Veterans Sebastian Guenzatti and Leo Fernandes dominated the scoresheet in the 3-0 victory over the Charlotte Independence this past weekend. However, several Tampa Bay Rowdies newcomers played important roles in ensuring the club came away with three points.
“I’m very pleased with the impact the new players had,” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “I think it’s great for them to experience what it’s like to experience playing at Al Lang, the challenges we face. I’m pleased for all the boys that were able to make their debuts. Conner Antley had a very good game as well at right wing back.”
Both sides looked a little rusty in the first half, likely a result of the long offseason and anxious buildup to the match after so much time off.
“We’ve been down here for several months now, so it was great to finally get out on the field and play against someone else other than your own team,” said Antley. “It was good game from the group and I’m just excited to get the three points.”
In total, six new Rowdies made their debuts in front of the home fans at Al Lang Stadium. Forward Steevan Dos Santos paired up top with Guenzatti, Laurence Wyke slotted in the center of the midfield, while Conner Antley took on the right wingback spot. Midfielders Matt Srbely and Dayonn Harris, as well as forward Jordan Adebayo-Smith all also earned their first appearances as Rowdies coming off the bench in the 88th minute.
Dos Santos and Wyke had both played at Al Lang previously for the opposing sides. Antley, though, was getting his first taste of the gameday experience in downtown St Pete.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable for my first game at Al Lang,” said Antley. “I thought the weather and everything in the stadium was really great. You could hear the fans, it sounded like we had 7,000 in there. It’s a really great place to play. It was an awesome night.”
Antley played 88 minutes on the night before making way for Harris to enter. He and Wyke, who played the full 90-minute shift, finished with impressive passing numbers. Along with registering Tampa bay’s first shot on goal, Wyke had a passing accuracy rate of 84 percent. Antley was slightly higher at 87 percent, but also posted a solid 84 percent successful passing rate in Charlotte’s end of the field.
“I thought I started off a bit shaky in the first half, just working some nerves out and working myself into the game,” said Antley. “I tried to keep it simple, just connect passes and do my role on the team. But overall, I thought I played well and I’m just glad we got the win. Any time you have six months off you can kind of expect that in the first game, especially in the first half. I think we were a bit flat to start the game. I think we’ll learn from that moving forward. Starting in our next game against Pittsburgh I think we’ll take what happened against Charlotte and we’ll try to change that.”
Dos Santos also had a meaningful impact. Guenzatti was credited with the assist on Fernande’s goal to seal the result in the 79th minute, but Dos Santos was a critical part in the sequence leading up to it. With his back to goa, the imposing attacker shook off a defender behind him and turned to feed Guenzatti into the final third.
The performance of the new crew is an encouraging sign for the Rowdies as contributors from last year such as Lucky Mkosana, Juan Tejada, and Yann Ekra work their way back from short-term injuries. Luiz Fernando, another new player, is expected to be out for a longer period due to an injury.
The Rowdies remain at Al Lang this Saturday and will face off against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.
