A draw was not what the Tampa Bay Rowdies set out for in their match against New York Red Bulls II, but that is what they ended up with on Friday night as they finished even at 1-1. While failing to claim all three points is undoubtedly disappointing, coming away with a point does keep the Rowdies in control of the race for the top overall seed in the postseason.
The margin of error, though, is now razor thin for the Rowdies, who are even with Phoenix Rising FC at 62 points. If both the Rowdies and Phoenix were to win out in their three remaining matches and finish even on points, the Rowdies would come out on top based on the head-to-head tiebreaker from their victory over Phoenix back in May. El Paso Locomotive is also still hanging on with a chance at the top seed, though El Paso would need Tampa Bay and Phoenix to both drop points as they are four points back with four matches left to play
“I think we’re a little disappointed, a little unsatisfied,” said center back Forrest Lasso. “That kind of just shows the standard that we’ve set amongst ourselves. Obviously we wanted three points. Every time we go out there we want three points. Fortunately we did not lose. We got a point out of it. We were talking about it at the end, situations or experiences like this are great learning experiences going into the postseason.”
Next up for the Rowdies is their fourth regular season meeting with Miami, who knocked the Rowdies off twice in July in South Florida. This time the Rowdies will play hosts, and they will aim to get back in the win column in order to lock up the top seed in the Eastern Conference and keep up in the race for the overall seed.
Miami will be coming into Al Lang this Wednesday on a quick turnaround, having just played Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. Meanwhile, the Rowdies will be playing their fifth straight match without a full week’s rest.
“Every team across the league has had difficult turnarounds like we had in Pittsburgh last week,” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “It’s part of a 32-game season. That’s why to have won the Atlantic with 5 games to go was such an impressive achievement because there’s just so many different challenges along the way. Just because we’ve done that doesn’t mean the last three games are going to be easy. They’re going to be even more difficult. A good game for us on Wednesday and one we’ll be looking forward to.”
Packing Al Lang
Friday’s crowd of 6,882 fans is the largest crowd the Rowdies have had out to Al Lang Stadium since the end of the 2019 season. For players like Forrest Lasso, who signed ahead of the 2020 season and the start of the pandemic, this was the first chance to represent the Green and Gold in front of a packed Al Lang.
“It was electric,” said Lasso. “It was incredible, especially in the second half playing towards the home stands. They were wild out there. You could feel the energy, you could hear the songs, you could hear the chants, you could see the green and gold. It really is something. A little disappointing we couldn’t give them three points and the result that they deserved, but we know we’ll see them for many more games in the future.”
The large turnout on Friday could be a preview of what the postseason atmosphere will be like at Al Lang. Due to restrictions last year, the Rowdies haven’t hosted a playoff game with unlimited capacity since the 2017 season. That will all change come Saturday, November 6 when the Rowdies open up the postseason at home with a chance to host another the next Saturday, and even more in the following weeks if the Rowdies can lock up home field advantage.
“This team, more than any other team in my time here, deserves the biggest crowds possible,” said Collins. “I think they’re the most exciting, the most entertaining, and also hardest working. It was great for the players to have such support. They deserve it. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I hope they come back and support us. Hopefully they can see these are a bunch of guys willing to give everything for the shirt. If we’ve that in the stands, then it’ll make it really difficult for others to come here and win.”
Breaking Down the Draw
Friday’s match started off on a foreboding note when Rowdies midfielder Yann Ekra had to make an early exit in the 16th minute due to a knock. To replace Ekra, Collins brought on Conner Antley, who slotted in at right wing back while Sebastian Dalgaard moved over to the left wing back and Leo Fernandes shifted to the center of the field.
“Yann was more precautionary,” said Collins. “He felt something very small. Hopefully we keep it very small. It’s not ideal, but we stay positive on that and that we caught it early. He didn’t feel anything too bad, but we obviously don’t want to risk Yann at this point with that type of injury.”
The Rowdies were able to create their chances, but the midfield never quite clicked or found a rhythm the rest of the night. Yeoman midfielder Lewis Hilton was finally given a rest at halftime as Jordan Doherty entered to take on a central midfield role. At 2,455 minutes played, Hilton has played more minutes than any other Rowdies outfield player apart from the back three defenders.
“Lewis has been unbelievable,” said Collins. “He’s been one of our best players all season, one of our most consistent players all season. He’s carrying a heavy load in there and it maybe showed a little in the first half. He’s set such high standards and I thought I’d give him a hand, give him a little rest and have Jordan Doherty come on.”
New York had yet to threaten Tampa Bay’s goal in the early stages but managed to exploit its first chance to find the back of the net and ride that to a point. Had the Rowdies been able to convert any of their early chances, the match might have played out differently. So far this season, the Rowdies have a record of 3W-7L-1D when they allow the opposition to score first. Whereas the Rowdies have yet to drop any points in matches in which they notch the first goal.
“I think them getting the first goal gave them something to believe in and gave them real faith in what they were doing,” said Collins. “If we’d gotten the first goal, it would have been interesting to see how they responded… Our response was good. If anything, we raised ourselves a little bit after the goal. If we’d just gotten that second goal in the second half it would have been interesting to then see how the game opened up. We know we’ve shown how good we are when we score the first goal.”
