Rowdies draw 1-1 with Detroit City, End Playoff Hopes

In a situation where the Rowdies needed a win by two goals, a 1-1 draw would see the 2025 Rowdies USL Championship season come to an end. 

Detroit City’s Isaiah Leflore opened the scoring as his shot was deflected into the back of the net. 

Tampa Bay striker Woobens Pacius would even the scoreline last in the game, with ten minutes to go, unfortunately, it would be the last goal of the game. 

With how the USL tiebreakers worked, the Rowdies needed a win no matter what, and then needed help in California with Orange County SC playing Indy Eleven. 

However, with a draw being the full-time result, that meant that the 50th anniversary season of the Tampa Bay Rowdies had come to an end, regardless of the result in Orange County SC. 

Around the League:

The only other game that Rowdies fans needed to care about was Orange County SC hosting Indy Eleven, which kicked off after the game at Al Lang Stadium had concluded. 

Vuk Latinovich would open the scoring for Orange County SC in the 23rd minute.

Indy’s Romario Williams would equalize 10 minutes later after being unmarked at the back post, and having a free header. 

The game would remain tied for the rest of the game, until in the 91st minute, when Ousmane Sylla would dribble through the Indy defense, and would fire a rocket far post to give Orange County the lead in stoppage time. 

With Tampa Bay and Detroit City playing, those were the most important games from a Rowdies point of view. 

Detroit City would finish in 8th place and clinch that final playoff spot with 37 points. Indy would finish in 9th place with 35 points, and that leaves Tampa Bay in 10th place with 34 points. 

The Bigger Picture:

The Good: Given the situation of needing two goals, urgency was needed. I was happy to see the Rowdies playing with a lot of urgency. They played their hearts out until the final whistle, and to be honest, that is all we can ask for at the end of the day. 

I am really proud of the team’s “never say die” attitude. I was really nervous the team was going to throw in the towel after the 5-0 Rhode Island FC loss. 

The team lined up in the same formation that they did against Hartford, with Thomas Vancaeyezeele being dropped in favor of Robert Castellanos, which I really liked to see. With Forrest Lasso and Castellanos in the backline, few balls made it into the backline. 

Speaking of defense, I thought Bill Hamid had a good game as well. He had to make some good saves, and the goal he did concede was a deflection, so it is not really his fault. 

Our striker Woobens scored again, bringing his final tally to 14 goals in his USL Championship campaign, 17 goals in all competitions for the Rowdies. He had a nice goal, it was nice to be able to see Woobens score in Rowdies colors one more time. 

The Bad: Coming into the game, we knew that Detroit City was going to play defensively. They came into the game with a low block formation, and the Rowdies have historically struggled against teams that use formations like that. 

The only time I can think of where we got a victory over a low block team was the 2-1 victory against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC this season. 

As expected, we struggled to create chances. Since we needed two goals, we really needed to score before halftime. 

The worst moment of the game was by far the goal conceded. It was an unlucky deflection, and barely hit the post and ended up in the net. 

I knew in that moment that the season was over. I’ve seen the Rowdies have some historical games in Al Lang Stadium, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be that kind of game. 

Final Thoughts: I knew going into the game it was an uphill battle. All of the Rowdies fans I talked to pregame knew it was going to take some feat to win this game by the two goals required. 

The team played their heart out and I know they left it all on the field, which as a supporter is all I can ask for. 

I was just happy to see the team play as a unit. This whole season just felt like the team was never on the same page. Despite whoever we brought in, we just never clicked (until we signed Paul Marie). 

Saturday did not feel like that. On Saturday the team looked so unified in their tactics. Honestly, it felt like it was that special 2021 team. 

The main thing I really liked was the atmosphere. Attendance has been awful this season. So it was super refreshing to see a packed Al Lang again, and hopefully the 2026 season will be filled with a packed Al Lang Stadium.