ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (August 26, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies took a gut punch Saturday night, completely outplaying the best team in the USL’s Eastern Conference only to lose on a pair of penalty kicks.
Here’s Three Things from the Rowdies’ controversial 2-1 loss to FC Cincinnati…
1. The controversial decision
After finally finding an equalizer in the 75th minute, the Rowdies looked likely to find a game-winner and beat FC Cincinnati, but the tables turned in the 84th minute when Cincinnati was handed their second penalty kick of the night in controversial fashion and Papé Diakité was dismissed from the match with his second yellow card.
The decisive play is below.
Diakité advanced out to defend Pa Konate’s run into the box but slipped due to heavy rain that fell throughout the duration of pregame warmups and the entire match. Diakité was fully seated when Konate was still a foot or two away and the Rowdies’ big center back clearly won the ball with his right foot. Konate leapt over Diakité in what the Rowdies felt was an act of clear simulation, but center referee Kevin Broadley awarded Cincinnati another penalty kick and ejected Diakité from the match.
Emmanuel Ledesma would convert the penalty kick to give Cincinnati a late lead that could only be described as demoralizing for the Rowdies.
“Tonight, more than any other night, I really can’t say anything but praise for my players because they did everything within their control to try and win a game of football,” Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins said.
Despite the frustration, Rowdies defender Hunter Gorskie offered an inspirational tone about how the Rowdies will bounce back from this defeat.
“We have no choice (but to bounce back,)” he said. “When the world is against you, you have to just get up, dust yourself off and face it. Overcome it. That’s the only option. This will make it taste so much better at the end of the season when we do what we’re going to do.”
2. An offensive barrage
Penalty decisions aside, the Rowdies completely dominated FC Cincinnati on the night. Tampa Bay put in one of its best attacking performances of the season, amassing an incredible 31 shots against their first-place opposition.
The Rowdies will regret that 13 of those shots were blocked and only six were on target, but it was impressive nonetheless. Cincinnati only recorded three shots on goal, two of which came from the penalty spot.
In the words of Gorskie, if the Rowdies put in more performances like that in the nine remaining matches of this season, positive results will follow.
“We know we have the quality,” he said. “We know we haven’t had the results go our way this year, but it’s only a matter of time. We have that deep belief. That’s why we were able to come out and play good football. Now we just need to turn the final scores around.”
3. Thank You Tam
Rowdies defender Tamika Mkandawire announced Friday afternoon that he would retire following Saturday night’s match. With 99 Rowdies appearances under his belt heading into Saturday, he could have ended his 19-year playing career with a milestone 100th appearance in green and gold, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Mkandawire, who hasn’t appeared since August 3, missed out on the starting lineup and instead took a place on the substitutes bench. Unfortunately, the Rowdies didn’t need a defensive substitution on the night as they
completely suffocated a rather toothless Cincinnati attack.
But Mkandawire, a former Rowdies captain, didn’t need that 100th appearance to cement his status as a Tampa Bay Rowdies legend. The legacy he built for himself over his five seasons and 99 appearances doesn’t go away just because he didn’t play a few minutes off the bench Saturday night. His contributions won’t soon be forgotten.
