September 17, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release
The Tampa Bay Rowdies suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of Detroit City FC on Saturday night at Keyworth Stadium. It’s the second straight loss for the Rowdies, who have also found themselves on the losing end in their last four road outings.
“Tonight, I feel that was the least deserved result we’ve had out of the four (recent road losses),” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “This is a really tough field. There were far, far more positives than negatives, but ultimately we didn’t make any of our possession count and we gave up a really poor goal.”
Tampa Bay held a significant edge in possession all night (62 percent to 38 percent), yet they never managed to threaten keeper Nathan Steinwascher in net. A well-placed corner from Leo Fernandes in the 12th minute found the head of teammate Robert Castellanos, but the effort was off the ma. Forward Steevan Dos Santos came the closest all night with a rifled strike in the center of the box that sailed just over the crossbar.
Detroit needed just one and only shot on target to find their winner. In the 82nd minute, Maximiliano Rodriguez took advantage of Tampa Bay’s inability to control the ball at midfield and slipped a pass into the box for Antoine Hoppenot to bury.
Rowdies keeper CJ Cochran was also unfortunately injured on the scoring sequence while sliding in to attempt a save. Cochran had to be stretched off and loanee Phill Breno was brought in to finish out the night in net.
The match lacked much of a rhythm, with play constantly starting and stopping due to fouls. In total, 38 fouls were called in the match, 22 against Tampa Bay and 16 against Detroit. That constant stoppage was a contributing factor to the lack of attacking production from either team, but it was not the reason for the result in Collins’ estimation.
“I don’t think it helped us at all because we want to play at a high tempo, but there’s no excuses,” said Collins. “It’s just one of those things. Detroit defended resolutely. They’ve got a good game plan. They were waiting on a mistake and we made it unfortunately, but our boys showed me a lot tonight that gives me confidence for the last five games.”
Next up, the Rowdies return home to Al Lang Stadium on Friday, September 23 to host Birmingham Legion FC. Friday’s match is Legacy Night at Al Lang, with members of the Rowdies 2012 championship team set to reunite for a pre-match…