WHO: Tampa Bay Rowdies, 5th seed, Eastern Conference
WHAT: the USL Championship Playoffs Eastern Conference Quarterfinal what a mouthful
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Louisville Slugger Field, 401 E. Main Street, Louisville, KY. Who would have thought?
WATCH: It’s playoff soccer, you’re going to have to be there. Yes, the weather looks a little dicey. Okay, a lot dicey. Put on your goulashes and your rain gear and get thine butt to Slugger. LouCity now has a legitimate chance to win a third consecutive USL Cup (or whatever they changed the name to), something that is both unprecedented and almost inconceivable given how things were going just ten weeks or so ago. Tickets are still available – go get one.
But if you can’t get a ticket because you’re going to see the leaves in Rhode Island and are generally a poor planner, you can still watch it on TV on WBKITV-58, listen on 1080 WKJK, or stream it on ESPN+ or iHeart Radio.
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 are a good team. They were in the top three nearly all season. They held the top spot in the table for several weeks. They have very good attacking talent, a solid midfield, and a very good goalkeeper. They finished the season with the second highest goal difference in the conference at +28. They scored 61 goals in the regular season and gave up just 33.
However, their last two months in the league weren’t great. The Rowdies won just twice since the beginning to September, beating Charlotte away and Bethlehem Steel at home. They drew to us (grrrrr), AtlanTwo and Indy, and lost to Ottawa, Loudoun and Hartford. They’re on a four-match winless streak going into the playoffs. Not great.
City is finally healthy. They’re in the best form of the season. I’d love to have seen a couple more shutouts in the stretch run to end the season, but if our best defense is our offense, so be it. Hackworth has his entire roster at his disposal, and everyone seems locked in so it’s go time on Saturday night.
I feel good, even if I’m also going to feel cold and probably damp. Let’s go anyway. VAMOS MORADOS.
