Roster Overhaul and Early Silverware in Tampa Bay

The Rowdies finished off their series of public preseason fixtures with a 1-0 win over the Sarasota Paradise to claim the inaugural Cochol Cup. It was not a performance where the Rowdies could be described as being “in mid-season form” but one where they took care of business, got the job done, and continued to build towards the start of the regular season.

With seasons’  kickoff (somehow) less than 14 days away, let’s take a look at some of the major talking points ahead of their season opener at Birmingham Legion on March 7th.

Will high squad turnover lead to a top of the table push?

The Rowdies current 23-man squad for 2026 features just four members returning from the 2025 roster that missed out on the playoffs by finishing in a disappointing 10th place in the Eastern Conference. That count includes young Endri Mustali who is technically on the roster but has not featured in the public preseason matches and Alex Mendez who joined midway through the 2025 season as the Rowdies hoped to salvage something from 2025, but leaves out youngster Alex Rodriguez who has featured prominently so far this preseason but is not currently listed on the Rowdies 2026 roster. That means Lewis Hilton and Lawrence Wyke are the only real survivors from the initial 2025 season roster.

It is of little surprise that the Rowdies have turned over so much of their roster given its underperformance last season. Recruiting of replacements has been aggressive, largely fueled by targeting players who have proven USL Championship pedigree and are at or approaching peak years – MD Myers (24), Jahmali Waite (27), Leland Archer (29), Nathan Dossantos (26), Brian Schaefer (23), Gennaro Nigro (25), Yanis Leerman (27), Louis Perez (28) – or have a track record of performing for Coach Dominic Casciato during his time at Union Omaha – like Pedro Dolabella, Max Schnieder, Charlie Ostrem, and Dion Acoff. The remaining additions to the roster, like Russell Cicerone, bring experience or promise and offer additional excitement to the Rowdies roster.

Overall, the squad seems to be well constructed with 2 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 7 midfielders, and 6 attackers and lots of versatile players in the group.

However, the major concern with high roster turnover is always chemistry. Thankfully there are a decent number of existing connections within the roster from college soccer days or previous USL clubs which will hopefully minimize adaptation time and help the team gel quickly.

There has been some promising team play throughout the preseason and the Rowdies have shown the ability to score and defend well for periods of matches. Since this was Casciato’s first off-season with the Rowdies, there was always likely going to be a significant amount of work and changes taking place, so why not implement them with a refreshed roster?

Will 2026 be the season defined by style over shape?

Speaking of a significant amount of off-season work, we may be beginning to see a major divergence from the relatively rigid 3-4-3 formation the Rowdies have rolled out over the last countless seasons.

We first noted some shifts to a possible 4-2-3-1 shape following the first preseason match against the Philadelphia Union. The Rowdies have shaped up similarly in each of the preseason matches since but have also shown a variety of shapes within matches, sometimes having 2 players in forward roles, no recognized central forwards at other times, 3 center backs, 1 holding midfielder, and the list of variations go on.

James Knowles pressed Coach Casciato about the formations and potentially moving to a more 4 at the back system following the matchup against CF Montreal and Casciato noted that the Rowdies did lineup with 3 at the back at times as well before adding “I think the style that you see there is something that we want to establish, [the] formation can kind of flow from week to week”. 

So, what is the style that the Rowdies have looked to establish so far this season? Well, the Rowdies continue to be a team that appears to want to play out from the back. Waite has shown good composure with the ball at his feet and the ability to pick the right pass to help the Rowdies progress the ball and centerbacks and wide defenders also seem to be very comfortable in possession.

In preseason, they seem to be willing to move the ball more quickly from side-to-side and back-to-front than they did in the 2025 season. That quicker side-to-side ball movement and the Rowdies’ new personnel has allowed them to possess the ball more effectively in wide areas and play dangerous crosses into the box for players to attack compared to a very centrally focused attack last season that often relied on individual play.

We have also seen a lot of flexibility from the players in the preseason. As the Rowdies possess the ball it becomes less about players taking up certain spaces in a fixed shape and more about moving together to overload defenders in wide spaces or follow passes for overlapping and underlapping runs. 

All in all, the team has looked strong in preseason and the combination of having formational flexibility and a more comfort in a style of play will likely be of great benefit to the Rowdies in 2026. Not only will it make them a more difficult team to predict going into matches, but it will also provide them with options for in-game adjustments, or a plan B, that we haven’t seen in past years. Hopefully we see this dynamic shape lead to dominant performances.

Can the Rowdies stake their claim as the best team in Florida?

The USL welcomes both Sporting Jax into the USL Championship and Sarasota Paradise to the USL League 1 which allows for a fully Florida-based group in this years’ USL Cup (formerly brought to us by Jagermeister, now sponsored by Prinx Tires). This will offer the Rowdies a unique opportunity to formally stake their claim to be the kings of Florida professional soccer – excluding Orlando City SC given they sold out for MLS years ago and the 2026 World Cup causing a change in format for the US Open Cup meaning a potential matchup in 2026 is not on the cards  – by dominating “neighboring” teams. 

In all seriousness, the Rowdies do have a great opportunity ahead of them this year. Going opponent by opponent, the Rowdies have a 13-4-5 record against Miami FC (the Rowdies most wins against a currently active opponent per transfermarkt.us) and defeated them 2-1 on both league occasions in 2025. Given that historic domination, the Rowdies should hopefully be able to take care of Miami FC again this season.

The Rowdies also remain undefeated against FC Naples in their brief history having also just defeated them 3-0 during the preseason campaign. Having never faced either Sporting Jax or Sarasota Paradise in official matches we won’t have a great sense of their level of competitiveness until the season formally kicks off. But, we did just see the Rowdies take care of business against Sarasota Paradise in the preseason which bodes well for them in future official matches.

And while traditionally difficult to see extreme success a club’s first season of existing, as is the case for Sporting Jax, if the performance of their women’s team in the USL Super League is anything to go by, they could very well have a strong squad for their inaugural season. There will inevitably be some kinks to work through for them as the season progresses and given the Rowdies squad will have a point to prove themselves following a disappointing 2025, at this point in the year the Rowdies should be the favorites in the matchup.

Regardless of eventual results, this year will mark the beginning of a couple of new, fierce rivalries across the state of Florida and hopefully a strong Rowdies cup run ending with a new trophy to their cabinet.