Tampa Bay Rowdies Away to Las Vegas Lights Preview
Written by James Knowles
Date: Saturday March 8, 2025
Kickoff Time: 10:30 pm EST at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, NV
Records: Tampa Bay Rowdies (0 pts 0W-0D-0L); Las Vegas Lights FC (0 pts 0W-0D-0L)
Standings: This is the first game of the season for both teams.
Not all offseasons fly by. This one, however, completely took RBLR Rowdies by surprise, after podcasting for months with interviews and major news to discuss. Now that the new year is upon us, fans will have to make do with a tough opening month, one in which Tampa Bay will only play games away from home. The first of these comes against a revamped Las Vegas Lights. No longer a pushover, this match will be a great test to start the new campaign. Tune in online or via multiple TV options to watch how they do!
Do we have what it takes to make it 5 out of 5?
At such an early stage in the season – which is to say, before it begins – it’s hard to know exactly where any given club is. New signings abound and some were only announced this past week (an academy player for the Rowdies, for example). How they embed with the team, what fitness is like, and what injuries may play a role is all up in the air. The prediction game is particularly hard in early March.
With that being said, there are some comparisons to be made between the Rowdies and the Lights. Piecing together the roster for the latter side is difficult – they don’t even have a roster tab up and running on their official website at time of writing. Going off of press releases and prior players gives us a tiny window into what Tampa Bay will have to deal with this Saturday.
At least one familiar face will likely greet the Rowdies, with keeper Raiko Arozarena becoming the locked in starter last season. Barring any injury, he should take up that role again, with a few high-level defenders in front of him. Shawn Smart appears to have rejoined the Lights during the offseason, while Maliek Howell stuck around and Nate Jones joined the club on loan from MLS side Colorado Rapids.
If Gennaro Nigro reprises his role as left back, that could be the most likely back four for Las Vegas. The club have also recently announced midfielders Chris Pearson and Daouda Peeters signed on for 2025. Pearson, like Howell, is on the cusp of playing for the Jamaican senior team. Peeters comes with the incredible pedigree of having been a former Juventus youth player.
Attackers like Valentin Noel, Christian Pinzon, and Coleman Gannon saw new faces Nighte Pickering and Johnny Rodriguez come to the club. Each of these has a lot of USL minutes, with the latter being a certified Championship veteran at this stage of his career. The whole squad will be led by the fearless, if not, reckless Italian manager Antonio Nocerino.
He joined Las Vegas from last year’s cellar dwellers, Miami FC. While their bad play was not entirely down to Nocerino, his refusal to change things up ultimately led to a lot of unwanted titles. He should at least have a much better stable of players from which to choose now. If he can lead them to some real success, especially compared to 2024, is up in the air for now.
Manager Robbie Neilson joined our podcast earlier this week, telling RBLR he has the benefit of being able to watch Las Vegas’ preseason games. Without that, we can only speculate as to what the home side will go with on Saturday. As for the Rowdies, though, there is a much better case to be made. The formation should be similar to that used last year (Coach Neilson said as much).
Tampa Bay obviously found a lot of success with this formation for most of the season. Putting that last three months of the 2024 campaign aside, it should be possible to do so again. The last piece of the puzzle is injuries. Forrest Lasso tore his ACL in May of last year. That should rule him out for now, at least in theory. Without him at the back, Robert Castellanos could take over the same role.
Filling in holes left by departing players has gone well. Cal Jennings left this offseason; now Woobens Pacius has come in. Josh Perez did not return; the Rowdies signed Ollie Bassett out of Canada. Jordan Doherty originally followed former boss Neill Collins. Another Collins player, Laurence Wyke, came back to St. Pete. With these players and more, Tampa Bay should have what’s needed to do the business.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Rowdies Podcast:
Carlos: 1-0 W
James: 3-1 W
Yurika: 1-1 D
RBLR Sports covers all professional sports in the Tampa Bay area, including the Rowdies and Sun FC. Our podcast releases every week live on YouTube.com/@RBLRSports and all major podcast platforms.