Gameday info
Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Charleston Battery
Friday, July 2, 7:30 pm
Al Lang Stadium, St Petersburg, FL
Gameday Specials: Al Lang Stadium is the place to start the July Fourth weekend. Bud Light beer will be $3 all match long at every location in the stadium and fans will be invited to watch a post-match fireworks show from the field.
Tickets can be purchased here or at the box office at Al Lang starting at 2 pm on gameday.
Pre-Game: Catch the pre-game show live from Al Lang Stadium, hosted by The Unused Substitutes the last half hour before kickoff. Tune in to the show on the Rowdies Gaming Twitch channel here.
Watch: The match can be viewed on ESPN+ 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 Friday at Al Lang Stadium, the Tampa Bay Rowdies face the Charleston Battery, the only team to hand them a defeat in 2020. In fact, Charleston did it three times during the regular season. The Rowdies, though, won the match that mattered most when the two sides met in the Eastern Conference semi-final.
Charleston currently sits sixth in the Atlantic Division standings, but the club has claimed a win in three of their last four matches. Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins expects more of the same of what his team saw from Charleston last year.
“You know despite a couple of difficult results to start the season, it doesn’t change our perception of them as a team,” said Collins. “We know they’re well-coached with good recruitment. We expect a really tough. Like us, they’ve kept a lot of players from last year. This breeds consistency, which we know gives success in this league. 3 out of 4 is a good return and they’ll be looking to add to that.”
Charleston’s Nicque Daley earned a spot on the USL Team of the Week for his brace last week in the club’s 3-0 win over Loudoun United FC. That evens him at three for the year with Charleston’s Stavros Zarokostas, who also scored against Loudoun. When asked this week who in the USL he considers one of the best attackers he’s gone up against, Rowdies keeper Evan Louro gave credit to Zarokostas, who bagged three against the Rowdies last year.
“I think Zarokostas has caused us the most problems,” said Louro. “He’s a really good player. He’s very shifty. He’s a good finisher. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time.”
The Battery will be without one key piece as attacker Zeiko Lewis has been called up by Bermuda’s national team. However, the Battery have regained an important player in Romario Piggot, who was just re-signed by the club this week. The attacking midfielder has tallied 5 goals in two prior seasons with the Battery.
The 100 Club Expands by One
The Rowdies family will get to celebrate a major milestone for Sebastian Guenzatti when the Rowdies captain makes his 100th appearances for the club. Guenzatti, who joined the Rowdies in 2017, leads the team with seven goals this year. His total tally for the Rowdies now stands at 43 goals.
Collins has a favorite illustrative story abut Guenzatti from his first year in charge as head coach. On a night at Al Lang when the Rowdies lost to Louisville 2-1, Collins took Guenzatti off the field after just 45 minutes.
“I spoke to him on Monday and explained to him the level of performance wasn’t what was required,” recalled Collins. “We need goals from that position. He was in total agreement. The measure of the man that is, he didn’t use any excuses… I’ve played with and coached a lot of players here and you can imagine what some of the attitudes might be to not playing or getting taken off at halftime. Seba trained like a beast for four weeks and never made a squad, never made the bench, never travelled and then got his way back into the team. That told me a lot about his personality and then he backed it up with the quality of his play and he got his chance at number 9 and he’s been a real leader and captain. He’s what you want representing you out there on the field as a fan. That’s the kinda guy you want to support and get behind and that you want to coach. It’s great that it’s his 100th game, although just in typical Seba style, I don’t think he wants to talk about it too much right now.”
Don’t forget, Guenzatti’s longtime teammate Leo Fernandes will join him in the 100 club next week when the team travels to Miami FC.
Injuries Mounting
The Rowdies will be without the man who notched the winner against Charleston last year in the postseason as Lucky Mkosana continues to work his way back from his preseason injury. It’s the same story for Juan Tejada and Luiz Fernando with their preseason knocks. Steevan Dos Santos is in the same boat with the broken bone in his foot suffered at the end of the Miami FC match in May. Last week, midfielders Laurence Wyke and Yann Ekra became the latest additions to the list of injured players when they became late scratches at Hartford Athletic, leaving the Rowdies with just four outfield players for the match.
Collins didn’t have an update to offer on Ekra and Laurence during this week’s media call, but he’s choosing to view the moment as an opportunity for other players.
“One thing I’ve found as a young coach is it’s amazing the opportunity that comes when times may be a little bit tougher,” said Collins. “It’s always an opportunity for a player that might not have had that opportunity and then, before you know it, they become a mainstay. It’s amazing how that transpires. The players certainly took their opportunity at Hartford and I’m sure there will be others that will get opportunities over the next week.”
Injury Report:
OUT: Lucky Mkosana, Juan Tejada, Luiz Fernando, Steevan Dos Santos
QUESTIONABLE: Laurence Wyke, Yann Ekra
