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CUSCATLAN, El Salvador (July 22, 2019) — Juan Tejada and Panama’s efforts to qualify for the 2020 Olympics have fallen short as Panama fell to a 2-0 defeat to El Salvador on Sunday, losing 3-1 on aggregate.

Tejada played the full 90 minutes in each leg. He scored Panama’s lone goal in the first leg.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (July 20, 2019) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies widened their lead at the top of the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference standings wide an emphatic 4-1 win over Saint Louis FC at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday night.

Sebastian Guenzatti scored twice in three minutes and Leo Fernandes and Caleb Richards scored in the second half as the Rowdies cruised to their 12th win of the season. The Rowdies (12-1-7, 43 points) have now surpassed their points total from 2018 (41) with 14 matches left to play.

Tampa Bay now leads second-place New York Red Bulls II by five points at the top of the table after the Red Bulls were held to a draw in Memphis on Saturday night. The Rowdies visit the Red Bulls this coming Friday in a heavyweight showdown.

“It was a joy to watch the players this week, the way they played technically and also their attitude,” Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins said. “The rain delay is never easy and you’re never quite sure how to handle that. Thankfully it was only an hour and the grounds staff did an unbelievable job.”

Kickoff was delayed a little more than an hour due to inclement weather in St. Pete in the hours before warmups were scheduled to begin.

Once the match did start, it took a little time to open up but Guenzatti headed home a looping Fernandes cross in the 33rd minute to bring the match to life with his 11th goal of the season.

Guenzatti didn’t have to wait long for his 12th goal of the year, tucking home a Lucky Mkosana assist less than three minutes later to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-0. Guenzatti is now second in the Championship’s Golden Boot race, behind only Phoenix Rising FC’s Solomon Asante, who has 14 goals.

The Rowdies didn’t give Saint Louis (5-6-6, 21 points) much of anything in the second half until after Fernandes scored his third goal of the year in the 79th minute on an assist from Shawn Barry.

Caleb Richards rounded out the scoreline on an assist from Guenzatti in stoppage time after Saint Louis’ Kyle Greig scored on a corner in the 87th minute.

“(My last goal) has to be 18th months ago when I was playing in England,” Richards, on loan with the Rowdies from Norwich City FC, said. “But I was playing center midfield then, not as a defender. It was a really good win. We’re disappointed we conceded at the end but you’ve got to be happy with four goals at home against a good side.”

Tampa Bay will visit New York and Charleston in the next two weekends before returning home to host Birmingham Legion FC on Saturday, August 10 at Al Lang Stadium. Tickets for that match are available here.

Scoring Summary
Tampa Bay: Sebastian Guenzatti – 33rd minute (assisted by Leo Fernandes)
Tampa Bay: Sebastian Guenzatti – 36th minute (assisted by Lucky Mkosana)
Tampa Bay: Leo Fernandes – 79th minute (assisted by Shawn Barry)
Saint Louis: Kyle Greig – 87th minute (assisted by Lewis Hilton)
Tampa Bay: Caleb Richards – 90+1 minute (assisted by Sebastia Guenzatti)

Caution Summary
Saint Louis: Caleb Calvert – 20th minute
Tampa Bay: Dom Oduro – 69th minute
Saint Louis: Lewis Hilton – 71st minute

Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (3-5-2): GK John McCarthy; D Tarek Morad, Pape Diakite, Caleb Richards; M Malik Johnson (Shawn Barry 70′), Kwadwo Poku, Yann Ekra, Dom Oduro, Leo Fernandes (Mohamed Kone 88′); F Sebastian Guenzatti (c), Lucky Mkosana (Jaime Siaj 81′)

Saint Louis XI: GK Tomas Gomez; D Matt Bahner, Phanuel Kavita, Sam Fink (c), Sean Reynolds (Bradley Kamdem Fewo 81′); M Russell Cicerone (Masta Kacher 62′), Oscar Umar (Collin Fernandez 84′), Lewis Hilton, Kadeem Dacres; F Caleb Calvert, Kyle Greig

The Basics
Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Saint Louis FC
Saturday, July 20, 7:30 p.m. ET
Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Follow us for live updates on Twitter at @RowdiesGameday

Tickets
Tickets for Saturday’s match are available by calling (727) 222-2000 or clicking here. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m., 60 minutes before kickoff. 

How to Watch
The match will be broadcast online on ESPN+ here. International viewers can watch online here.

Records
Tampa Bay: 11-1-7 (W-L-T), 1st place; 5-1-4 at home 
Saint Louis: 2-4-3 (W-L-T), 11th place; 2-4-3 on road

Rowdies Notes
The Tampa Bay Rowdies return home atop the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference following a 1-1 draw in Pittsburgh last weekend. The Rowdies fell behind early in the second half on a Riverhounds penalty kick but Lucky Mkosana scored in the 86th minute to win a point for the Rowdies.

Tampa Bay enters this match with 40 points from 19 games in 2019. The Rowdies finished the 2018 season with 41 points, meaning if Tampa Bay avoids defeat against Saint Louis FC, it will match or better its point haul from a season ago with 14 games left to play. The Rowdies tallied 53 points from 32 games in 2017, their best total since joining the USL Championship. 

Sebastian Guenzatti leads the team in scoring with 10 goals, good for fourth-best in the league. His most frequent strike partner, Juan Tejada, is the Rowdies second-leading scorer with seven goals in his first professional season. 

Tejada will miss this match as he is currently on international duty with the Panama U22 team for Olympic qualifying. Tejada started and scored for Panama on Wednesday night in a 1-1 draw against El Salvador in his international debut. The teams will meet again Sunday evening. Tejada is expected back for next week’s visit to the New York Red Bulls II.

Forward Jaime Siaj is yet to play this season due to a quad injury, but he was on the bench for the first time last weekend,

Tampa Bay’s early season success was spurred by an airtight defense that kept nine clean sheets in the first 13 matches of the season. Since then, the Rowdies have conceded in  six consecutive matches. Still, Tampa Bay has only conceded 12 goals in total this season, tied for the fewest in the Championship. Indy has also only conceded 12 goals but it has played two fewer matches.

With 30 goals scored this season, the Rowdies rank fourth in Eastern Conference in scoring this season, though New York (45) leads the conference by 12 over Nashville (33) in second place. The Rowdies have only been shut out twice this season, tied for the fewest in the East with New York and Charleston.

Injury Report
QUESTIONABLE – Andrew Tinari (groin)
PROBABLE – Jaime Siaj (quad strain)

PANAMA CITY, Panama (July 18, 2019) — Tampa Bay Rowdies forward Juan Tejada continued his incredible year with a goal in his international debut for Panama last night in Olympic qualifying.

Tejada, 22, signed his first professional contract this winter after impressing in a preseason trial. He earned a surprise start on opening day and has been a fixture in Neill Collins’ lineup this season with seven goals, second-best on the team.

That form continued Wednesday night in his debut with Panama’s U22 side, which drew 1-1 with El Salvador in the first leg of a tie against El Salvador. Tejada played the full 90 minutes and put his country in front in the 27th minute.

Panama will meet El Salvador on Sunday in the second leg. 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (July 15, 2019) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies fought hard Saturday night to earn a draw Saturday night against a tricky Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC team on the road. The Rowdies trailed for most of the second half but leveled the match with six minutes left to play.

Here’s Three Things from the match…

1. Avoiding defeat
The weekend schedule for the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference featured all of the top four teams venturing out onto the road. Even though the contenders were away from home, the matchups looked mostly favorable on paper. The Rowdies were certainly weary of a difficult Riverhounds side which came into the match in eighth, but No. 2 Indy (at No. 18 Hartford), No. 3 New York (at No. 15 Atlanta) and No. 4 North Carolina (at No. 16 Birmingham) all had easy enough matchups on paper.

As it turned out, the standings weren’t a great predictor for this wild weekend though as New York was the only team in the East’s top nine to actually win. Indy lost 2-1 in Hartford and North Carolina lost 1-0 in Birmingham, proving again just how deep the East is. New York’s 8-1 win over Atlanta was the outlier.

Tampa Bay may have gone into the match hoping for a win, but a road point in Pittsburgh is always a good result. Avoiding defeat on this weekend of all weekends, makes the draw look even better. The Riverhounds had won four of their previous matches by a combined score of 13-1. They looked like the better side for much of Saturday’s contest, but the Rowdies hung tough and gutted out a result.

2. No fun in Pittsburgh
Highmark Stadium on the banks of the Monongahela River with the Pittsburgh skyline just opposite is a beautiful venue. It is, objectively, a great place to watch and play soccer.

That said, the Rowdies do not enjoy going there.

Tampa Bay went into Saturday’s match with a record of 0-2-1 at Highmark Stadium all-time. It’s the site of some of the worst Rowdies performances in recent memory, like a mind-numbing 1-0 loss on a stoppage time goal in the 2015 U.S. Open Cup to miss out on hosting D.C. United in the next round.

The first half of Saturday night’s match did not look like one that would end in the Rowdies getting a result. Playing on artificial turf on a field much smaller than that at Al Lang Stadium, Tampa Bay was not coping well.

The Rowdies were under pressure for most of the half and were unable to string passes together, ultimately opting to just kick the ball deep and try to win second balls. Tampa Bay completed only 52 percent of its pass attempts in the first half and Pittsburgh had more than 60 percent of the possession.

Whatever Head Coach Neill Collins said to the team at halftime seemed to work as the Rowdies completed 74 percent of their passes after halftime and had 54 percent possession. Ultimately, the Rowdies escaped with a well-earned point and maybe a little more confidence for their next visit to the banks of the Monongahela.

3. Heavily penalized
After opening the season with nine clean sheets in 13 matches, the Rowdies have now conceded a goal in each of their last six matches. Dig a little deeper though and it appears the defense is playing just as well as it did in the first few months of the season.

In the last six games, three potential clean sheets have been broken up by a penalty kick awarded to the opposition and a fourth was broken by a free kick in the 88th minute. Take away those four dead ball situations and the Rowdies have only conceded in two of the last six matches. Ottawa’s lone goal came from a bad defensive mistake from Pape Diakite that shouldn’t happen again, so scrape that one from the record and the Rowdies have only really been beaten defensively in one of those matches, albeit a 3-1 loss in which North Carolina cut the Rowdies apart a little bit.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like that and the Rowdies will have to clean up their actions in the 18-yard box to try and put an end to the penalty kicks. Tarek Morad, Malik Johnson and Pape Diakite have all been whistled for the fouls to concede the penalties, so it’s not just one repeat offender.

It could also be argued that none of the three decisions were clear cut penalties, so maybe a little luck would help the Rowdies as well.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (July 13, 2019) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies survived a scare Saturday night, getting a late goal from Lucky Mkosana to remain unbeaten away from home in 2019 with a 1-1 draw against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

Tampa Bay (11-1-7, 40 points) trailed late after a Kevin Kerr penalty in the 52nd minute, but a brilliant pass from Kwadwo Poku put Mkosana in on goal in the 84th minute. Mkosana took a perfect touch to bring the ball down with his chest before poking it past Riverhounds goalkeeper Kyle Morton to rescue a point for the Rowdies.

With the result, the Rowdies remain in first place in the USL Championship and are now the first team to reach 40 points this season. Tampa Bay is now 6-0-3 on the road this year.

Mkosana was acquired in a trade with Louisville City FC on June 28. In two appearances since, he provided the game-winning assist in added time to beat Ottawa Fury FC 2-1 and scored the game-tying goal with six points to play against the Riverhounds.

It was an unusually disjointed effort for the Rowdies on the turf in Highmark Stadium, a venue in which they have never won a game.

Neither team scored in the first half but Pittsburgh was the superior side in the first 45 minutes. The Riverhounds claimed 60 percent of possession and tallied four shots on target in the first half. Possession would nearly even out by the end of the match and Pittsburgh only managed one shot on target (a penalty kick) after halftime.

That momentum continued in the opening minutes of the first half, culminating in Pittsburgh being awarded a penalty kick after Pape Diakite was adjudged to have clipped Neco Brett’s heels on his way into the box. The Rowdies have now conceded a penalty kick in three of their last four matches.

Kerr scored the penalty to give the home team a lead in the 52nd minute, but the tide started to turn shortly after.

Tampa Bay Head Coach Neill Collins brought in three attacking players off the bench, with Lucky Mkosana entering the match in the 66th minute. Zach Steinberger and Kwadwo Poku entered in the 72nd and 73rd minutes, respectively.

It was Mkosana and Poku that connected for the Rowdies magic moment, with the latter assisting the former in the 84th minute.

Tampa Bay extended its unbeaten run to five matches heading into next week’s match against Saint Louis FC on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium. Tickets are available here.

Scoring Summary
Pittsburgh: Kevin Kerr – 52nd minute (penalty kick)
Tampa Bay: Lucky Mkosana – 94th minute (assisted by Kwadwo Poku)

Caution Summary
Tampa Bay: Tarek Morad – 13th minute
Tampa Bay: Pape Diakite – 51st minute

Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (3-5-2): GK John McCarthy; D Tarek Morad, Pape Diakite, Caleb Richards; M Malik Johnson (Zach Steinberger 72′), Dom Oduro, Sebastian Guenzatti (c), Jordan Doherty (Kwadwo Poku 73′), Leo Fernandes; F Juan Tejada, Leon Taylor (Lucky Mkosana 66′)

Pittsburgh XI (5-3-2): GK Kyle Morton; D Ryan James, Tobi Adewole, Thomas Vancaeyezeele, Joe Greenspan, Jordan Dover; M Robbie Mertz (Noah Franke 85′), Kenardo Forbes (c), Kevin Kerr (Mo Dabo 85′); F Neco Brett (Christian Volesky 73′), Steevan Dos Santos

The Basics
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies
Saturday, July 13, 7 p.m. ET
Highmark Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Follow us for live updates on Twitter at @RowdiesGameday

How to Watch
The match will be broadcast online on ESPN+ here. International viewers can watch online here.

Records
Tampa Bay: 11-1-6 (W-L-T), 1st place; 6-0-2 on road 
Pittsburgh: 6-3-7 (W-L-T), 8th place; 4-0-4 at home

Rowdies Notes
The Tampa Bay Rowdies arrive in Pittsburgh at the top of the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference standings following last week’s 3-1 road win over the Swope Park Rangers. The Rowdies have been in first place since May 18, apart from a three-day span from June 26 to June 29 when they fell to second place behind the Indy Eleven on the total wins tiebreaker.

Sebastian Guenzatti leads the team in scoring with 10 goals, good 
for fourth-best in the league. His most frequent strike partner, Juan Tejada, is the Rowdies second-leading scorer with seven goals in his first professional season. Guenzatti and Tejada have both scored in each of Tampa Bay’s last three matches. Guenzatti was named to the Team of the Week on Tuesday.

Tejada will depart after this match to join the Panama U23s for 2020 Olympics qualifying. Panama will play El Salvador in a two-legged series on July 17 and 21. This is Tejada’s first involvement with the Panama U23s. He is expected to miss only one Rowdies match and return in time for Tampa Bay’s visit to the New York Red Bulls II on July 26.

Tampa Bay’s early season success was spurred by an airtight defense that kept nine clean sheets in the first 13 matches of the season. Since then, the Rowdies have conceded in five consecutive matches. Still, Tampa Bay has only conceded 11 goals in total this season, good for second-best in the Championship. Only Indy (10) has conceded fewer, but the Eleven has played two fewer matches.

Goalkeeper Macklin Robinson made his Rowdies debut in last weekend’s win over Swope Park as John McCarthy was rested. Robinson made five saves, including a penalty kick. The only goal he conceded was an unlucky one as the rebound of his penalty kick save bounced directly back to the penalty kick taker.

Injury Report
QUESTIONABLE – Jaime Siaj (quad strain)
QUESTIONABLE – Andrew Tinari (groin)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (July 8, 2019) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies kicked off the second half of the regular season with a bang Sunday evening, beating the Swope Park Rangers 3-1 away from home to sweep the season series.

Here’s Three Things from the match…

1. Here’s To You, Mr. Robinson
Tampa Bay goalkeeper Macklin Robinson made a surprise start Sunday, earning his first official appearance for the Rowdies. Prior to yesterday’s match, Robinson had yet to even be included in the matchday squad for a USL Championship match. He was on the bench for Tampa Bay’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match against The Villages SC on May 14, but that was the only time all season he had dressed for a match.

Robinson made the most of his chance Sunday, making five saves in a Rowdies victory. If not for some rotten luck, he likely would have recorded a clean sheet. He saved Ethan Vanacore-Decker’s penalty kick in the 72nd minute, only for the rebound to bounce right to Vanacore-Decker for a second bite at the apple.

Apart from that one bad bounce, Robinson was in full control of the match.

2. The High Press Continues
When opponents prepare to play the Rowdies, surely the one thing that sticks out the most on film is that the Rowdies will press extremely high and try to force turnovers deep in the opposition half to create quick scoring chances.

The high press was hugely successful against this young Rangers team with it always looking likely to yield rewards.

We even pointed it out in our running match commentary.

Sure enough, before the first half ended, the Rowdies won themselves a goal with the high press. Swope Park has a throw-in in its own half and throws the ball backward, signaling the Rowdies to chase. Sebastian Guenzatti immediately puts pressure on the ball and forces it back to the goalkeeper, who makes a bad decision and passes the ball directly to Juan Tejada in the box.

Rangers captain Graham Smith has no choice but to tackle Tejada and concede a penalty kick because there are more Rowdies attackers in the box than Swope Park defenders and the goalkeeper is out of position because he had to receive a pass due to Guenzatti’s pressure.

3. Malik’s Moment
It’s been chronicled before how big of an impact Malik Johnson has had in the Rowdies attack since making his Tampa Bay debut a little more than a month ago, but before Sunday, he had only two assists to show for his efforts.

He finally got a well-deserved goal yesterday and what a goal it was!

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (July 7, 2019) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies set a new Modern Era club record for road victories in a season with a 3-1 win over the Swope Park Rangers on Sunday afternoon to remain atop the USL Championship standings.

The Rowdies (11-1-6, 39 points) are now 6-0-2 on the road this season. Juan Tejada, Sebastian Guenzatti and Malik Johnson all scored to spot the Rowdies a 3-0 lead by the hour mark. Ethan Vanacore-Decker scored late for the hosts, but the result was never in doubt.

Tejada opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a diving header on a beautiful assist from Yann Ekra for his seventh goal of the season.

Tejada was on the attack again in the 39th minute, capitalizing on an errant pass from Swope Park (2-9-6, 12 points) goalkeeper Eric Dick to take possession in the Rangers box. Swope Park center back Graham Smith had no choice but to foul Tejada and give away a penalty kick in the process. Guenzatti stepped up to the spot and fired it low to Dick’s left hand to double Tampa Bay’s lead with his team-high ninth goal of the season.

This is the third consecutive week that Tejada and Guenzatti have both scored. Guenzatti is now tied for fourth in the Championship Golden Boot race. Tejada is tied for 16th.

Guenzatti provided the assist on the Rowdies third goal with a tremendous backheel pass to Johnson just outside the corner of the 18-yard box. Johnson took a touch into the box, then faked left before cutting right to beat Smith before firing a low hard shot through Dick’s legs to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-0.

Swope Park earned a lifeline in the 72nd minute when Johnson was adjudged to have committed a foul in the Rowdies own defensive 18-yard box, giving the hosts a penalty kick.

Rowdies goalkeeper Macklin Robinson, making his first appearance of the season, saved Vanacore-Decker’s penalty kick, but the rebound fell right to him for an easy finish.

With another road victory under their belt, the Rowdies now lead the Eastern Conference by five points, though Indy does have two games in hand in second place. The Rowdies will visit the Pittsburgh Riverhounds next weekend before returning home to host Saint Louis FC on Saturday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to that match are available here.

Scoring Summary
Tampa Bay: Juan Tejada – 14th minute (assisted by Yann Ekra)
Tampa Bay: Sebastian Guenzatti – 39th minute (penalty kick)
Tampa Bay: Malik Johnson – 58th minute (assisted by Sebastian Guenzatti
Swope Park: Ethan Vanacore-Decker – 72nd minute

Caution Summary
Swope Park: Wan Kuzain – 37th minute
Swope Park: Graham Smith – 38th minute
Tampa Bay: Zach Steinberger – 45+1 minute
Swope Park: Mark Segbers – 45+3 minute
Tampa Bay: Malik Johnson – 54th minute
Tampa Bay: Pape Diakite – 62nd minute

Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (3-5-2): GK Macklin Robinson; D Tarek Morad, Pape Diakite, Caleb Richards; M Malik Johnson (Shawn Barry 73′), Yann Ekra, Zach Steinberger (Kwadwo Poku 49′), Dom Oduro, Leo Fernandes (David Najem 87′); F Sebastian Guenzatti (c), Juan Tejada

Swope Park XI (4-3-3): GK Eric Dick; D Mark Segbers (Tyler Freeman 78′), Kaveh Rad (Jacob Davis 66′), Graham Smith (c), Alexsander Andrade; M Ayyoub Allach, Wan Kuzain, Rassambek Akhmatov; F Will Little (Killian Colombie 54′), Ethan Vanacore-Decker, Jerome Ngom Mbekeli