Gameday Info:
Tampa Bay Rowdies host Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
Saturday, May 8, 7:30 p.m. ET
Al Lang Stadium, St Petersburg, Florida
Watch: The match will be broadcast on ESPN+. Fans can watch here.
Follow Along: Live updates for the match will be posted on Twitter at @RowdiesGameday. Score Updates will also be posted on the Rowdies’ Instagram and Facebook accounts.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies are starting this year’s USL Championship season under similar circumstances to their start in the 2019 campaign. Like two years ago, the Rowdies will be hosting Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC after opening the season the week before with a win at Al Lang Stadium.
That night in 2019 ended with a 2-0 Rowdies victory, a result Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins will hope to replicate this Saturday. The two teams did not meet at all in 2020 but they’ll make up for it this year as they face each other four times in the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division.
“For me this is one of the toughest opponents we’ll face,” said Collins. “Facing them four times this year will be very difficult for both teams. If you look over the past three seasons since Bob Lilley’s been in charge, they’ve always been a difficult team to beat.”
This offseason Collins and his staff plucked one of Pittsburgh’s biggest contributors in Steevan Dos Santos. The tall, imposing forward earned his first start for the Rowdies in last week’s win over the Charlotte Independence and played a key role in the buildup to the club’s third goal.
It won’t be the first time Dos Santos has faced off against one his former teams. Having been in the league since 2015 (and notching 51 goals in that span) he’s done it a few times. After joining the Rowdies a little late into preseason camp, Dos Santos is now feeling comfortable with his teammates and working up top with Rowdies captain Sebastian Guenzatti in the attack.
“He’s an experienced player like me and he knows the team better than me,” Dos Santos said of Guenzatti. “He’s a very good player for the team. That makes it easy for me, sometimes I get tired running forward and he’s running back to cover. And the same the other way. It is good to know someone has your back. It took time for us to build the confidence, but I think now we’ve been playing better day by day.”
Substitutions played an important role in the Rowdies securing three points last week. Halftime substitute Lewis Hilton delivered the set piece ball leading to Guenzatti’s second goal and Leo Fernandes didn’t need much time to bag his first goal of the year as a late substitute. The Rowdies will need contributions from the starters and the bench as they continue to carry a few knocks in camp.
“One thing our players learned last year is they can be called upon at any time,” said Collins. “If it’s the right matchup, if I think they’re doing well in training, if we need to freshen up and change we’ll make a change. No one’s guaranteed to play every week. We’ll do what’s best for the team. Right now the competition is healthy and it’ll be even better once we get two or three guys back from injury.”
Scouting Pittsburgh:
This is Pittsburgh’s first match of the year, which could give head coach Bob Lilley a slight advantage as his Riverhounds remains a bit more of an unknown factor with a sizable group of new players joining the returnees who took the club to the postseason last year.
Last year’s successful season was built largely on the back of a stout defense that led the league with 8 clean sheets and allowed just 10 goals in the regular season. On the offensive side, the Riverhounds retained midfielder Kenardo Forbes who led the team with 8 assists last year and holds the league records with 46 assists in six seasons.
Pittsburgh has never won a match at Al Lang. In three trips to Tampa Bay they’ve left with one loss and two draws. In fact, the Riverhounds’ only win over the Rowdies came in Third Round of the 2015 U.S. Open Cup.
Rowdies Injury Report:
Questionable: Juan Tejada, Lucky Mksoana, Yann Ekra
Out: Luiz Fernando
