The Basics
Tampa Bay Rowdies at Orlando City Soccer Club
Third Round, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Wednesday, May 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET
Seminole Soccer Complex, Sanford, Fla.
Follow us for live updates on Twitter at @RowdiesGameday.
Get On The Bus
Tickets are only available at the entrance to the Seminole Soccer Complex and only off-site satellite parking is being offered, so the most convenient way to attend this important match is to ride the Rowdies Express bus. Buses will pick up at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg at 5:15 and Ikea in Tampa at 5:45. The bus is free for 2014 season ticket holders and only $20 for non-season ticket holders. Match tickets can be purchased on the bus for $15, cash or check.
2014 Records (W-T-L)
Tampa Bay: 2-3-2, 6 points, NASL
Orlando City: 8-3-0, 27 points, USL Pro
Series History
The two clubs have never before met in a competitive match. Tampa Bay is 0-0-4 all-time against Orlando City SC in a series of friendlies, losing 2-0, 3-2 and 3-2 in 2013, and 3-0 on April 30.
Rowdies Notes
The Rowdies are coming off a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday night. Down 2-0 after 34 minutes, the Rowdies rallied with goals by Willie Hunt (45+’), Anthony Wallace (62’) and Blake Wagner (90+’) to earn all three points.
Four changes to the starting XI were made by head coach Ricky Hill, including goalkeeper Cody Mizell making his first league start of the season. Defender J.P. Rodrigues returned to the lineup for his fifth start of the season, while Evans Frimpong earned a start at left midfield. Lucky Mkosana made his second start of the year as a forward. Wagner entered the match as a second-half substitute before scoring the winner.
Forward Georgi Hristov will serve a one-match suspension after being sent off in last year’s Open Cup match against the Portland Timbers.
Scouting Orlando
Orlando City enters the match having lost an international friendly 1-0 to Italian side AS Roma last Friday night. In league play, Orlando sits top of the table, boosted by USL Pro leading scorer Kevin Molino, who has eight league goals. Molino is also second in the league with four assists.
Under the direction of head coach Adrian Heath, the Lions play an attack-heavy system that averages just less than two goals per match in league play. Orlando City advanced to this third-round match by defeating the Premier Development League’s Ocala Stampede 4-1 on May 14.
Quotable
Head Coach Ricky Hill
"We want to win the Open Cup, first and foremost. I treat it with the utmost respect because it's a cup competition. I've always believed that any team can beat any other team over the course of a 90-minute game. There's no two ways about that. Irrespective of status or current form or anything like that, anything can happen in 90 minutes. I don't think we've beaten Orlando in the last two seasons of friendlies, but now it's for real. All the previous games have been dress rehearsals for Wednesday night. It’s all about making sure our name is in the hat for the next round on Thursday morning.”
Captain Frankie Sanfilippo
“The Open Cup is a great tournament because you never know what can happen. Anybody can go to the championship and anyone can win it. You look at a team like Rochester winning it in 1999 or Charleston Battery making the championship a few years later and you realize that teams in our league can make a name for themselves and win the Open Cup. Wednesday is a big game because we haven’t beaten Orlando yet. If we can play against them like we played Saturday night against Fort Lauderdale, we’ll have a great opportunity to win the game.”
Up Next
Following this match, the Rowdies pay a visit to the Carolina RailHawks on Saturday night before returning home on June 7 to play Minnesota United FC in the 2014 Spring season finale. Tickets for that match are available by calling (877) ROWDIES or by clicking here.
