Rowdies Stay Perfect in USL Cup By Defeating Miami FC 4-1
Goals galore in South Florida as the Rowdies defeat Miami FC 4-1 after goals from MD Myers, Louis Perez, and Max Schneider.
Louis Perez opened the scoring for the Rowdies. The French wingback fielded a pass from teammate Sebastian Cruz. Perez took a touch into space, and fired a left-footed shot at the top left corner of the goal. Despite a diving effort, Miami FC keeper Eloy Room was unable to reach the strike, and the Rowdies took the lead in under 15 minutes.
In the 41st minute, Tampa Bay earned a free kick in the attacking half after a foul from Miami’s Arney Rocha. Perez stood over the free kick, and fired in a shot requiring a Room save, with a corner being the outcome.
Perez delivered the ensuing corner, which was cleared away, eventually falling to Charlie Ostrem. Ostrem played the ball back into the box, where MD Myers’ acrobatic scissor kick doubled the advantage for Tampa Bay.
The cross from Ostrem truly deserves more recognition, but an incredible finish from the Rowdies #9 has the Rowdies go into halftime 2-0.
The Rowdies wasted little time striking again after the break.
A lovely Dion Acoff cross found MD Myers completely unmarked near post. Myers nodded the effort past a frozen Room, and secured his brace for the evening.
The setup from the goal was really well done from the Rowdies did a fantastic job of stretching out Miami FC, and taking advantage with a cross right to the middle of box, where MD Myers was wide open.
Later in the game, Mattheus Oliveira’s now signature pull-back cross found Perez wide open at the edge of the eighteen-yard box. Perez connected with the pull back on the half-volley, and sent a shot to the bottom right of the net. The shot had perfect power, but just went wide of the goal.
The Rowdies scored their fourth and final goal of the night after a Louis Perez corner found Mattheus in the middle of the box. Mattheus played the ball to Max Schenider at the back-post. Schneider one-timed the finish, and got his first goal as a Rowdie. The goal was beautiful team play from Tampa Bay, with Mattheus’ set-up pass perfectly placed for Schneider to pounce on.
Miami FC pulled one back with ten minutes to go. A beautiful solo run from Mason Tunbridge undid the Rowdie defense and scored an incredible goal for the hosts.
Louis Perez had one final look at goal, with substitute Karsen Henderlong playing a beautiful through-ball. Perez got himself into a great position, but rushed the finish. The effort was collected by Room.
The final whistle blew, and the Rowdies left Miami with six points out of six in the USL Cup group.
Around the Group:
While Tampa Bay played Miami FC on Tampa Bay on Saturday, FC Naples hosted Sporting JAX on Sunday.
Sporting Jax took an early lead through striker Ahmad Al-Qaq on a quick counter-attack.
In the 80th minute, Al-Qaq had a good shot on goal, which required an acrobatic save from FC Naples keeper Joshua Grant.
FC Naples’ Julian Cisneros equalized in stoppage time for Naples, scoring in the 93rd minute of a five-minute added time.
As in the USL Cup, draws go to a penalty shootout. FC Naples won the shootout, with Sporting Jax only scoring one of their spot kicks.
Sarasota and Sporting Jax played on Wednesday, May 13th. Sporting Jax won the match, giving Sporting Jax their first win of the 2026 season (it is middle of May).
After Matchweek Two, the Rowdies sit at the top of the table with six points with two games played. Miami FC is in second place, with six points and three games played. Sporting Jax has three games played and four points. FC Naples are in fourth place with two points with two games played. Finally, Sarasota sit in last with two games played and zero points.
The Bigger Picture:
The Good: The Rowdies sensed blood in the water in this game. Miami struggled to keep up with the Rowdies’ numerous attacking chances.
The team attack was on fire, with all offensive players having some sorts of contribution. MD Myers had an incredible game, scoring a scissor kick and a header. While Karsen Henderlong was not on the pitch for a long time, he had set up a great chance to Louis Perez, who should have finished the effort.
Speaking of Louis Perez, he took the game by storm. Perez scored an incredible goal to open the scoring, and his corners set up two additional goals. Louis Perez found himself in dangerous attacking positions later into the game, with Mattheus’ pullback cross finding Perez open at the edge of the box.
As a whole, the defense did well to stop the Miami attack. While Miami FC did score a goal, it was a really good run from Tunbridge. Sometimes you just have to acknowledge an incredible goal when you see it.
The Bad: The Rowdies played really well.
Miami’s main threat, Jürgen Locadia, was suspended due to getting a red card in their last USL Cup game. I do not think Locadia would have had that much of an impact on this game. The Rowdies’ defense looked really solid all night.
Other than that, it feels really nitpicky to criticize anything else. The Rowdies traveled to the 305 and never stepped off the gas.
Final Thoughts: I am really happy with the game. Louis Perez has shown a lot of promise, so it see him have an amazing game was exciting to see. I suspect he will be starting against either New Mexico United or Phoenix.
I am happy with the win, and I hope we can recoup quick enough to face our midweek opponent New Mexico United.
Coming Up/Match Prediction:
The Rowdies have a midweek matchup this week, travelling to Albuquerque, New Mexico to face New Mexico United.
New Mexico, who are usually at the top of the Western Conference have struggled this season. They are coming off a brutal 4-0 loss to Colorado Springs.
While they have struggled, New Mexico still have very good players. Greg Hurst has been one of the best strikers in the USL recently, and he is always a threat when he is on the ball.
The other threat is former Rowdie Dayonn Harris. As we know, he uses his quickness to get behind the defense and set up goals. He has four goal contributions in six games.
While I feel the Rowdies can beat New Mexico, I am nervous about the travel. It is a lot of travel to go out that far west, and it makes it worse it is midweek.
With these conditions, I am going with a 1-1 draw.
