Rowdies Loss vs. Loudoun United Review
Written by James Knowles
Date: Saturday April 12, 2025
Result: Tampa Bay 1-2 Loudoun United
Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (3 pts 1W-0D-4L); Loudoun United (15 pts 5W-0D-1L)
Standings: The Rowdies are 11th in the East and Loudoun are 1st – and overall in the league.
The headlines from this past weekend will probably include more about what happened off the pitch than on it. On Friday, roughly 24 hours before their first home match, the Rowdies announced they had dismissed manager Robbie Neilson from his position. Assistant manager Steve Coleman took over in midweek, with little time to change prior preparation.
Sadly, they couldn’t win. Now the team must regroup for some more huge games in the near future!
The TGIF that wasn’t….
This past weekend, the Rowdies played their home opener against Loudoun United. The 2-1 loss at home to the league leaders was bitterly disappointing.
A few positives stood out; however the biggest piece of news won’t be the loss, the return of Lasso or Leo, or even the new amenities at Al Lang Stadium. (You should check them out, dear reader, if you haven’t already.)
Instead, the Friday news dump will hog all USL headlines for the upcoming week – barring any major upsets in the US Open Cup on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Robbie Neilson has been relieved of his duties, the club told the world that morning. The timing was incredible, with the first home game since September happening the very next day.
It’s not known outside the club why Neilson lost his job or why it specifically happened when it did. Perhaps that will all come out in the wash in future. For now, the club must move on with the day to day business of training, preparation, travel, and the actual playing of games. This will all just have to take place with a new regime in charge until a permanent head coach is named.
Former player Yann Ekra was announced as a new assistant manager only the week before. Steve Coleman, brought in during the offseason from Loudoun United, took charge of the side for its game against his old charges on Saturday. He specifically stated in the post game press conference that they didn’t have any time to change their game plan from the beginning of the week once the whole team had been informed.
They lined up in the 4-4-2 formation that they’d used for the last two games. Lewis Hilton and Blake Bodily joined Nick Moon on the sideline. Even though only the latter had to leave the game against Charleston early, all three places had to be filled. Aaron Guillen took over as the left back, with Forrest Lasso returning to the field for the first time since his ACL tear last May.
Cammy MacPherson and Thomas Vancaeyezeele took over in the central midfield and Pacifique Niyongabire started as the right winger, with Laurence Wyke playing deeper behind him. When Wyke had the ball on that side, Niyongabire would move inside to help the attackers overload that area. Ollie Bassett did much the same on the left with Guillen in possession.
Loudoun, as Coleman and Woobens Pacius pointed out in the post game, are a well drilled side. They were able to handle the numbers and largely matched the Rowdies all around the field. Difficult refereeing was a hallmark of the game, with the penalty decision only one among many extremely light fouls called against Tampa Bay. Regardless, a reputation may be developing on the back of the last three performances now.
Much like the Battery did a week before, United put their penalty home. The Green and Gold couldn’t feed off the crowd after that and were down 2-0 before stoppage time. The second goal was much more clean cut for the visitors. A late burst of energy wasn’t enough; Pacius’ strike was only a consolation goal. Once more, it is a situation of more questions than answers for local fans.
RBLR Man of the Match:
James: Woobens Pacius
Carlos: Woobens Pacius
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