The Morning After: Rowdies vs. Rochester

Posted Jul 23, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jul 23, 2010 at 12:01 PM

Some thoughts on the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies 1-0 defeat to the Rochester Rhinos on Thursday night at Steinbrenner Field.

1. DIFFICULT DEFEAT: As the first sentence out of FC Tampa Bay coach Paul Dalglish’s mouth to reporters put it, this was a disastrous defeat for the Rowdies. With the way the game went overall, a draw would probably have been a fair result, both sides created chances, but neither really tested either’s goalkeeper. In fact, according to the official stats sheet, Daryl Sattler didn’t make a save all evening.

Unfortunately, because of the nature of the goal, the loss is going to get pinned on him, and he understands that. Dalglish, though, was confident that Sattler would rebound from the mistake and play strongly against Miami.

“The one thing I can say is that he’s very mentally tough and it’ll not affect him going into the next game,” Dalglish said. “He’ll dust himself down and carry on regardless.”

The question is, though, should Sattler start against Miami? The feeling I get is that he should. Yes, the mistake was a bad one, but it seems to me the worst thing you could do right now is sit him and let him stew on the error. Sattler has had a good season, making numerous saves to bail the Rowdies out when defensive errors could have led to goals. Now’s not the time to lose faith in what he brings to the team.

2. SOLID STEELE: No, the introduction of Jonny Steele into the line-up didn’t produce the immediate dividends the team was hoping for, but the 24-year-old had a good debut for the team, playing the whole 90 minutes, making some very positive touches and showing the vision he was reputed to have when introduced in Tampa.

When talking with him after the game, though, it was interesting to hear him say how impressed he was with the quality of his teammates.

“I was impressed, to be honest I was shocked with how well we played,” Steele said. “The players we have, we’ve got ability on this team, as much ability as I’ve seen in Vancouver, as much ability as I’ve seen in Puerto Rico, all we’ve got to do is jell.”

The team certainly seemed more confident than it had recently, and even when Rochester was trying to put early pressure on the ball early in the second half the Rowdies were able to break them down with some quick passing that twice ended up creating chances for Long Tan. Steele’s presence seemed to be a catalyst for that, and while some of the passes didn’t quite find their marks, given some more time to work with his new teammates it feels like he is going to have a very positive influence on the team.

3. DO OR DIE: Dalglish doesn’t like the phrase ‘must-win game’, but with the nature of the loss to Rochester, Sunday’s game against Miami has all the hallmarks of a game the team has to win in order to make the playoffs.

With Puerto Rico and Baltimore, the ninth- and 10th-placed teams in the league, both at home on Saturday the Rowdies could be on the outside looking in on the playoffs when they kick off against the Blues.

It really doesn’t matter how it happens. For all they care, I’m sure the Rowdies would take a 1-0 win on an own goal at this point, though they’d probably much prefer something that allows them to take confidence from their performance and send a message to the rest of the league.

Before this homestand began, I tweeted that the side probably needed to take eight or nine points from this to get back on track and re-establish their playoff credentials. Now a maximum of seven is available, with a strong Portland team coming in after Miami.

There are still 13 games to play in the season, eight of which are at home, but it’s becoming do-or-die time a lot sooner than the team would have hoped for.