL. They have also given up 18 goals, fewest in the NASL.



Quotable

Rowdies Head Coach Ricky Hill

“We’ve had very good games against them in this season and they have all been very close. It will be a close game in respective of the sides we both put out, but I am hoping we can adapt to the Astroturf better than our first match there. It is quite long since it is 120 yards long, which we don’t encounter anywhere else in the league so that takes adjustment. We have to go in there with the proper defensive mentality, but more than that when we have the ball we have to be a threat to them. We’ve showed that this season and we need to move the ball throughout the side in order to create opportunities on their goal. We know this is a very important match looking ahead to the playoffs and we are looking forward to Sunday’s game and bringing back a win.”

Up Next

The Rowdies host the Puerto Rico Islanders for the final regular season meeting between the clubs on Saturday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Al Lang Stadium. For tickets, call 813-287-1539 or click here.