Rowdies and Riverhounds Share Points As Two Week Road Trip Ends
The Rowdies flew up north to face 4th-place Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on the latter half of their two week roadtrip. Getting the early kickoff, the teams played to a very uneventful 0-0, with the clubs sharing the points.
For a lot of this game, Tampa Bay were defending, despite the pretty offensive lineup that Coach Casicato put out.
The Rowdies did have a very good chance in the first fifteen minutes, with Nathan Dossantos’ head getting on a Marco Micaletto free kick. The ball was easily collected by Riverhounds keeper Nico Campunzano.
In the second half, Dion Acoff was a real game changer. He did a great job applying pressure down the right side of the field.
Similar to last week’s game against Detroit City FC, the team didn’t create good efforts on goal until the 80th minute. In the 84th minute, Cicerone beat his man and fired a shot from just outside the box. The shot was just wide of Campuzano’s post.
By far the best chance came from Charlie Ostrem in stoppage time. A Dion Acoff cross found Charlie Ostrem alone in the box. Ostrem tried to one-time the volley, and hit it completely wrong. The effort was skied, and the best chance of the night went to waste.
I predicted 0-0, so I expected this to happen to a certain extent. Pittsburgh has always been a place the Rowdies have struggled in, so I am happy to have gotten something from this game at all.
Last week, Ethan Bartlow had a rough game. He missed the challenge on Ates Diouf, who went on to score. This week was a completely different story. Bartlow was a brick wall on defense, and looked like a completely different player.
Otherwise, it was more of the same from last week. This team continued to be their worst enemy. Giveaways, poor passes, and bad shots. Hopefully, the team can use the Brooklyn game to get back onto the right track.
Around The League:
Louisville City FC hosted Detroit City FC, with the visitors fresh off their win against the Rowdies.
The best chance of the night came late in the first half. Louisville’s Manny Perez crossed a high ball over Detroit’s keeper Carlos Herrera. Herrera whiffed on an attempt to punch away, and the ball landed right to Lou City’s Jake Morris. He was unable to redirect the cross, and missed the open net.
Neither team were able to find a goal, and the match ended in an underwhelming 0-0.
The other important game for the Eastern Conference table was Charleston Battery playing Western Conference team Las Vegas Lights FC.
The Battery got all three points after a brace from forward Maalique Foster.
With this win, the Battery continue to nip at the heels of the Rowdies from 2nd place.
Despite the draw, Tampa Bay are still in first, with 45 points. Charleston closed the gap to six points, having 39 points in 2nd place. Detroit City are in 3rd place, with 36 points. Pittsburgh is in 4th place with 34 points, and Louisville is in 5th place with 32 points. 6th and 7th place Indy and Rhode Island are tied at 28 points. 8th-place Hartford is only a point behind with 27 points. 5 points behind Hartford, outside of playoff contention right now is Miami FC. With 22 points is Loudoun in 10th place, 11th place Birmingham has 17 points, and 16 point Brooklyn is in 12th. Finally, Sporting Jax suffered heart breaking defeat again, in last-place with 11 points.
Coming Up/Match Prediction:
The Rowdies are back at Al Lang Stadium, this time hosting Brooklyn FC.
Brooklyn have had a brutal inaugural season, having only 16 points in 20 matches played.
The two clubs met on June 20th in Coney Island, with the Rowdies winning 2-0. The two goals both came in the first half, with MD Myers scoring a penalty and Russell Cicerone scoring a header.
Brooklyn FC had lost 4 in row before this past weekend, where they won 4-1 over Sporting Jax.
The top scorer from the New York club is Markus Anderson, with six goals tallied. Anderson got a goal and assist in the win over Jacksonville.
The Rowdies have been shutout in their past two league games, so I hope they can use this game to get back to scoring ways.
I think the team will line up in a very offensive lineup, similar to what we saw against Pittsburgh.
However, I would like to see Louis Perez get the start. I think the team plays a lot better with him. The attack seemed to flow better with him on the field, and he had 80% passing accuracy in the 20 minutes he played.
Otherwise, I think the Rowdies will be able to get out of their goal slump with this game.
For my prediction, I think it will be a repeat of the reverse fixture. I am going with a 2-0 win.
