Rowdies remain upbeat despite slide

Posted Jun 24, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jun 24, 2010 at 12:38 PM

After blowing through the month of May undefeated, June has been a lot tougher for the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies. Their only victory came in the U.S. Open Cup against Legends F.C., and they have suffered three straight defeats in USSF Division II play.

Despite that, the team is staying upbeat about where its season currently stands ahead of its road-trip to Portland this Sunday.

“We’re a good team, we know what we have,” defender Rob Valentino said after Thursday morning’s practice. “We have hit a stretch where we haven’t won in three games, and if you count the Open Cup it’s four, but we’re still a good team.”

The fact that every game they’ve played has been a tight contest is one of the reasons for optimism, with Coach Paul Dalglish saying he would be concerned if the team was being outplayed by any of its opponents.

“With the exception of the Puerto Rico game, where I thought we deserved a point, Rob Valentino’s goal was perfectly fine, it was onside, I think we should have won every game,” Dalglish said. “I’m not just saying that, because if someone comes and outplays us, then we’ll start thinking that there might be a problem, but nobody’s outplayed us, we’ve only ever been beat by one goal. We’ve got to keep believing.”

The other reason for optimism is that the Rowdies believe they are coming to the end of the toughest stretch of their schedule. By the end of the month the side will have travelled to Vancouver, Dallas, Puerto Rico, Miami and Portland, and have the bulk of its home schedule still ahead.

“I think if you look at our schedule at this time before the season and said, ’you’re going to have this many points from this many games,’ with all the road games we’ve had, we would be happy with it,” defender Gordon Kljestan said. “Obviously we’re sitting alright in the middle of the table, which is ok, but considering how many times we’ve been away I think it’s ok.

“Looking at all of our losses, it hurts, but they’ve been one-goal losses. We’re in every game, and I’d rather have this period we’re going through now happen in the middle of the season than at the end. I think by the time it comes to July, August, September when the games count, we’re going to be fine. I’m not worried at all.”