ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (Feb. 17, 2024) – The Tampa Bay Rowdies knocked off Major League Soccer’s CF Montreal 4-1 on a rainy Saturday night in downtown St. Petersburg. The matchup was Tampa Bay’s third of the preseason and Montreal’s final tune-up before their start of the MLS campaign next weekend.
“The intensity we brought to the game, the pressing and the way we got after them was really good,” said Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson. “We’ve been wanting to bring that to the team. At Al Lang, we want to put teams under pressure and I thought we did that tonight against a very good MLS team. To win 4-1 is fantastic but there’s still a long, long way to go here.”
While the final score was decidedly in their favor, the Rowdies started Saturday evening on a rocky note with a concession only three minutes into the match. A defensive giveaway just outside of Tampa Bay’s box allowed the visitors to penetrate and find Sunusi Ibrahim for a finish to open the scoring.
With that early mistake out of the way, the Rowdies slowly grew into the match. Last year’s leading scorer Cal Jennings finally levelled things in the 32nd minute, hammering home a loose ball as Montreal scrambled to clear the danger from a corner kick. The Rowdies did not wait long to grab the lead after that, as a soon to be announced new player to the squad stripped a defender of the ball in the final third and emphatically smashed the ball into the back of the night.
Manuel Arteaga added his second goal of the preseason with an assist from Jordan Farr only two minutes into the second half. The Rowdies keeper lofted a long ball over Montreal’s defensive line that held up just enough for Arteaga to collect and fire past the keeper.
The Rowdies put the match out of Montreal’s reach in the 77th minute as newcomer Danny Crisostomo intercepted an errant pass by the keeper before centering a pass for preseason trialist Cristian Ortiz to convert. Ortiz, a local teenager who plays for Florida Premier FC, has been in training camp with the Rowdies throughout the preseason.
“The great thing about this squad is they want to learn,” said Neilson. “They want to do the things you’re asking them to do. Tonight helps us with that development because we get the success from it. We’ll just keep building. The boys were great, but we don’t want to get carried away. This is just preseason. I’ve seen team do fantastic in the preseason and then not hit the ground running when the campaign starts. So we’ve got to keep our focus for the next game and the next one to make sure we’re ready for San Antonio.”
Next up in preseason action, the Rowdies host the University of Tampa on Wednesday, February 21.
Scoring Summary
MTL – Ibrahim, 3′
TBR – Jennings, 32′
TBR – Rowdies Player To Be Announced, 37′
TBR – Arteaga, 47′
TBR – Cristian Ortiz (Preseason Trialist), 77′
Rowdies Starting XI: Farr (Breno, 60′), Doherty (Trialist, 60′), Lasso, Kleemann, Trialist, Trialist (Crisostomo, 70′), Hilton, Bodily (Trialist, 60), Player TBA, Arteaga, Jennings (Perez, 60′)
