WHO: Tampa Bay Rowdies, 16W-8D-6L, 56 points, 3rd place Eastern Conference
WHAT: A regular season USL Championship match
WHEN: Saturday, September 28, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Louisville Slugger Field, 401 E. Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202
WATCH: AT THE GAME! There are only two home games left EVER (probably) at Slugger Field, and this is one of them! Plus it’s against Tampa Bay, a team we’re trying to catch up with in the table for a higher playoff seed! It’s a must-see matchup. You really can’t afford to miss it.
But if you must because your inconsiderate second cousin from Cincinnati scheduled his wedding during football/futbol/fussball season, then you can peep in on your phone on ESPN+, listen on one of the iHeart AM stations (790, 840, 1080), or watch on TV on WBKI-58.
MARCH:
PRE-MATCH TAILGATE
Join us and the Lou City Tailgaters for all your pre-match festivity needs! Tailgating typically starts around four (4) hours prior to kickoff but you may find a few die-hards out there earlier. The tailgate is supporter run and supporter funded. We recommend BYOB and food contributions. If you do partake we ask that you contribute to the general fund. The main tailgate is located at the corner of N Preston St and E Witherspoon St in the Riverside Parking Cobalt Lot. The Coopers are joined here by several other SGs, so come say hello to everyone!
PRE-MATCH MARCH
About 30-40 minutes prior to kickoff we’ll start the March to the Match. Join us as we march around the tailgate lot, up Preston St, and into the east entrance. Flags will be waving, smoke will be popping, and we’ll be chanting and singing the whole way!
POST-MATCH CELEBRATION
After the match concludes, we have beers at Against the Grain which is conveniently located right outside the Slugger Field gate. Make sure you ask for a pint of the Coopers rotating charity tap! $0.50 from every pour (on home match days) goes to Shirley’s Way, a most excellent local charity helping families of those afflicted with cancer.
WHO, AGAIN? Tampa Bay Rowdies. They’re a good team. They’ve been a bit wobbly of late, but any team that wins over half its league games and puts 57 goals in the net while only surrendering 26 is pretty good. They’ve occupied one of the top 3 or 4 spots in the table the entire season, all while under Neil Collins’s first full season as manager, and also while trimming their roster budget pretty significantly for the 2019 season.
We know this team. They’re a good passing team. They like to use their pace up top to get behind defenders, but certainly are able to pull teams apart with their passing game, too. They’re clinical in the box, converting nearly 20% of their shots into goals.
Sebastian Guenzatti is their leading scorer in 2019 with 16 tallies, but the list of offensive threats is long, and includes Andrew Tinari, Kwadwo Poku, and former Morado Lucky Mkosana (8). Leo Fernandes generally pulls the strings for the Rowdies, and leads the team in assists and chances created.
We used to be able to rely on the Rowdies to be strong at home and inconceivably useless on the road. That’s turned around this season, as they’ve won more than half their away matches.
For City, it looks like the entire squad might actually be available for selection for the first time since March. It was great seeing Paolo get a couple of minutes against New York last week, though I don’t expect him to be fit enough to start this match. Now that the entire toolbox is available, I expect to see John Hackworth put his best XI on the field tomorrow night. I expect it’ll look a lot like the one he fielded against New York, too.
City look like they play better without a target forward, working the ball up the field methodically and letting the No. 9 cause problems with movement rather than relying on physicality. It’s the Louisville City soccer we’re used to seeing, and Brian Ownby played his role to a T last week. Tampa Bay might be a little more conservative defensively than the Baby Bulls, but they’re shooting for playoff seeding, too, and will have to take risks that City must capitalize on to get all three points.
City need to win this game if they want any chance of rising out of 6th place. It’s pretty key. I think they’re up for it. It’s going to be exciting, no matter what. Be there, be loud, wear purple. VAMOS MORADOS.
