Rowdies looking for answers ahead of Miami

Posted Jun 30, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jun 30, 2010 at 04:56 PM

What was a tough month of June concluded with the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies at their lowest point this season after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat in Portland that saw the Timbers dominate all facets of the game.

“That was really the first time we had seen that from a team to where we were saying after the match, ‘wow, they were really the better team tonight’,” Rowdies captain Julian Valentin said on Wednesday. “In some regards you tip your hat to them and say good job, but we’re looking at ourselves and seeing what we need to fix.”

According to Rowdies coach Paul Dalglish, picking out just one problem from Sunday’s performance would be a hard task, but the side worked on both sides of the ball at practice. On the defensive side, the work focused on keeping defensive shape and containing opponents to prevent the sort of passes that allowed the Timbers to get forward in numbers and at speed.

Offensively, the Rowdies want to try and get back to using the width of the field and switching the point of attack quickly. That was a big key to the team’s success in May, and even against the Timbers when the Rowdies got the ball in wide positions it produced their best scoring opportunities, either from set pieces or open play.

“I think they worked very hard in the middle of the field, Portland, and the last few weeks we really haven’t switched play well enough to get our wide players on the ball and make the field as big as possible,” Dalglish said. “That was something at the beginning of the season we were doing really well and in some games we were getting our wide players on the ball continuously because we switched the ball really quickly and really well. I just think that when we kept the ball in the middle of the field it got a bit bogged down, it became a bit of a battle in midfield and to be fair they won the battle.”

With Miami coming to Tampa for Sunday’s Fourth of July game at 7 p.m., and five of the team’s six games this month at home, the players know a turnaround is possible, and necessary, this month. In fact, Valentin points to the Timbers as a source of inspiration.

“If you look at Portland the first month of the (season) they won every game, scored a ton of goals,” Valentin said. “Then the following month were terrible, didn’t win many games, and now they’re back on it. It’s a kind of ebb and flow thing in this league. We’re just trying to keep the faith in what we’re doing and the results will come.”

INJURY NEWS: Both Aaron Wheeler and Scott Buete are unlikely to play in Sunday’s game, and both could be out for longer. The team was waiting for an MRI on Wheeler’s right leg to return on Wednesday after he was injured against Puerto Rico on June 19.

“We just hope it’s not a stress fracture in his leg from the tackle against Puerto Rico on that pitch,” Dalglish said.

The team thinks Buete has a hernia, which would likely require surgery. He tried to play through it, but was substituted in the second half of Sunday’s game.

“He’s going to have to get that fixed because it’s unfair to ask him to play on and it seems pretty bad,” Dalglish said. “He’s a brave guy, so if he can’t get through it it must be pretty serious.”

CHRISTIE UPDATE: Midfielder Jeremy Christie is returning to practice on Thursday and Dalglish is hopeful he will be able to play a part in Sunday’s game against Miami.

“I’d like to think so, yeah,” Dalglish said. “The guy’s just come back from the World Cup so you’d expect that he’s in good shape today to go on Sunday.”