JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (June 11, 2016) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies won’t win the Spring Season, but they’ve positioned themselves well for the Fall Season ahead after earning a 1-1 draw against the Jacksonville Armada FC in sweltering conditions in Jacksonville on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m frustrated by the result,” Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell said. “We created lots of opportunities. Their keeper made a couple of good saves and we had some bad finishes. I’m frustrated that we couldn’t get the win, especially for the fans who made the long trip up and didn’t stop supporting us for the full 90 minutes.”
Tampa Bay entered the day with an outside shot at the Spring title, but needed to score at least six goals and win by five or more to pull ahead of the New York Cosmos. Instead, Tampa Bay finished on 16 points and will be two behind whichever team wins the Spring Season.
After a dull first half, the Rowdies were dealt a fortunate hand when Armada FC defender Shawn Nicklaw was shown a straight red card in the 46th minute, but it was Jacksonville that scored first, despite the man disadvantage.
Junior Sandoval’s spectacular long-range strike in the 52nd minute put the Armada FC ahead, but it was matches by a long-range goal from Junior Burgos in the 84th minute to pull Tampa Bay even.
“It was a bizarre game,” Campbell said. “I almost felt like we were the home team because they were sitting so deep and defending. They were letting us have the ball and that’s where we have to capitalize on the couple of chances that we created.”
Jacksonville’s goal was something of a sucker punch, coming so soon after the Rowdies have been given a man advantage.
Campbell wasted no time in trying to turn the match around, showing aggressiveness with his substitutions as the Rowdies chased the game.
Tommy Heinemann entered the match for Ben Sweat just after the goal as Tampa Bay pulled a defender in favor of more attacking options. At the same time, Jacksonville showed its intent to defend for the rest of the match, giving defender Anthony Wallace a debut as he replaced forward Alhassane Keita.
It took a while for Tampa Bay to find its equalizer, but Joe Cole set up Burgos for a tremendous goal from outside the box in the 84th minute to tie the match. It was Burgos’ first goal of the season, but he could have had more as the Rowdies looked likely to win the match in the dying minutes before eventually running out of time.
Jacksonville goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo made a diving save on an effort from Cole in the 87th minute and watched a Burgos shot dribble just wide of the post in stoppage time. Deeper into stoppage time, Darnell King jumped onto a loose ball in the box, but his first-time effort sailed over the crossbar as the Rowdies settled for a point.
The Rowdies now move forward to Wednesday’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round match against the Columbus Crew SC in Ohio in a few short days.
Tampa Bay opens the Fall Season against Jacksonville at home on Saturday, July 2. For tickets call (727)222-2000 or click here.
Scoring Summary
Armada: Junior Sandoval – 52nd minute (Assisted by Charles Eloundou)
Rowdies: Junior Burgos – 84th minute (Assisted by Joe Cole)
Caution Summary
Rowdies: Ben Sweat – 12th minute
Armada: Shawn Nicklaw – 46th minute (Red Card)
Armada: Beto Navarro – 89th minute
Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (4-3-3): GK Matt Pickens; D Darnell King, Tamika Mkandawire (c), Neill Collins, Ben Sweat (Tommy Heinemann 53′); M Joe Cole, Juan Guerra (Junior Burgos 63′), Kalif Alhassan (Danny Mwanga 72′); F Eric Avila, Georgi Hristov, Walter Ramirez
Jacksonville XI (4-3-3): GK Miguel Gallardo; D Shawn Nicklaw, Beto Navarro, Tyler Ruthven, Bryan Burke; M Patrick Otte, Junior Sandoval, Kevan George (c); F Danny Barrow (Charles Eloundou 31′), Alhassane Keita (Anthony Wallace 54′), Jemal Johnson (Nicolas Perea 80′)