Gameday Info
Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Hartford Athletic
Tuesday, July 13, 7:30 p.m.
Al Lang Stadium, St Petersburg, FL
Pre-Game Show: Catch the pre-game show hosted by The Unused Substitutes live from Al Lang Stadium, featuring guest interviews, analysis, and giveaways. The show can be viewed here on the Rowdies Gaming Twitch channel here the final half hour before kickoff.
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 Tampa Bay Rowdies (8W-3L-0D, 24 pts) return to Al Lang Stadium this Tuesday for their second meeting of 2021 against Hartford Athletic (5W-2L-2D, 17 pts). The Rowdies took all three points off Hartford in a 1-0 road win last month, but a similar result will be even tougher this time around. A troubling trend for Rowdies is that all three of their losses have come in their rematches with Atlantic Division opponents Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Miami, and the Charlotte Independence.
Miami was the latest to defeat the Rowdies, riding two goals their first win over the Rowdies in USL Championship play. One factor in favor of the Rowdies heading into Tuesday, though, is the fact that the club has not dropped back-to-back matches since October of 2019. That ability to bounce back quickly and get back to picking up points so soon after a loss is a huge reason why the Rowdies have found success the last two seasons.
“The players have got a fantastic attitude, a resilience,” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “We lose a game, we dust ourselves off and we go and get ready to learn from it and go again. That’s always the coaching staff’s mentality but you need the players to have that attitude of ‘We want to get better. We want to learn from that.’ Ours have been fantastic at that. That’s something that’s important in a long season, is that you have a defeat and you quickly bounce back from it.”
Atlantic Division Report
Despite the loss in Miami, the Rowdies remain first in the Atlantic Division with 24 pts. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (21 points) and Miami (20 pts) have closed the gap recently, but it’s worth noting the Rowdies have two matches in hand on both of those clubs. With two-thirds of the season left to play, there’s still ample time for the table to shake up and for teams to rise and fall.
“I personally think our division’s got the strongest opposition,” said Collins. “I’m sure other divisions feel the same. I think you do look across all the divisions and there’s a lot of strong teams, to be fair. I think the league itself is very difficult, especially when you’re playing teams four times. I think that levels the playing field, because I think familiarity makes for much tighter games. If we look at our division, we’ve got four or five teams that were in the playoffs last year, so I think that shows the strength. Those teams can beat anyone across the league on their day, which means every game is difficult… We’re never complacent. We are very respectful of who we’re playing. We know all these games the second time around are going to be tougher, and then the third and the fourth are after that. We handled it well last year and we’re going try and do the same.”
Celebrating Leo
Midfielder Leo Fernandes made Rowdies history last week in Miami when he came off the bench in the second half by making his 100th appearance with the Rowdies. Fernandes is second all-time for the Rowdies in assists with 18 and is a constant threat to create chances for other from out on the left wing. With the Rowdies returning to Al Lang this week, fans will be able to honor and celebrate Fernandes’ achievement as they did Sebastian Guenzatti when he made his 100th appearance as well at the last home match.
“Seba and Leo are probably the two guys I’ve picked most, but there are reasons behind that,” said Collins. “It’s not that I was teammates with them and I’m gonna play them no matter what. They’ve been through their fair share of adversity. I think that’s what we’re looking forward to more than anything. How good are you when things are not going your way. That’s a big thing. When things aren’t going your way, what kind of person are you? These two guys have been fantastic. It’s going to be important that we have both of them to help keep us building that reputation and character.”
Injury Update
Midfielder Yann Ekra made his return to the field in the loss to Miami last week, entering late in the match as a substitute. Ekra had picked up a knock the day before the Rowdies match in Hartford a few weeks back. Midfielder Laurence Wyke could be in line for his return as well after rejoining his teammates in training. Neither Wyke nor Ekra are likely to start, though, as the Rowdies avoid rushing them back too quickly.
Attackers Luiz Fernando, Lucky Mkosana, Juan Tejada are all at various level of training again, although all three are not quite ready for their full return yet. Forward Steevan Dos Santos is also slowly making his way back from the broken bone in his foot suffered in late May.
Opposition Notes
Hartford comes to Al Lang fresh off a dramatic draw at home on Saturday night against New York Red Bulls II. Just as New York looked poised to grab a 2-0 win on the night, the visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute. Hartford responded by scoring in the 86th minute and then deep into stoppage time to equalize and earn a point.
“Hartford have shown real resilience through their matches this season,” said Collins. “They never stopped until the very last second against us, against New York. They’ve showed great character to come back. We know what to expect. They’re going to come here and expect to win coming off the high of coming back from two goals down… I think you look at results across the league, it’s the time of year where there’s results people don’t necessarily expect. You can’t take anyone for granted and we certainly won’t be taking Hartford for granted. We’ll be focused on how we cna put in a really good performance.”
Hartford is now without one of its leading scorers in Juan Carlos Obregon Jr, who has joined Honduras for the Olympics in Japan. Obregon has 4 goals so far this year, but Danny Barrera and Preston Tabort Etaka each have 4 themselves, meaning Hartford still has plenty of attacking firepower. Attacker Walmer Martinez is also unavailable for the visitors while representing El Salvador in the Gold Cup.
Hartford also recently picked up attacker Derek Dodson on loan from MLS’ Orlando City SC. Dodson made his debut for Hartford on Saturday, entering in the 42nd minute after only joining the team the day before the match.
July could be a make or break month for Hartford. The club has played just 9 matches but is in the midst of a six-match stretch this month. Hartford has started the month well, with a win and a draw. This Tuesday will be a huge test as they come to St. Petersburg just a couple days removed from their last match.
