Sun vs. Brooklyn FC Preview
Date: Saturday September 14, 2024
Kickoff Time: 7:00 pm EST at Riverfront Stadium in Tampa, FL
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (5 pts 1W-2D-0L); Brooklyn FC (1 pts 0W-1D-0L)
Standings: The Sun are 2nd in the Super League and Brooklyn are 6th.
The Tampa Bay Sun have their first win after three games played, that coming away from home against Lexington SC. While the two goals conceded were from silly mistakes, the team looked much stronger in attack than they had beforehand. It is a promising sign as they return home to take on Brooklyn FC in front of a newly-energized home crowd. Get to Riverside Stadium this Saturday to cheer them on again!
What made this game so different?
Loan players have helped many a team improve their immediate fortune. Such is the case for the Sun as well. Talia Staude came in from NC Courage in the NWSL and has offered coach Denise Schilte-Brown another option on the backline. This, in turn, has allowed her to try other players in positions that might make them more impactful.
Jordyn Listro is the big winner here. Named captain of the inaugural team, it was immediately clear that DSB valued her fellow Canadian very highly. So valued was Listro that she was perhaps asked to do too much in the first couple games for Tampa Bay. Her role as a hybrid right and central midfielder meant she was focused on two things at all times.
Staude stepped into the right back role against Lexington and Listro moved one line forward so she could sit alongside defensive midfielder Wasila Diwura-Soale in the middle of the park. This worked wonders from the start. Diwura-Soale was freed to run to her heart’s content – and, it should be noted, that means a whole lot of running.
Listro became a playmaker and showed her ability to “quarterback” a team through a match. As the central option that Lexington had to defend, other players suddenly had more freedom in their respective zones as well. Erika Tymrak, nominally a left winger, and Sydny Nasello, nominally on the right, both found huge gaps to exploit and this led to the first two goals.
These were very similar in fact as Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead into halftime. For the first, Nasello started with possession quite deep – around halfway – and picked out a player ahead of her. Through a mishit cross, the ball found its way to the opposite side of the field where the aforementioned Staude was waiting. Her strike was enough to beat the keeper.
The second goal started from the outside in and wound up on the same side of the field. This time it was Carlee Giammona waiting for a cross back across the box to finish it off. The new formation was working and these were not the only good chances the Sun created. If not for two defensive errors, they would’ve been the only goals needed. Luckily, Ashley Clark-Lemieux was able to round things off again and leave no doubt around the three points.
The last thing to work out will be removing the defensive errors from the Sun’s game. Steady in the first two matches of the season, both goals Lexington scored came off of slip ups. The good thing is those are the easiest to correct, as they came from likely one-time events. The even better news is that the next opponent will be the least prepared they’ve faced so far.
What do we know about Brooklyn FC?
I’ve started many portions of preview articles for the Sun with the question above. Similar to the last couple instances, right now, we don’t know a whole lot about the club that’s coming to pay Tampa Bay a visit this weekend. Brooklyn was supposed to host their first game two weeks ago. Sadly, that did not happen, so they’ve only had one match so far.
That resulted in a 1-1 draw away from home in Spokane facing the Zephyr. It took 87 minutes for Brooklyn to get on the board, and they did so from the spot. This was the only game footage of the team as it is for the coaching staff to peruse. There is not a ton to draw on for the team from New York ahead of the Saturday fixture.
One thing to be certain about is they will have a strong goalkeeper. Brooklyn signed Sydney Martinez, a native of Georgia and former USF Bull, for their inaugural season. She is the starting keeper for Puerto Rico and in February of 2022 competed with her national team in the first ever CONCACAF Women’s W Gold Cup.
There, Puerto Rico narrowly lost to former World Cup competitors Brazil and Colombia, while beating Panama. This is just one example of where Martinez’s strengths came to the fore, as she saved a penalty along the way to their impressive performance in her country’s first ever major tournament. Who will play in front of her, though, is more of a question.
There is a little bit of NWSL or Australian A-League experience around the squad. Those players include defender Tori Hansen, midfielder Hope Breslin, and forward Isabel Cox. The most decorated player on the roster is defender Taylor Smith. The 30-year-old Texas native has ten senior team caps with the US national team in addition to her long NWSL career.
However, it should be noted neither Hansen nor Smith were available for the game against Spokane. It is seemingly a mishmash of players filling in right now to create a matchday squad. If this continues into Saturday, it bodes well for the Sun to continue to create good chances. While Tampa Bay have had time to work out some kinks, Brooklyn have barely had time to find theirs.
With Listro and Diwura-Soale patrolling and controlling the midfield, Brooklyn’s ability to impact things should be more limited. Clark-Lemieux and Nasello have also stepped up their game since the first match. If they can turn their good runs into more combination play with Riley Parker up top, the club from New York will have a horrible time keeping the Sun from scoring.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Sun Podcast:
Liz: 2-1 W
Tom: 2-0 W
Yurika: 2-0 W
James: 3-1 W
