The Tampa Bay Rowdies will start the 2013 season with a target on their backs. As defending champions of the North American Soccer League, every team measures themselves against the defending champs.
Last Thursday, the Rowdies held their annual Media Day in preparation of Saturday’s I-4 Derby second-leg match at Al Lang Stadium against Orlando City, which they lost 3-2, and their NASL season opener on April 6 at Al Lang against the Carolina Rail Hawks.
The Rowdies defeated Minnesota on Oct. 27 to win the NASL Soccer Bowl. Playing so late into the season last year the Rowdies had a shorter offseason than most teams. Making it even shorter was their participation in the Disney Pro Soccer Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.
“Ideally, in a perfect world, it would have been nice to come back a little bit later,” said head coach Ricky Hill.
The Rowdies began the preseason with losses to Major League Soccer sides D.C. United, Montreal Impact and Sporting Kansas City. The preseason continued with two losses to Orlando.
Tampa Bay’s preseason has also included matches against college teams like USF and University of Tampa. The slow start to the preseason aside, Hill thinks the team’s nucleus will prove to be valuable.
“I love the chemistry,” Hill said. “People are now beginning to understand their role… All that cohesive work is starting to come together.”
In a league that sees teams almost completely rebuild after each season, the Rowdies have managed to return a strong nucleus of players.
“It’s important we kept that family base,” said Rowdies captain Frankie Sanfilippo. “We know what we do on the field. On the field we work for each other.”
Tampa Bay boasts a strong defense with many key players returning from last season. Captain Frankie Sanfilippo returns for his third season with the team. Also returning is fan favorite Takuya Yamada.
Up front, the Rowdies bring back goal-scorers Luke Mulholland and Mike Ambersley. Carl Cort is back for his first full season in the NASL, but injuries plagued him during the preseason.
Amani Walker joins the Rowdies in 2013 as a tall striker who could be an offensive threat. Walker played the last two seasons with the 2012 NASL runner-ups the Minnesota Stars FC. For Minnesota, the Jamaican national from San Diego, Calif. scored eight goals in 40 appearances. He spent his rookie season of 2011 playing as a sub late in games.
Bulgarian forward Georgi Hristov joined the Rowdies on March 8 in a game against USF. Hristov has played in the top leagues in Bulgaria, Poland and Israel.
One of the many challenges for the Rowdies this season will be replacing goalkeeper Jeff Attinella. After the 2012 season, Attinella signed with Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. Attinella was a NASL Best X1 in the Rowdies championship season.
The Clearwater native and USF alumni had a 1.07 goal against average in his second full season with the club.
The early favorite to replace Attinella is 23-year-old Andrew Fontein. Fontein was the backup last season for the Rowdies and didn’t see much action. Hill says that Fontein and Diego Restrepo, who signed with the team on March 20, will have to earn their time.
Even without the experience of starting, Hills says that he thinks Fontein can handle it. He adds that Attinella was thrown in without much experience and rose to the occasion. He hopes for the same with Fontein.
“All the things that are important, Andrew has to grasp very quickly,” Hill said. “You can’t overstate how important a goalkeeper is for a side.”
Personnel changes are only part of the off season. The 2012-13 offseason saw several changes to the Rowdies home at Al Lang Stadium and the NASL itself.
The Puerto Rico Islanders are not participating this season. They will be the only team from last season that will not play this season. Minnesota has changed its name from Minnesota Stars F.C. to Minnesota United F.C.
The league is also adding a team in New York. The Cosmos are named after the legendary team that signed an aging Pele in the 1970s. The addition of the Cosmos is generating controversy heading into the 2013 season.
The season the will be split into two halves, a spring and a fall season. The winner of each season will advance play for the Soccer Bowl. It could be a slightly easier path to a repeat championship, but there will be more emphasis on the regular season games.
As the season was approaching, officials in New York said that they could not secure the financial stability of the team by the April start of the season. The league responded by splitting the season into the 12-game spring season and the 14-game fall season. The Cosmos will begin play in the fall.
“I don’t envision us doing anything differently than we did last year,” Hill said. “It’s important for us to maintain our consistency.”
However the season is divided fans in St. Petersburg can expect an improved fan experience at Al Lang Stadium. Signage around the park has been changed to match the Rowdies’ colors and style. The field its self has changed too. The pitch now sits north to south.
St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster was in attendance on Media Day. He said that the city was proud to have the team and that Al Lang will begin a slow transformation to a facility more suitable for soccer. He also indicated that the Rowdies will be the only tenants to use the stadium during their season, a privilege they haven’t had since their formation in 2010.
Mike Hopey is the Managing Editor of The Crow’s Nest. He can be reached at hopey@mail.usf.edu.
Photos contributed by Thomas Boyd.
