ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (May 22, 2024) – The Tampa Bay Rowdies run in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup came to a bitter end at Al Lang Stadium on Wednesday night. Despite putting the Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas under a barrage of pressure and creating a number of scoring chances, the Rowdies ultimately fell 2-1 in the Round of 16 matchup.
“I thought we were absolutely outstanding,” Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson said of his squad’s performance. “I thought we totally dominated the game. It’s probably the best we’ve played since I’ve been here. We took thirty shots, which is the most we’ve had all season. We just didn’t seem to convert those chances.”
Dallas keeper Maarten Paes had a big hand in Tampa Bay being unable to convert on their opportunities on goal. Paes finished the night with 8 saves. In total, the Rowdies peppered Dallas’s net with 10 shots on target, hitting the post three times and seeing four shots blocked by a defender.
“I thought [Maarten Paes] was outstanding,” said Neilson. “Probably man of the match for them. From our perspective, we were super delighted with the players’ performance. I thought they were super aggressive, pressing, aggressive with the ball, creating chances. It just wasn’t to be tonight.”
Tampa Bay forced Paes into a save only two minutes into the match, as former FC Dallas Homegrown player and current Rowdies defender Eddie Munjoma nodded a header toward the near post off a cross from the corner. Paes managed to parry it away just in time. Four minutes later, forward Cal Jennings probed the goal with a strike from the top of the box that had the keeper beat but clanged into the post. Four minutes after that, midfielder Blake Bodily looked for goal with a headed effort but saw his attempt sail just over the crossbar.
Dallas opened the scoring shortly after Tampa Bay’s early flurry of chances. On Dallas’ first shot of the night, Patrickson Delgado found a window of space to blast a one-timed effort through a crowd of bodies in the box. In the 26th minute, Logan Farrington doubled the lead for the visitors with a left-footed strike to the bottom left corner.
“Obviously they have quality players, and if you turn off for one second, they can punish you,” said Rowdies captain Aaron Guillen. “We had a couple chances prior to that, if we could capitalize that then it’s a completely different game. It’s just a game of football that you need to take your chances and be alert for 90 minutes.”
Despite going down two goal, the Rowdies still managed to push forward and make the game unconformable for Dallas. Midfielder Lewis Hilton came close to grabbing goals off of free kick efforts in the 41st and 62nd minute, but the Englishman was denied by stellar saves from Paes both times.
“Going into the game, [we] wanted to be right on the front foot, make it really uncomfortable for them, be really aggressive and play forward, get in behind them,” said Hilton. “To be fair, I don’t think we could have done too much more on the night. Unfortunately, that’s football. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.”
The Rowdies found their goal from the penalty spot in the 85th minute. After wingback Pacifique Niyongabire was clipped down in the box to draw a whistle, Joshua Perez stepped to the spot and buried the chance with confidence.
Tampa Bay had one final gasp at goal deep in added time as Guillen guided a header on frame, but Paes was there again to tip the equalizer over the bar at the last second.
“That’s the nature of soccer…,” said Neilson. “It would have been easy from two-nil down to fold and crumble but they got hold of the game again. They were creating chances, hitting the bar, forcing the keeper to make saves. So attitude wise, I thought the players were outstanding.”
The Rowdies return to league action this Saturday with a home matchup against Las Vegas Lights FC. Tickets for the match can be purchased here.
Scoring Summary
Dallas – Delgado (Ferreira), 15’
Dallas – Farrington (Endeley), 26’
Rowdies – Perez (Penalty), 85’
Lineups
Rowdies: Farr, Munjoma, Doherty, Guills, Niyongabire, Dennis, Hilton, Perez, Bodily, Jennings, RIvera
Rowdies Bench: Breno, Dezart, Kleemann, Fowlkes, Crisostomo, Moon, Ortiz
Dallas:Paes, Ibeagha, Tafari, Junqua, Endeley, Delgado, Ntsabeleng, Farfan, Ferreira, Farrington, Kamungo
Dallas Bench: Maurer, Gonzalez, Lletget, Sealy, Saite, Illarramendi, Ansah
