Away to Louisville City Preview
Date: Saturday June 7, 2025
Kickoff Time: 7:00 pm EST at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, KY
Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (5 pts 1W-2D-7L); Louisville City FC (22 pts 6W-4D-0L)
Standings: The Rowdies are 12th in the East and LouCity are 2nd.
It’s back to league play for the Tampa Bay Rowdies following a late win in the Jager Cup. While that wasn’t the best performance local fans had ever seen, it may give the team some extra confidence as they hit the road this weekend. It’s a good thing, ‘cause they’ll need all they can get against a strong Louisville City. Tune in this Saturday on ESPN+ or on local station Tampa Bay 44 to take in the action from Kentucky!
How far are we from challenging this team?
While Louisville haven’t had the best run in the month of May, it’s hard to overstate just how bad it was to Tampa Bay and their fans. After City beat their intra-state rivals Lexington, they lost at home to Minnesota United in the Open Cup. They then had two league draws, a win on the road, and finally a loss in the Jager Cup to Loudoun United.
Of course, the 2025 Open Cup campaign is best just forgotten for the Rowdies. In the league, the team took two points all month, getting another three in Jager Cup group stage play. After it all was said and done, Louisville sit second in the Eastern Conference and overall in the league. The Rowdies are last in both. That should best explain the current gap in form.
The latter, though, are making moves to get back where they and fans feel the team belongs. In addition to that late win in the Jager Cup, at time of writing, the club have announced a new signing, bringing in Luis Alvarez from Charlotte Independence in the USL League 1. A 2024 selection for the USL League 1 All League Team, this bodes well for the coming months.
Tampa Bay has also changed their formation lately, switching to a three-at-the-back system, which could suit the roster a bit better. Leo Fernandes has started to get meaningful playing time after a long injury layoff and wingbacks Nick Moon and Blake Bodily started last weekend. Don’t forget: they were brought in ahead of last season to do just that.
This formation could help the Rowdies counteract Louisville as well. The hosts have mostly lined up in a similar formation, complete with wingbacks and a complementary system of attackers assisting the main striker in 2025. That target man up top was mainly Phillip Goodrum; although, the club also made a signing recently, reacquiring Cameron Lancaster from Lexington.
While the wingbacks are going to be extremely important to LouCity’s attacking moves, their most potent threat appears to be the duo underneath the striker. That has been Ray Serrano and Adrien Perez the majority of the time. The former has three goals in the league and one in the Jager Cup, while the latter has one and two in those competitions, respectively.
Adequately shutting down the home side’s options on the flanks will be a big task for the Rowdies. They will need to put a lot of focus at the same time in clogging the midfield such that those players don’t have the time or room to create good chances – or get on the end of crosses. Likely starters Thomas Vancaeyezeele and Danny Crisostomo will have their hands full.
While every Rowdies fan wants to see a win every game, a draw would be a very good result, all things considered. Stopping the bleeding at the back – or continuing to do so depending on your perspective – is step one. Letting Fernandes and Alvarez combine with in-form Woobens Pacius is step two. Whether or not they can put it all together? Let’s just wait and see.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Rowdies Podcast:
Carlos: 1-1 D
James: 2-0 L
Yurika: 0-0 D
