The Tampa Bay Rowdies continue to have problems with the simplest of skills, yet the most important. Kicking the ball into the net.
The Rowdies lost another match Saturday night, falling 2-1 to the Strikers in Fort Lauderdale. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time that Tampa Bay has struggled to score this year. With eight goals, the Rowdies are the second-lowest scoring team in the NASL.
Tampa Bay hasn’t shown it can finish all season. This time was no exception, with a game-tying goal in the 43rd minute by Maicon Santos – his team-leading seventh of the season – came on a pass from Georgi Hristov, whose seven assists lead the NASL.
Except for that, however, Fort Lauderdale won the night. Stefano Pinho scored to put the Strikers up 1-0, and James Marcelin scored the winner when Rowdies’ goalie Kamil Contofalsky was unable to control a rebound.
The Rowdies had a chance to tie the game at 2 when Hristov’s corner kick found defender Gale Agbossoumonde, who headed the ball into the goalkeeper.
“I’m still trying to find the right chemistry for us to get clicking,” Rowdies coach Thomas Rongen said. “We play a good game, then a so-so game, then a bad game, or we play two good games, two poor games and then a tie. We’re still in the overall race with a lot of games left.”
“I felt we were a little better in the first half (than Fort Lauderdale,)” Rongen said. “In the second half, neither team really mustered anything going forward. We’re a little shorthanded with Stefan Antonijevic out, Freddy Adu out and Omar Salgado out, but that’s not an excuse. We have enough talent to do better than we did.”
The Rowdies are now ninth of 11 teams in the Fall Standings. They are tied for third in the overall standings.
