Tampa Bay Rowdies Eye Players’ Shield This Weekend Against Detroit City FC

With the Rowdies taking care of business in Indianapolis, they close in on the Players’ Shield with a chance to clinch this Saturday vs Detroit City FC.

First, the Rowdies were on the road to face Indy Eleven in the USL Championship. Indy Eleven are fighting for a playoff spot, so this was bound to be a tough game. 

The hosts took the lead within five minutes after a misplay from Brian Schaefer. Indy forward Edward Kizza took the ball and drove forward, eventually slotted the ball near post past Jahmali Waite.

In the 72nd minute, Tampa Bay found their equalizer. A beautiful set-up pass from Charlie Ostrem played in Russell Cicerone. Cicerone, who was at the edge of the 18-yard box, sent in a back-post cross which found MD Myers. Myers headed home the close-range effort, and the game was tied. 

With five minutes left in regulation, a pass from Marco Micaletto found Sebastian Cruz at the edge of the 18-yard box. Cruz’s right-footed effort flew past Indy keeper Eric Dick, and put the Rowdies into the lead. The ball took a slight deflection on its way into the net, making it an even harder save for Dick.

Now into stoppage time, a Marco Micaletto curling shot secured the three points for Tampa Bay. Eric Dick did get a hand to the shot, but it was not enough to keep the ball out.

With the win, Tampa Bay secured three crucial points. 

Around the League:

The Rowdies collected all three points, and now have a chance to clinch their first Players’ Shield in five years. 

The Rowdies host Detroit City FC at home, and any result against them is enough to clinch the Players’ Shield.

While obviously a win is ideal, a draw will also be enough to lift the shield. 

Tampa Bay are coming into this matchweek with 55 points, five more than both 2nd-place Detroit and 1st-place Western Conference team El Paso Locomotive FC. 

Both teams have 28 matches played, meaning they can only get a maximum of 56 points. If the Rowdies draw against Detroit, their maximum point drops to 54. El Paso doesn’t have as many conference wins as the Rowdies, so Tampa Bay wins that tiebreaker. 

Charleston Battery and Hartford Athletic had a midweek match to make up the game that was missed because of the USL Prinx Tires Cup. Hartford took the lead through Augi Williams, whose close-range header broke the deadlock. A really impressive goal, as Williams popped the ball into the air, then headed home the effort. Charleston equalized through a horrific botched clearance. The attempted clearance bounced off another Hartford defender, and ended up in the back of the net. Neither team were able to find the winner, and the teams split the points. 

This is important for Rowdies’ fans because with the draw, Tampa Bay is guaranteed at least a 2nd place finish. While the team wants to finish 1st, it is nice knowing a slide into third place is now officially off the table. 

Coming Up/Match Prediction:

The Rowdies are now home for their last two matches of the USL Championship regular season. 

This is the biggest test out of the two, with the Rowdies hosting 2nd-place Detroit City FC followed by Sporting Jax. 

Detroit City is a very good team, nothing much more to it. They have a very talented winger in Ates Diouf, a great defender in Devon Amoo-Mensah, and a reliable goalkeeper in Carlos Herrera. 

The last time these two played each other was in Hamtramck, Michigan at Keyworth Stadium. Detroit City FC won 1-0 through a lone Ates Diouf goal, and ended the Rowdies’ unbeaten road record. 

The Rowdies played very poorly in the match, and struggled to create chances and keep up with the pace that Detroit were playing at. The Green and Gold generated only one meaningful chance, a header which was saved by Herrera in the last moments of the game.

Now, a big break that the Rowdies have is Carlos Herrera received a straight red card in Detroit’s most recent game. That means they will be without their main keeper for this crucial match. Detroit City will most likely start Carlos Saldaña at goalkeeper.

Saldaña has six appearances for DCFC this season. Three have been in the USL Championship, one in the USL Prinx Tires Cup, and two in the US Open Cup. In his six games, Saldaña has conceded five goals. 

With Saldaña starting, I expect the Rowdies to have a heavy attacking lineup. I think MD Myers will get the start. He scored against Indy and is one of the top scorers in the USL Championship. I also want to see new addition Jürgen Locadia in the lineup as well, as a strike duo with Myers. Russell Cicerone will most likely get the nod to start as well. He has started most of the games this season, and has been a pillar of this Tampa Bay attack. I expect Louis Perez to get the start as well. Max Schneider and Cruz will make up the midfield, with Charlie Ostrem and Dion Acoff as the fullbacks. The two centerbacks will be Nathan Dossantos and Brian Schaefer, with Jahmali Waite being the goalkeeper. 

The only area of weakness could be the wings, in which having an extra centerback might be better. Against Detroit last time out, that was the Rowdies’ undoing. They will try to exploit that again, and the team needs to be ready for that.

I feel really good about this match. The team has done well with big games so far, and I suspect the same thing will happen again. I am going with a 2-1 win, and that the Rowdies will clinch the 2026 USL Championship Players’ Shield.