The Basics
Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Richmond Kickers
Saturday, April 29, 2017, 7:30 p.m. ET.
Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Follow us for live updates on Twitter @RowdiesGameday
Tickets
Tickets for Saturday’s match are available by calling (727) 222-2000 or clicking here. Take advantage of the Rowdies’ new Hat Trick Pack and get a ticket to each of the Rowdies next three home matches for just $33 or go with the Fútbol Four Pack and get a Sideline Upper Reserved ticket to four matches of your choice for $79 for adults and $44 for children.
How to Watch
The match will be broadcast on thisTV Tampa Bay and on the USL’s Youtube channel here.
Parking
There are several options for parking at Al Lang Stadium and around downtown. Parking in Lot A, right in front of the stadium, costs $5. Lot A opens at 4 p.m. For more parking options, click here.
Records
Tampa Bay: 3-1-2 (W-T-L), 10 points, 4th place Eastern Conference
Richmond: 2-0-3 (W-T-L), 6 points, 9th place Eastern Conference
Rowdies Notes
After opening the season with three consecutive wins, the Rowdies’ form has now dipped with the team on a three-game winless streak. Tampa Bay returned home from a difficult road trip last weekend and lost 3-2 to the Charleston Battery.
The Rowdies led the Battery as the first half wound down after a Joe Cole goal in the 34th minute, but Tampa Bay conceded its first goal at home in the 40th minute and conceded again in first-half stoppage time to fall behind 2-1. Georgi Hristov leveled the match in the 62nd minute, but Charleston’s Tah Brian Anunga scored the game-winner in the 89th minute to doom the Rowdies to their first home defeat of 2017.
The Rowdies again dominated the ball in the match against Charleston, tallying 69 percent possession and out-passing the Battery 507 to 232, but Tampa Bay wasn’t clinical enough to avoid defeat.
The Rowdies face a different kind of defensive challenge this weekend. Each of the last two matches have seen the Rowdies playing against a forward coming off a hat trick, with FC Cincinnati’s Djiby Fall being held off the scoresheet just a few days after he scored four goals against Saint Louis FC. Against Charleston, the Rowdies kept Romario Williams off the scoresheet after he notched an 11-minute hat trick against the Rochester Rhinos a week earlier.
Scouting Richmond
Richmond is coming off a 2-1 win at home over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds last weekend, their second win of the year. The Kickers’ Fred Sekyere put Richmond ahead in the 15th minute and D.C. United loanee Alhaji Kamara doubled the lead in the 46th minute. Marshall Hollingsworth pulled a goal back for Pittsburgh in the 59th minute, but Richmond held out for the win.
That Richmond win over the Riverhounds halted a three-game losing skid in which the Kickers failed to score a goal. After a 1-0 win over Harrisburg on opening weekend, the Kickers lost 1-0 in three straight weeks. Richmond arrives in St. Petersburg as one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the Eastern Conference, having scored just three goals in five matches to start the season. No one on Richmond’s roster has scored more than one goal this year.
This season marks Richmond’s 25th, making the Kickers the oldest continuously-running soccer organization in the country. The Kickers played their first match on April 30, 1993 and have won four league titles, in addition to the 1995 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Head Coach Leigh Cowlishaw is in his 17th season with the club.
