The Morning After: Rowdies vs. Philadelphia Union

Posted Mar 20, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Mar 20, 2010 at 12:10 PM

A few thought on Friday night’s 1-0 victory for the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies against the Philadelphia Union.

1. Safe Hands: He had a shaky opening game against the University of Tampa, but Daryl Sattler has put in two impressive performances since then against FC Dallas and the Philadelphia Union. Sattler was confident and assertive against the Union, making two quality saves to deny Danny Mwanga and Roger Torres, and was in control of his penalty area otherwise, coming off his line well to claim crosses and clean up through balls to help out his back line.

2. Mr. Freeze: It’s to be hoped Aaron Wheeler’s injury isn’t too severe. The fact that he was able to walk off the pitch under his own power is a good sign, but Wheeler did far more in the 20 minutes he was able to play than just score the game-winning goal. He did well as the focal point of the attack, turning defenders well to allow the Rowdies to put pressure on the Union defense.

If he is limited, though, Aaron King showed enough to make me believe the Rowdies wouldn’t be disadvantaged with King playing as the lone striker. King put himself in a lot of good positions, and almost gave the Rowdies a second goal in the 68th minute when his shot just flashed past the right post.

3. Shaping up: One of the most encouraging aspects of the way the Rowdies played in the first half was the manner in which they kept their defensive shape, and adapted to the way the Union were trying to play. The communication between the midfield and defense was excellent, and with the center congested thanks to the Union’s 4-3-3 formation, the Rowdies looked over the top more to try and spring Pascal Millien and Stanley Nyazamba in the first half and Long Tan and Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe in the second.

4. Solid progression: While getting the first victory of the preseason was nice, talking with Millien after the game he was still focused on the work that was still ahead. That said, he was happy with the way the side was coming together.

“We’ve progressed a lot,” Millien said. “Everybody getting together, getting to know each other, the strengths and weaknesses, and we’ve been working together. I’m pretty sure we’ll do a lot of work for three weeks and this is unbelievable work from us and we’re going to keep pushing and doing this until we get what we want.”