Home Win vs. Indy Eleven Review

Date: Wednesday June 25, 2025

Result: Tampa Bay 3-1 Indy

Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (11 pts 3W-2D-9L); Indy Eleven (14 pts 3W-5D-5L)

Standings: The Rowdies are 11th in the East and the Eleven are 9th. 

After a poor game on the road, the Rowdies were able to quickly turn things around playing at home again. Despite some very long delays, those fans who stayed were treated to a healthy comeback win against some Eastern Conference rivals. Not only did the boys overcome an Indy wondergoal: they even missed a penalty before leveling and then taking the lead. That’s the type of performance that could breed some real, actionable confidence.  

Did the conditions help us beat Indy? 

For a midweek game, the Rowdies front office chose to move the kickoff time 30 minutes up. That meant the match was actually supposed to start at 7pm instead of the usual 7:30. No matter, though. Due to delays caused by lightning in the area, the Rowdies actually kicked things off at nearly 9pm. The field had previously been soaked and would get cut up all night. 

While these aren’t necessarily the best conditions for a soccer game (pour one out for the poor groundspeople who have to fix the sod), a two-hour delay was better than 24 hours. Some number of fans stuck it out – getting to see the Green and Gold achieve a rare win in 2025. This was especially positive for the team in the way they worked themselves out of a hole. 

The commentators for this match noted that Indy play a similar style to the Rowdies. Frequently, with their near-mirror formations, both sets of forwards were isolated from the rest of their teams and were unable to link up properly. Ricky Lopez-Espin on the mic stated that they almost canceled each other out, having to resort to long balls over the top to generate anything. 

Despite a couple of good looks from these long balls, it was actually a long shot, coming from well outside the Rowdies’ 18-yard box, that would open the scoring. With the ball having been originally given away by Blake Bodily, Indy kept possession under pressure, found Maalique Foster, and let him do the rest. It was a strike worth of the ESPN Top 10 for that evening. 

Coming in first half stoppage time, Tampa Bay would get the break to regroup and look for other solutions. After seemingly getting a lifeline following a corner sent in by Lewis Hilton, Manuel Arteaga stepped up to take a penalty he’d earned. That was blasted over the bar. Fans could be forgiven for thinking they’d seen exactly this type of game earlier in the season. 

However, that was only the beginning for the home side. Good play from side to side continued with the fullbacks getting more involved in the attack. First, Blake Bodily hit a pass that split one line of Indy’s defense before continuing his run through two give-and-go’s to get on the end of the final pass in the six yard box. He started and finished that play with his first goal of the year. 

Then, after Bodily went off for Joey Skinner, it was Nick Moon who followed up with a run of his own into the Indy Eleven half. He intercepted a bad pass from visitors, found his own give-and-go, and was ever so fortunate with a deflection off the leg of a sliding defender. You have to make your own luck, of course – and it’s nothing the Rowdies don’t deserve after the year that’s been so far. 

The Rowdies’ mantra for years has been to move teams from side to side, wear them out with the wingbacks, and try to create chances through their interactions with the higher attackers. It was a textbook example of how well that can go in both the 60th and 69th minutes. The final goal from Laurence Wyke came off a good reaction to the visitors throwing everything at the wall. 

Tampa Bay had been making progress for much of June after a horrid first few months. The match against Pittsburgh did a lot to undermine that. Looking back, though, it may have just been a blip. Players are returning from injury and Luis Alvarez has started life at Al Lang extremely brightly. They need to convert this win into momentum as the summer goes on. 

RBLR Man of the Match: 

James:  Luis Alvarez

Carlos: Laurence Wyke

RBLR Sports Predictions Standings:

Carlos: 4

James: 13

Yurika: 13