ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (August 9, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies may feel like they dropped two points in their 0-0 draw against the Charleston Battery on Wednesday night, but there’s plenty of positive signs to take toward Saturday night’s match-up against North Carolina FC.
Here’s Three Things from the match…
1. Keeping it clean
First and foremost, the Rowdies should take pride in keeping a clean sheet as it was only their fifth in 21 matches this season. That it came against one of the most dynamic attacking groups in the East, including co-Golden Boot leader Ataulla Guerra, is even better.
Tampa Bay hadn’t kept a clean sheet since a scoreless draw against Atlanta United 2 since June 2, a span of nine consecutive matches giving up at least one goal. It was Cody Mizell’s
The Rowdies’ defense got a big helping hand from the Rowdies offense Wednesday night to limit Charleston’s attacking potency. The Rowdies had 57 percent of possession and when they lost it, an immediate high press kicked in to pressure the Battery into a turnover deep in their own half or a long ball to Rowdies defenders on the halfway line to relieve pressure.
As a result, only 15 percent of the match was played in the Rowdies’ defensive third. The Battery logged only one shot on target over the course of 90 minutes. The average position charts below show the Rowdies’ three center backs were all at or near the halfway line all night defending high.
Action Areas
Average Position
2. Morad’s debut
The Rowdies have had a succession of players thrown straight into the fire of their club debuts in recent weeks with defender Tarek Morad being the latest to join the club. He signed with the Rowdies this week after a long journey from Cairo and played the full 90 minutes in the sweltering August heat and humidity, which is no easy feat.
Morad was deployed as the left center back in a 3-5-2 formation with Papé Diakité anchoring the middle and Leo Fernandes playing as a left wing back. Morad came to the Rowdies with a great pedigree of nearly 8,000 minutes of USL action over the last four seasons and a 2017 USL Cup Championship with Louisville City FC and he looked every bit the part last night.
He logged four clearances and three interceptions while winning 75 percent of his aerial duels and helping the Rowdies to a clean sheet.
His best moment came in the 54th minute when it would have been understandable if his legs were starting to feel heavy in his first game action in a long time.
After a Rowdies attack fizzled out at the top of the 18-yard box, the Battery looked to spring winger Gordon Wild into a dangerous position with a long ball over the top. Morad sprinted with Wild the whole way, tracking the ball over his shoulder, and stood Wild up without fouling just outside the box and won the ball back for the Rowdies.
3. Looking for consistency
For weeks, Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins has said he needed competition for places in the team to raise the level of play throughout the squad. In the last two months, eight players have made their Rowdies debut. Take for instance Papé Diakité, who now feels like a mainstay on the back line. Diakité’s Rowdies debut was only four matches ago on July 21 against the Indy Eleven.
With all the comings and goings in the squad, there is now plenty of competition for places on the field in what is now a 26-man roster (minus the two season-ending injuries to David Najem and Kyle Curinga.) It’s time to hone in on what Collins feels is the best lineup to make a serious playoff push with 12 matches to go in the regular season.
Keeping a clean sheet against Charleston was a good step in the right direction, even if it’s a shame that defensive effort wasn’t paired with a sharp enough offensive effort.
“We would’ve had more momentum (for Saturday) if we’d won,” Collins said. “It always goes down to how well the players can replicate that, if the players can go out and replicate that we’re going to have a good chance. The thing is it’s not about one-off matches, it’s about doing it consistently. Hopefully we can keep consistency in the team selection and we can get consistency in the field, then we get consistent results.”
Wednesday night’s 3-5-2 feels like it might have some sticking power now that the Rowdies have four true center backs on the roster and plenty of depth on the wings.
