The Basics
Ottawa Fury FC vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies
Saturday, April 19, 2 p.m. ET.
TD Place, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Follow us for live updates on Twitter @RowdiesGameday
How to Watch
The match will be streamed live on the USL’s YouTube page here. You can follow live stats and watch the game in the USL Match Center here.
Watch Party
Head to Five Bucks Drinkery on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg to watch with other Rowdies fans and enjoy drink specials during the match.
Records
Ottawa Fury FC: 1-2-2 (W-T-L), 5 points, 14th place
Tampa Bay: 4-1-2 (W-T-L), 13 points, 2nd place
Rowdies Notes
The Rowdies are 3-5-2 (W-T-L) against Ottawa in a series that dates back to the 2014 season. The Rowdies have only won once in Ottawa, a 2-0 win in their first visit to TD Place. Tampa Bay beat Ottawa 1-0 at Al Lang on April 8 in the teams’ first meeting this year.
Tampa Bay busted out of a mini slump last weekend with a 1-0 win over the Richmond Kickers at Al Lang Stadium. The Rowdies had entered the match on a three-game winless streak, but got back to winning ways with their fourth clean sheet of the season.
Jamaican forward Deshorn Brown scored the only goal of the match in dramatic fashion in the 45th minute, leaping for an acrobatic scissor kick that earned him the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 on Saturday night.
At the back, Rowdies goalkeeper Matt Pickens kept his first clean sheet of the season, though much of the credit must go to the team playing in front of him as Richmond was held without a shot on goal all night. Damion Lowe — one of three players to have played every minute this season, along with center back partner Neill Collins and mid elder Marcel SchaÌfer — led the way with four clearances, four interceptions and two tackles.
Forward Georgi Hristov leads the team in scoring with four goals. He is the Rowdies’ Modern Era leading scorer with 41 goals.
If Hristov appears in this match, it will be his 120th match for the Rowdies, tying the Modern Era record held by Takuya Yamada. Keith Savage also enters today with 119 appearances for the Rowdies, but he is yet to appear in 2017.
Scouting Ottawa
Ottawa enters this match on short rest, having played against the NASL’s FC Edmonton in the Amway Canadian Championship on Wednesday night at TD Place. The Fury FC won the match 1-0 on Ryan Williams’ goal in the 89th minute.
Ottawa hasn’t been as successful in league play this year, sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference Standings with five points from five matches. Ottawa’s lone win of the year came three weeks ago, a 1-0 win in Richmond.
The Fury FC will hope to improve its offensive output this weekend. The team has scored just five goals in league play this year. No one on Ottawa’s roster has scored more than once.
Fury FC defender Andrae Campbell is suspended for this match after after an incident in Ottawa’s match against Toronto FC II on April 29.
