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ST. PETERSBURG — Sebastian Guenzatti has tenure in the Rowdies’ lineup. He starts at forward, scores plenty and sports the captain’s arm band.

He joined the club three years ago to the day Friday and celebrated accordingly.

Guenzatti scored for the 28th time with the Rowdies to commemorate his anniversary. In doing so, he helped Tampa Bay to a 2-0 win over Charleston at Al Lang Stadium.

“Always pleased to see your striker score; it’s always good when the strikers are getting chances and scoring goals,” coach Neill Collins said. “Pleased for Seba.”

After starting the season with two wins, the Rowdies (3-0-2) entered the game on the heels of back-to-back draws.

It was poetic that Guenzatti was the one to secure the win. But it also had big implications for the Rowdies in their United Soccer League Championship group. The Rowdies and Charleston are 1-2, respectively, in Group H, comfortably ahead of Atlanta and Miami. With the win, Tampa Bay expanded its lead to five points over Charleston.

The top two teams from each of the league’s eight groups created for play in the coronavirus-altered season advance to the playoffs.

Guenzatti’s goal, his third of the season, came on a through ball from midfielder Jordan Doherty. Guenzatti beat his defender 1-on-1, worked his way into the box and flicked a shot off a defender and past Charleston goalkeeper Phil Breno in the 40th minute for a 1-0 lead.

Up to that point, the match has been slow-moving. Both teams had sloppy starts ridden with fouls. The Rowdies and Battery were hit with two yellow cards each. Charleston forward and captain Jarad van Schaik was sent off in the 81st minute after receiving his second yellow card, for a hand ball.

Playing a man down, Charleston could not come up with an equalizing score and ended up yielding a second goal, to midfielder Malik Johnson.

“That’s what you come to watch soccer for,” Collins said of Johnson. “Players like that, they get you off your seat and you feel a buzz when he gets the ball.”

Johnson had missed much of the action to date while recovering from an ankle injury. He entered the game in the 71st minute and didn’t need long to put the game away.

The Rowdies put together their best performance of the year on paper. It was the first time they scored in both halves of a game, and it was their second shutout and first since the opener. Still, Collins saw room to improve.

“I thought the performance probably didn’t deserve a clean sheet,” Collins said. “I think we could have easily scored more goals.”

Contact Kyle Wood at kwood@tampabay.com. Follow him @Kkylewood.

It was by no means the most comfortable of matches, but the Tampa Bay Rowdies will be more than happy with their 2-0 victory over the visiting Charleston Battery on Friday night. Rowdies captain Sebastian Guenzatti provided the opening goal near the end of the first half and then Malik Johnson notched a showstopper near second half stoppage time after Charleston had been reduced to ten men.

Rowdies head coach Neill Collins called it the “biggest” of the year so far by virtue of the fact that it solidifed their lead in the Group H standings, but didn’t refrained from deeming it their best performance of the year.

“The performance probably didn’t deserve a clean sheet. I think we could’ve easily scored more goals,” Collins said. “I thought our three center backs stood up to aerial balls well, defended set pieces well. As a collective I think we need to keep being that hard to beat. I like to restrict teams to fewer opportunities, so that’s something we need to improve. But I believe we will.”

It was tough going for the Rowdies throughout most of the first half. Frequent stoppages in play due to fouls prevented any sort of rhythm from developing.

That changed in the 40th minute as Guenzatti found a way to break through. Collecting a terrific ball played into open space by midfielder Jordan Doherty, Guenzatti turned inside to push past a defender on the right edge of the box and fired a shot that deflected off another defender and beat Phil Breno at the near post.

The tally was Guenzatti’s third goal in as many matches. It was a fitting moment as the striker was celebrating the anniversary of his Rowdies signing on this day three years ago.

“Three goals in three games quite quietly again” Collins said of Guenzatti’s showing. “Always pleased to see your striker score. It’s always good when strikers are getting chances and scoring goals.  Pleased for Seba tonight.”

Guenzatti could’ve doubled the lead with a free run into the box in the 55th minute had Breno not done well to close down the angle by rushing off his line. The Rowdies might have regretted that moment if Charleston had been able to capitalize on the amount of pressure it was able to apply put on the Rowdies for sustained periods. Fortunately all but one of the visitors’ 11 shots on the night were off the mark and keeper Evan Louro handled the long accurate shot well.

Charleston’s comeback effort was severely hampered in the 81st when captain Jordan Van Schaik picked up a second yellow card and was forced out of the match.

With a man advantage the Rowdies were able to gain control of what was left of the match, with Johnson delivering the final blow in the 88th minute.

After seeing an earlier cross of his across goal skied into the stands by a teammate, Johnson put the onus of sealing the match on himself. The winger shook off a defender as he charged into the box, drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd at Al Lang, before depositing a low strike into the bottom left corner of the goal.

It was quite a moment from Johnson, who had only played a handful of minutes of stoppage time in the draw with North Carolina two weeks ago. He’d been left out of other matches as he worked his way back to full match fitness after missing training for a few weeks.

“That’s what you come to watch soccer for,” Collins said. “Players like that, they get you off your seat. You feel a buzz when he gets the ball… Really pleased to see Malik out there and get his goal. We’re gonna challenge him to get more opportunities.”

The win keeps the Rowdies atop the Group H standings, now 5 points ahead of the second-pace Battery. Miami FC and Atlanta United 2 are inactive this weekend, though Atlanta did dispatch Miami 4-2 earlier in the week.

Next Friday the Rowdies travel to face Miami. The Rowdies’ instate rival has yet to record a point this year but has only played two matches total.

The Rowdies’ biggest challenger in its United Soccer League Championship group visits Al Lang Stadium tonight.

Charleston travels from South Carolina to St. Petersburg for the first of four meetings between the teams. It is second in Group H with six points, two behind the first-place Rowdies. A Tampa Bay loss could swing the standings.

The top two teams from each of the eight groups created for play in the coronavirus-altered season advance to the playoffs.

Coach Neill Collins has said repeatedly that the Rowdies are taking the season one game at a time. But he acknowledged the weight behind playing teams within the Rowdies’ group multiple times in the coming weeks.

“I think it would be great to get off to a good start against someone that we’ve got to play another three times,” Collins said on a Zoom call Wednesday. “But on the same token, if you drop the points, you’ve got three opportunities to try and pick them back up against them directly.”

Charleston (2-1-0) and Tampa Bay (2-0-2) have a common win over Atlanta United 2. Charleston beat Atlanta, another Group H team, twice — once before the season was suspended in March because of the coronavirus and once after.

Tampa Bay beat Atlanta in its home opener three weeks ago. The two teams had varying results against Birmingham Legion FC, their other common opponent. Charleston lost 2-1 to Birmingham while the Rowdies played the club to a 1-1 draw on the road last week.

The offensive attack for Charleston, which has a plus-3 goal differential to the Rowdies’ plus-2, is led by Zeiko Lewis. The midfielder paces the team with two goals and one assist. Charleston’s defense has come away with two shutouts, both against Atlanta.

Tampa Bay had a shutout win in its season opener against New York in March but has not gotten one since.

The Rowdies took the season series in 2019 with a 1-1 draw at Al Lang and a dominant 5-0 win in South Carolina.

Collins said Wednesday that everyone was available for tonight. That hasn’t been the case the past few weeks. Midfielders Yann Ekra and Malik Johnson have played 46 combined minutes in four games because of injuries.

Three games into the resumed season, Collins said the team is getting to where it needs to be in terms of game shape and chemistry. And he expects the Rowdies to make up for their second-half collapse at home two weeks ago in a 2-2 draw with North Carolina, in which they lost a 2-0 lead in the second half..

“You always put more emphasis on winning those home games,” Collins said. “So the players will be really keen to find a better performance in the last 45 (minutes) than they had at Al Lang. And I really believe that they will do that.”

Contact Kyle Wood at kwood@tampabay.com Follow @Kkylewood.

On Friday night, Tampa Bay Rowdies captain Sebastian Guenzatti will in all likelihood make his 77th appearance for the Green and Gold when the club hosts the Charleston Battery.

On the same day in 2017, the Rowdies officially announced the signing of Guenzatti, who up until that point was best known to Rowdies supporters as a regular thorn in the club’s side as a longtime contributor to the rival New York Cosmos. Now he’s one of the longest tenured and most beloved members of the Rowdies.

“I really can’t believe it’s already been that long. For me the time has really flown by. Everything that’s happened for me in these last few years has been amazing,” Guenzatti told Unused Substitutes. “I take every day like it was my first day here, giving my all in practice and always trying to do the right things. Since I’ve been here I think I’ve given my all. That’s why I’m in the position I am today.”

Guenzatti came to the Rowdies midway through 2017 after suffering one of the worst setbacks a player can face. A month before the end of the Cosmos’ 2016 season, he ruptured his ACL at Ottawa Fury FC, putting him on a long road to recovery.

Nearly a year later, Guenzatti returned to the field for the first time as a substitute against the Ottawa at Al Lang. He had earned his contract with the Rowdies at the end of July following a week of training with the club.

“I’m a strong-minded person and I was gonna do whatever it took for me to play, at any level really. I just wanted to come back somewhere and start,” he said. “A lot of people with that kind of injury can get off track but I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to come back as strong as I can. At the end of my recovery I said I’ve gonna give it all. I have nothing to lose but getting hurt again. I was never afraid of getting hurt or anything like that. When you put your mind to something and all of your will toward it, good things come out.”

Guenzatti quickly became a frequent option off the bench for then Rowdies head coach Stuart Campbell in the final months of the 2017 season and into 2018. However, he’s truly flourished as a mainstay for Neill Collins since the former Rowdies defender took on coaching duties in May of 2018.

Collins made a bold move in deciding to not bring back club legend Georgi Hristov ahead of the 2019 season. Many wondered where the goals were going to come from without the Bulgarian forward on board. After spliting time in the midfield and up top, Guenzatti rold Collins he wanted to move to the fulltime striker role role and take on the responsibility.

On his relationship with Collins Guenzatti said, “I was always a hard worker. I always did what the coach was expecting. But with Neill, he has this understanding with me. He respects the way I think about the game. We think alike. We’re very passionate and we always want to get better. Since he’s come in he’s given me all the confidence.”

Guenzatti more than did his part to fill the attacking void by recording a new Rowdies single-season scoring record of 19 goals last year.

“Seba’s so reliable,” Collins said. “When you’re coach and you can’t effect the game on the field by playing you try and cut out as much doubt as you possibly can. Someone like Seba does that because you know what he’s going to do on the field and what he’s going to do off the field. You know he’s going to turn up for training and he’s going to train as if his life depended on it. So that sets the standard straight away for the team around him.”

Guenzatti also took on the role of club captain last year, something he didn’t ask for but was happy to embrace.

“As the captain you want to set the tone however you can,” he said. “The way I play and how hard I go every game is how I set the tone and get everyone into the game. There’s also a lot of responsibility that comes with that. I look at is as a way for me to get better and keep learning, because everyday as a captain you’re gonna have to learn new things, even from the young guys. I try to soak in as much as I can for the future.”

It took a little longer than expected thanks to the season being halted for four months due to the coronavirus, but Guenzatti finally got his first two tallies of the year in Tampa Bay’s last two outings. Midfielder Leo Fernandes is one ahead of Guenzatti with three goals through the first four matches.

Fernadnes and Guenzatti are close friends and are now the Rowdies players that have been in the locker room for the longest. Fernandes beat Guenzatti to Tampa Bay by a few months as he signed at the start of 2017, but both are even in appearances heading into Friday’s match.

“Leo is an amazing professional. There’s no coincidence why he’s been here the longest. As players come and go, he always does the right things,” Guenzatti noted. “He’s so hot right now that anything he touches just goes in. Every day he shows up to work like it’s his last practice, his last game. It shows on the weekend with just how easy he makes it look. He goes with the flow and doesn’t kill himself. He knows exactly what to do.”

Guenzatti and Fernandes are only 29 and 28 respectively, so they still have many prime years left of soccer to play. That’s many potential seasons to hopefully smash some more records and bring a championship back to Tampa Bay.

“We look at these players from my times as a player and a coach, and players from the past — Seba will hopefully go down alongside with these guys for what he’s done. And he’s got a lot more to do. I think he’s everything this club is about.”

The Rowdies didn’t show any signs of fatigue or discomfort from their trip to Birmingham, Ala. Still, they played behind Saturday night after allowing an early goal.

Tampa Bay was able to rally but never take the lead, finishing with a 1-1 draw against Birmingham Legion. The Rowdies (2-0-2) remain undefeated in the United Soccer League Championship season after managing to garner a point from the draw.

“I think we missed an opportunity not winning tonight,” coach Neill Collins said after the game on a Zoom call. “We’ve won a lot of good games like this on the road, but we’ll take a point and try to do better at Al Lang on Friday night (against Charleston at 7:30).”

Birmingham (2-0-1) struck first off a set piece in the 16th minute. Midfielder Bruno Lapa bounced a free kick into the box and defender Alex Crognale snuck a shot in past Rowdies goalkeeper Evan Louro.

The Rowdies had been in that position before, trailing 1-0 in the first 20 minutes to Atlanta United 2 on July 11, their first game of the restarted season, only to pull out a 2-1 victory. That wouldn’t be the case this time.

“The message at halftime was keep doing what we’re doing well, improve a couple of things and the game should be there for us,” Collins said.

The Rowdies ended the first half scoreless but quickly remedied that in the second half. In the 51st minute, forward Sebastian Guenzatti connected on a header in the box from forward Juan Tejada. The equalizer was Guenzatti’s second goal of the season.

That would be it for the scoring between the Eastern Conference opponents. Birmingham midfielder Anderson Asiedu fired a shot into the box in the 88th minute, but Louro punched it out to maintain the draw.

Though the Rowdies allowed the early goal, it was still a season-low scoring output for Birmingham, which had scored five goals in its first two games of the restarted season. The Rowdies also managed to breach a Birmingham defense that had allowed only one goal entering the game.

Rowdies defender Forrest Lasso drew a yellow card in the 13th minute and received a few other warnings from officials in the first half. Collins subbed out his starter and key defensive cog at halftime, adding the team performed well without him in the final 45 minutes.

Both teams remained atop their respective groups with the draw, but the Charleston Battery (6 points) moved closer to the Rowdies (8) in Group H after their win Friday night.

Of the Rowdies’ 12 remaining regular-season games, 11 are against opponents in their group.

“So now everything that we play will be taking points off of other teams in our group, which makes it slightly different,” Collins said. “Normally, you’re playing a team where we’re always taking points off the team in your table.

“So now, I don’t mean they become more important, but it becomes a bigger swing. And I’m looking forward to it.”

Contact Kyle Wood at kwood@tampabay.com. Follow him @Kkylewood.

A week after suffering a second-half collapse at home to draw with North Carolina FC, the Tampa Bay Rowdies played the opposite role as they came back to draw 1-1 at Birmingham Legion FC.

The Rowdies earned a point in each match, but the perspective from head coach Neill Collins was much more positive after Saturday’s draw.

“Tonight we got the same result in terms of a point but at least I feel we put out a performance close to what we were looking for, he said. “We could’ve easily won that game at the end there. Lewis Hilton has a great shot. Kyle Murphy has a header. I thought we controlled the game well in the second half. From that perspective, there is a lot to build on. The players take a lot of credit with a real willingness to learn and get better, which they have to have. I think we missed an opportunity not winning tonight. We’ve won a lot of good games like this on the road, but we’ll take a point and try to do better at Al Lang on Friday night.”

Murphy Still Waiting for His Moment

Kyle Murphy has yet to shine for the Rowdies this year. He was the leading scorer in the preseason with three tallies and had a promising start in the season opener but was taken off due to an injury a half hour into the match.

Since the restart Murphy has featured as a second half substitute in all three matches, getting about 30 minutes the first two times out and then another 10 last night in Alabama.

The squad’s other three forwards have found their way on to the scoresheet. Guenzatti has netted a goal in the last two matches, Lucky Mkosana notched an important equalizer against Atlanta and Tejada has provided two great assists.

Collins, though, is still confident that Murphy is on the right track and will get into groove as he gets more time on the field with his teammates. Murphy is the only striker on the roster that was not with the Rowdies last year.

“The break didn’t do these guys any good,” Collins noted. “They just didn’t get the opportunity to build these relationships. They will and they’ll come good. Kyle always gets an opportunity. Tonight he came on, he had a chance. Last week he came on and he had a chance. I think that’s the sign of a good striker. I’ve got tough decisions all the time with my strikers.”

Two Sides to the Defense

The Rowdies arguably put in their best defensive showing since the season opener at New York Red Bulls II. Considering Birmingham had tallied five goals in its previous two matches, holding them to just one goal is impressive.

Still, it is hard to ignore just how ugly the goal was that the Rowdies allowed. They were caught completely offguard in the 16th minute as Bruno Lapa played a free kick into the box for an unmarked Alex Crognale, who easily converted the chance.

The hosts got one more opporunity a few minutes later, but Evan Louro handled it well with a kick save to deny Brian Wright. After that the Rowdies completely shut Birmingham off from getting anything else on net, even after Forrest Lasso was taken off at halftime as a precautionary measure after picking a yellow card in the 13th minute and receiving two more warnings from the referee.

It’s frustrating to see the Rowdies work so hard defensively throughout most of their matches only to be undone by momentary lapses like they have the last three weeks.

“I don’t know if we deserved a clean sheet– maybe half a clean sheet. Our performance defensively was pretty sound other than one other opportunity where Evan pulled off a good save,” Collins said. “We will keep clean sheets if we start tidying up on these things. Again, the restart got sprung on us and there’s a million things you want to work on and set pieces is one of them but there’s other areas of the game as well. Maybe we’ll give that a little more time this week. Goals change games but thankfully we didn’t let that affect us too much this week.”

The Road Ahead

Collins didn’t want to say the upcoming Group H games are more important than the three out of group games the Rowdies have already played, but we will.

The next eight games are all against Group H opponents. That’s the kind of stretch that can make a break you in the current format of the USL Championship. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the postseason and the Rowdies have position themselves at the top with 8 points, 2 points ahead of the Charelston Battery and 7 points clear of Atlanta. Miami has yet to earn a point and will finally resume its season this coming Wednedsay.

The Rowdies appear to be set up well for success, but we’ll have to check back in a month to see if they were able to capitalize on their position.

Photo by Matt May/Tampa Bay Rowdies 

The Tampa Bay Rowdies recovered from an poor concession early on Saturday night to grab a point off Birmingham Legion FC thanks to a nifty combination from Juan Tejada and Sebastian Guenzatti in the second half.

It’s the second time the Rowdies have mounted a combeback since the restart. Two weeks ago they manged to take the full points with a rally against Atlanta at home. Now they take a valuable point on the bus back home to Tampa Bay.

“It’s a great trait to have.” Rowdies head coach Neill Collins said. “Any team’s that’s gonna be successful is gonna have to be able to come from behind. I hope we don’t have to do it too often but I’m pleased that we’ve done that and shown the resilience in two of our three games since the restart.”

Collins was not as pleased with his side 16 minutes into the match when they allowed another easy goal for the third week in a row. From the left wing, Birmingham’s Bruno Lapa played a free kick that should have easily been cleared from danger had anyone picked up Alex Crognale on his run into the box. Instead the center back was free to run in and flick an uncontested shot into the bottom right corner.

Birmingham earned another opportunity shortly after the go-ahead goal as Brian Wright snuck behind the back line and had a free run at goal. Keeper Evan Louro was snuffed out the chance well, though, coming off his line to deny a shot near the penalty spot.

The Rowdies dominated possession throughout the first half even after going down early, but failed to convert the advantage into any true threats on net.

“I was furious with the goal,” Collins said. “When we look back at that we’ll be very disappointed with it. It’s hard enough coming to a place like Birmingham with the talent they’ve got to give up a set piece goal. But it happens. I actually felt other than that we’d done a lot of good things… The message at halftime was keep doing what we’re doing well, improve a couple of thing and the game should be there for us.”

Collins was proven right six minutes in the second half. With defender Boluwatife Akinyode at his back, Tejada received a ball inside the box and quickly turned toward the endline to shake off the defender. Tejada then placed a deft cross across goal for Guenzatti, who cleanly headed the ball into the back of the net.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone that thinks higher of Juan Tejada than myself. I think he’s a potential huge player,” Collins remarked. “We’ve got four great strikers. We decided it was good one for Juan tonight and he took the chance. He caused them havoc all night. He works hard, he’s a real team guy, but he’s also got those moments of magic. I was pleased for him. He’s definitely a guy that the guys like to play with because they know the work rate’s always gonna be there. It’s the energy he brings along with the work rate that unsettles people. Him and Seba have got a great relationship.”

The Rowdies were also forced into a substitution at halftime they weren’t expecting to make. After picking up a yellow 13 minutes into the match, defender Forrest Lasso then got off with a warning on two more fouls in the half. Collins was not taking any chances of going down a man and decided to swap Lasso out for Max Lachowecki during the break.

“Unfortunately with Forrest, and I suffered from this myself, he’s very strong, very dominant and the other players kind of targeted him,” Collins said. “I don’t think the referee was strong with it so I had to take him off to stop us from going down to 10 men.”

Aaron Guillen shifted into Lasso’s central defensive position while Lachowecki took over on the left side. It did not appear that the change had any negative impact on the Rowdies defensively as the hosts failed to fire another shot on target the rest of the night.

“They did really well,” Collins said of his players’ defensive effort. “Obviously we lose a leader in some respect, but we get a different kind of player with Max, who I thought carried the ball out well for us. By the way, that’s not easy. It’s not easy coming on for your first real minutes. He’s been a sub, but 45 minutes when you’ve not had that action is a tough thing. Max is a player that’s a real locker room guy that the guys like. So that’s good. It was good for the team to see these guys come in and contribute.”

The Rowdies had the only other clear cut chances of the second half. In the 71st minute midfielder Lewis Hilton had a well-placed effort from well outside the box pushed out by a diving Matt Van Oekel. Then, four minutes after entering in the 82nd minute, forward Kyle Muprhy narrowly missed on a header that would have likely been a winner it been a foot in the other direction.

With the result the Rowdies have taken 5 points from three matches against teams from outside of their group. It’s a decent position to be in, but it’s likely that the next stretch of matches will be critical to whether the Rowdies earn a postseason berth as one of the top two teams in Group H. 11 of their 12 remaining matches are against fellow Group H teams. They sit first in the group with 8 points at the end of the weekend, with second-place Charleston Battery sitting on 6 points. Atlanta is in third with just a single point and Miami is last without any points having yet to resume play yet.

With so much head-to-head action coming up in the next two months, big swings in the standings are a strong possibility.

“Now it gets interesting because we’ve played three out of (group) games,” Collins said. “So now everything that we play is taking points off of our group, which makes it slightly different… I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be interesting playing these teams regularly. I’m just really focused on getting this group better. It might take a little longer than we’d ike but once we get there I’m excited.”

The Rowdies host Charleston at Al Lang on Friday night.