Rowdies Away to Hartford Athletic Preview
Date: Friday June 21, 2024
Kickoff Time: 7:30 pm EST at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, CT
Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (25 pts 7W-4D-3L); Hartford Athletic (13 pts 5W-1D-7L)
Standings: The Rowdies are 4th in the East and Hartford are ninth.
The Rowdies earned a win this past weekend that has the potential to change the course of the USL Championship season. The best thing to follow that would be another win on the road on a field which could pose the team trouble. Hartford Athletic host Tampa Bay in a Friday night matchup that will begin a series of three games away from home. Tune into Paramount+ and/or the CBS Sports Golazo Network to see how it turns out and cheer on the Green and Gold!
What an exciting game that was versus Louisville!
Usually, these sections start out with a question that acts as a summary for what follows. There isn’t much more to say, though, than what is above. There will certainly be more of a breakdown; but, those are the moments sports fans live for. A level game against a heated rival and then they score in front of the home fans with just minutes left. SCENES!
This one started with all the energy one would expect of the occasion. Louisville were leading the USL Championship, with only one loss in league play in 2024. They have been firing on all cylinders of late and it would take a massive performance from the home team to send the Boys in Purple back home without a point.
That massive performance is exactly what followed. Despite the score being so tight and the Rowdies needing a last minute winner, one could actually take even more positivity from this game than from just the win. This is the way everyone who supports Tampa Bay wants to see them play. Replicating it is manager Robbie Neilson’s biggest challenge.
From kickoff, both teams were sprinting out of the gates. The chances were piling up and the patterns of play were on display immediately. LouCity wanted to press the Rowdies when out of possession and the Rowdies would do the same. Going forward, Louisville would try to build through their outside defenders, who in turn would look toward their wingbacks on the flanks.
Tampa Bay kept their usual starters in the attack, with Manuel Arteaga and Cal Jennings acting as the players highest up the field and Josh Perez often dropping deeper. All three of them did brilliantly when defending, putting themselves in positions to block those passes out wide to Jake Morris on the left and Aiden McFadden on the right for Louisville.
When in possession, the Rowdies would try to bait LouCity into pressing, which they are always eager to do. Getting around that press is no easy task. It has led multiple teams down the Road to Ruin. It was often Lewis Hilton’s wand of a foot that forged a new path: over the press.
As purple shirts surrounded him – or any of the defenders in Green and Gold – Hilton was steady and rarely gave up the ball. This pattern played out even on the opening goal, which Hilton did not have a hand in. Instead, it was Jordan Doherty who pinged a ball into Perez, whose chest provided the backboard to his own foot, allowing him to round the marker on his back.
His pass to Jennings was perfect, and this time, after a failed attempt or two at the same play, it led to a goal. It summed up the Rowdies on the night. Their touches were sublime, their passes were accurate, their timing exceptional. Despite conceding two goals from set pieces, it was a top notch performance and it deserved a win. Those concessions did mean it required all 90 minutes, plus stoppage time, though.
Will the turf monster help Hartford out, too?
Following Tampa Bay’s win over Sacramento, Floridian fans were looking forward to another three points. The team failed to take them off of Oakland Roots, staying in California for the week in between, as the two clubs are only an hour apart. Coming home, though, another big test was passed as the Green and Gold capitalized on that advantage to beat Louisville.
Now onto the next test they face: winning away from home on turf. In fact, the next three games are all away from Al Lang and will be played on plastic grass. Historically, the Rowdies struggle in these fixtures with a worse surface or, in several instances, with a smaller field. Partly down to the way they play, losing out on width and a smooth field is often a death sentence.
While Hartford’s form is mixed, they did achieve an encouraging result this past weekend by beating Pittsburgh Riverhounds. They did so with two goals in front of the home fans they will want to impress again this weekend. Striker Michee Ngalina scored both and was set up by a player on the left side for each.
This should give the Rowdies something to think about. Hartford generally would like to create down the wings, be it on the right or the left. However, on the right side, they have just made a move to shore up their chances of both defending and attacking efficiently. A trade with Indy Eleven was announced last Friday before their match.
Going away to Indianapolis was striker Romario Williams. In his place, right back Younes Boudadi has moved to Connecticut with a remit to make that position his own. Previously, Rece Buckmaster and Joey Akpunonu have switched off the starting position. Neither locked it down, so they have looked elsewhere. One win out of one seems a good enough record.
As it happened, Boudadi and starting left back Triston Hodge had a role in each strike for Hartford – and in very similar fashion. Hodge sent a long ball over the heads of the Riverhounds defenders for Ngalina to run onto. He was able to score from there. Boudadi played the ball over the first line of Pittsburgh’s defense into Jay Chapman, who turned and found Deshane Beckford out on the wing. His ball into the middle found Ngalina again.
To avoid creating plays like this, the Rowdies will want to make sure their pressing is done all together and not disjointedly. Preventing those gaping spots from opening up in dangerous areas is important, while Tampa Bay will also want to impose their own game plan on the opponents. Forcing Hartford onto the backfoot with their own possession will allow the Green and Gold to prevent better than any reactionary defending could.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Rowdies Podcast:
Carlos: 2-0 W
James: 3-0 W
Yurika: 2-0 W
