Tampa Bay Sun Weekly – FTL Up Next

Date: Saturday September 12 at 7:00 pm at Riverside Stadium

Upcoming Game: Tampa Bay vs. Fort Lauderdale

How do we keep this going? 

In a short season, results can be magnified. It’s hard to know if a trend is beginning or if a fluke has thrown you off track. Possibly, a fluke has even helped you. The Sun beat Carolina away from home. The Ascent are a strong team, who followed up the home loss with a home win over Fort Lauderdale – 3-0, by the way. So was that win for Tampa Bay a fluke?

This week will allow the team a good chance to answer that question, as they now host the side so heavily beaten by Carolina on Saturday. FLOOTD come up to Tampa looking for their first win in the history of this fixture. With that loss, another against Sporting Jax, and their only win coming against a historically bad Brooklyn, it doesn’t seem like their best chance to earn that W is nigh.

The Blue and Gold will have game tape to review ahead of their meeting this weekend. When Fort Lauderdale went to Carolina last weekend, they had lost the game before the halftime whistle. Leaving out the very weird sequence that led to the hosts’ penalty goal to make it 2-0, there is still more to learn from what United gave up to the Ascent for the first and third goals.

The opener came when Fort Lauderdale stepped too high to try to win the ball away from Carolina. The Ascent’s ostensible left back, Jill Aguilera, ran in behind the opposition backline. A ball over the top was all that was needed to find her, and the keeper didn’t put up a strong fight, either. This was within the first ten minutes. They made it 2-0 on 30 minutes. 

The third goal was a little bit nicer to watch at least. Fort Lauderdale, trying to maintain possession at the back, invited pressure from Carolina. The long ball over the first line of defense was then poorly controlled. It fell to the feet of Mia Corbin who, after scoring the penalty, turned provider with a lovely through ball. It slipped past the hands of Haley Craig to end the visitors’ hopes of a comeback.

Essentially, FLOOTD had trouble with the ball and without. They had trouble with their defensive positioning when Carolina had the ball. They were not good when they had to react to turnovers in possession. They were also poor at avoiding those costly turnovers in the first place. Despite Tyrone Mears returning to the helm, United seem to still be lost on the field at times. 

Along these lines, Fort Lauderdale have only scored one goal in their three games this season: in the 1-0 over last place Brooklyn. In short, the Sun have a golden opportunity. They need to cement their status this year as one of the teams in the top half. How do they do that? They beat their first ever rivals for the umpteenth time and keep a clean sheet along the way.

This is obviously easier said than done. However, it must be done. FLOOTD are vulnerable on the defense, and they have not sorted out their attacking patterns at all. They’ve lost important players from their first two seasons, and they haven’t adequately replaced anyone yet. Go get the result, and show the USL Super League that yes, the Sun are here again. 

RBLR Score Predictions: 

Lizzie: 

JD: 

Yurika: 

James: 2-0 W

RBLR Score Predictions Standings:

Liz: 3

JD: 0

Yurika: 6

James: 0