Rowdies Prevail 5-4 In Nine Goal Thriller vs Louisville City
In a hot, humid Al Lang Stadium with a special nationally televised game (despite cornhole’s best effort to stop the USL), it was a game that went on to be a classic. Louisville City flew to St. Petersburg to face Eastern Conference leaders the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and fell 5-4.
The game kicked off and it was the best vibes I have experienced since the home opener, but the mood was dampened early on as the visitors opened the scoring.
Jake Morris was wide open on the Rowdies’ right side, and fired a shot directly at Rowdies goalie Jahmali Waite. Waite parried Morris’ shot right to Jansen Wilson, who nodded the rebounded effort home.
A couple minutes later, Lou City had found their second goal of the night. A nice through ball split the Tampa Bay defense, and found Evan Davila on the byline, whose pullback cross found Chris Donovan who smashed home the close range effort.
Right as it seemed things couldn’t get worse, a wide open Jake Morris smashed in a ridiculously well hit shot into the top left corner of the goal. You can have prime Manuel Neuer in net, and I doubt he stops that.
In the span of ten minutes Louisville had scored three goals, and completely stunned the Rowdies and Al Lang Stadium.
Mercy came in the form of half-time. As Coach Dom Casicato came off the field, he was hyping up the crowd, something that seemed a bit hilarious at the time. He did the same coming back onto the field after the break. We have no idea what was said at halftime, but it worked wonders.
Right after the restart, Russell Cicerone smashed in a left-footed effort into the crossbar and down into the Louisville net.
Two minutes later, after building pressure in the Louisville defensive third, Marco Micaletto right outside the eighteen-yard box had a go on goal. Micaletto’s curling effort flew past Louisville goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux for the goal, and pulled another one back for this Tampa Bay team. Fauroux was able to get a touch on the shot, but the ball was struck so well he was unable to save it.
As smoke bombs filled the Al Lang air, Sebastian Cruz received the ball on the right side with space to run into. As Cruz got closer to the Lou City goalie box, Jake Morris was there to stop Cruz. Cruz did a beautiful Ronaldo chop to get past Morris and sent a left-footed effort past Fauroux, and off the goal post. Truly a magnificent effort stopped by the woodwork.
Moments later, Charlie Ostrem in space whipped in a perfect cross to MD Myers. After a couple seconds of pinball, Myers poked the ball into the net.
After conceding three in the first half, the Rowdies had tied the game up in less than ten minutes into the second half.
The Green and Gold really woke up after halftime, but to me the big difference was the wing play.
In what was his first start for Tampa Bay, Gennaro Nigro had a game to forget. While the whole defense struggled, Nigro’s side was the consistently worse side, with Jake Morris roaming in the free space he was given.
In the second half, it was the opposite. Micaletto’s goal, Cruz’s chance, and Myers’ goal had all come from the wings, just in the first opening ten minutes of the second half.
The party wouldn’t last, as a well placed Jake Morris shot was just out of Waite’s reach. Just like that, Lou City had taken the lead again. It was a really nice set up pass from Davila, where Morris blew past Sebastian Cruz and fired a low shot past Waite.
To give Waite some credit, Morris curled the ball perfectly around defender Laurence Wyke. It is honestly a really satisfying goal to watch.
With an unbroken spirit, the Rowdies kept attacking. A good chance formed in the 82nd minute. A good through ball from Wyke found Acoff, in his first appearance from his injury.
Acoff left his man, Kevon Lambert, in the dust and picked his head up looking for a runner. Acoff cut in, shot a weak effort with his left, and after desperate Louisville defending the ball was eventually cleared.
After the clearance, Lewis Hilton went to strike the ball on a volley. He was fouled in the process, setting up a dangerous chance. Fauroux saved the free kick, and the chance died.
Minutes later, Lewis Hilton played Russell Cicerone into space on the left wing. With a right footed shot similar to Micaletto’s, Cicerone’s effort just evaded the reach of Fauroux, and it was all squared up again.
To give credit to Cicerone, USL veteran Sean Totsch was all over him. It takes a different level of quality to have that much pressure on you and still strike a football like that.
In the 89th minute, a headed clearance from a Cicerone cross aimed at Myers dropped to Rowdies fullback Charlie Ostrem. Ostrem attempted a shot, which landed right at the feet of MD Myers. Myers turned past Louisville defender Amadou Dia, and fired the ball past Fauroux.
After being down 3-0 at halftime, Tampa Bay had taken the lead in the 89th minute.
While not mentioned much, Jahmali Waite had a very good second half. He made a series of great one-on-one saves. In a game like this for Waite to be able to brush off the first half and show up when needed in the second half. It shows the character of both him and of this club.
I don’t know what was said at halftime, but it must’ve been a team talk of the ages. The Rowdies that came out in the second half were a different version of angry and determined.
My concern is the defense. This is the second game in the span of a month the lads have given up 3 goals in the first 45 minutes. With Acoff back from injury, I hope we are one step closer to that defense we saw in the beginning of the season.
In my last article I said that Tampa Bay and Louisville give supporters memories to last a lifetime, and this game certainly did that.
Around the League:
While the Rowdies and Louisville were playing, the two teams in between them also played in the USL Championship.
Charleston made light work of Brooklyn FC, winning the match 5-0 at Patriots Point. Five different goalscorers for the Battery secured the win, as Brooklyn continue to struggle in their first season.
The most interesting part of the game was a fight in the 78th minute. The fight included a football tackle, and had a player from both sides sent off. Other than that, it was all Battery.
3rd place Detroit travelled to Miami-Dade to face off against Miami FC. With Miami FC leading going into the 88th minute. A left-footed volley from Tommy Silva tied the game up with only minutes to go.
With less than a minute to go, Detroit City received a penalty after a Miami FC handball. It was actually a weird place to call the penalty, as Detroit scored immediately after the offense. Regardless, Detroit had a chance to take the lead from the spot in the dying moments of the game.
Substitute Chisom Egbuchunam stepped up to take the kick. Egbuchunam went to the keeper’s left, with Miami goalkeeper Eloy Room diving the same direction. Room caught the weakly struck penalty, and kept the score split at two all.
With Tampa Bay’s win over Louisville, they move to 38 points, eight clear of 2nd place Charleston Battery. 3rd place Detroit has 28 points, one more than 4th place Louisville. Pittsburgh sits in 5th with 26 points, and Miami FC has 22 points in 6th place. 7th place Rhode Island has 22 points as well, and are one point ahead of Indy Eleven. Just outside of the last playoff spot is Hartford Athletic, who is two points ahead of 10th-place Loudoun United with 18 points. Birmingham Legion FC has 14 points in 11th place, 12th place Brooklyn has 13 points. Sporting Jax has 8 points.
Coming Up/Match Prediction:
The Rowdies now travel to California to face Western Conference leaders Orange County SC. Orange County sit 4 points behind the Rowdies in the USL Championship Player’s Shield race.
Orange County have been in decent form recently, winning their last two games. Their most recent game was a 2-0 win over El Paso Locomotive FC. Ousmane Sylla and Garrison Tubbs scored for Orange County.
Ousmane Sylla has been in great form recently, scoring 4 goals and having an assist in his last five games.
Forward Yaniv Bazini leads the team in goal contributions, having seven so far this season. Bazini assisted Tubb’s goal in the match against El Paso, with his flicked-on header finding Tubbs at the back post, following a free-kick.
Both Sylla and Bazini have been in great form recently, and the Rowdies defense will have to be ready for this Orange County attack. With the form the Rowdies defense has been in, that might prove to be quite the challenge.
With this game against Louisville, this team has proven that they might be down but never out.
With all this in consideration, I am going with a 3-2 Rowdies win. Similar to the Rowdies’ last two games, it will not be pretty. It will be a tough game, especially with San Antonio FC breathing down the neck of Orange County in the Western Conference standings. I believe that the Rowdies will be able to leave California with all three points.
