Tampa Bay Rowdies Away vs FC Tulsa Preview
Written by: James Knowles
Date: Saturday March 15, 2025
Kickoff Time: 8:00 pm EST at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, OK
Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (0 pts 0W-0D-1L); FC Tulsa (3 pts 1W-0D-0L)
Standings: The Rowdies are 9th in the East and Tulsa are 4th in the West.
The Rowdies went away from home, losing 1-0 to Las Vegas Lights. Meanwhile, FC Tulsa went on the road and defeated Phoenix Rising by the same scoreline. Two clubs playing away with two very different results against Western Conference opposition. Now Tampa Bay travels again to take on a Tulsa side whose promising start could bode well for their new season. Tune in this Saturday to watch how things unfold in Oklahoma!
How can the Rowdies turn things around?
The review article for last week’s game went into some of the numbers related to the loss vs. Las Vegas Lights. Without trying to rehash things, it could be worth just listing a couple more stats that were originally left out. According to John Morrissey, writing for Backheeled.com, the Rowdies had an Expected Goals figure of 1.83, while the Lights had a figure of 0.45.
Effectively, Tampa Bay could be expected to score multiple goals based on what they produced offensively. The score will stay 1-0 to Las Vegas, and no amount of complaining after the fact will change it. However, the club and its fans should take away positives from this. Despite it being their first game, the players know what to do. The next step is the most important, of course, as converting chances is the point of the sport.
Looking forward against Tulsa, the Rowdies seem to stack up well. The former Roughnecks play a very similar formation – at least they did vs. Phoenix. Wingbacks Owen Damm and Harvey St. Clair contributed going forward, while goal scorer Alex Dalou plays a higher role up on the left side. Three center backs and two deeper midfielders sit behind everyone else.
If all of that sounds familiar, it’s about what Tampa Bay put out against Las Vegas. However, Tulsa was able to generate more good chances from what was closer to the Lights’ stats in possession. The Rowdies may end up having the ball for a similar amount of time this weekend, while facing a team that plays better from that position than the last opponent.
To improve on that performance, the Rowdies can add a couple pieces to their game. The understanding that comes with more competitive repetitions alongside your teammates is definitely important. It will hopefully contribute to more accuracy with long balls and, especially, with crosses. New players on the roster can better tune and time their runs with experience.
Those crosses are necessarily a high-risk thing to do (a high risk of losing possession, that is). Whipping one in without lifting your head is not necessarily ideal. There are better and worse places to put the ball and situations in which to cross it at all. Recycling possession could work. Sometimes, a shot is better – and the Rowdies took a lot of those against Las Vegas.
Unluckily, only three were on target. This will surely be something they spend time on during training this week. To get themselves into the positions where they can consider a cross, a shot, or something else entirely, Tampa Bay will have to play through a feisty Tulsa. The importance of their press is something one can gather just from watching the highlights, as it was what led to the winning goal vs. Phoenix.
Many Green and Gold players are press-resistant, though. Danny Crisostomo and Ollie Bassett have both played at high levels as the attacking focal point – or assistant thereof. Either of Cammy MacPherson or Lewis Hilton should be able to handle these rigors just the same. If they can clean up errors in communication, then it’s not an impossible task to bypass the home side and get inside their box.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Rowdies Podcast:
Carlos: 2-0 W
James: 2-2 D
Yurika: 1-0 W
RBLR Sports covers all professional sports in the Tampa Bay area, including the Rowdies and Sun FC. Our podcasts release every week live on YouTube.com/@RBLRSports and all major podcast platforms.