Memphis 901 FC vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies Preview

Despite a rough five-game stretch in league play, Memphis 901 FC has gotten back into the win column. They won their season opener 2-1 against the Las Vegas Lights but the dropped five straight games. However, outside of maybe the first half of the game against Indy Eleven, they haven’t played poorly and were more unlucky than anything to not get more points than they did.

Last Saturday’s trip to Birmingham perhaps represented a breakthrough of sorts for the Beale Street Boys as they registered a resounding 3-0 win. They scored early and they scored often and did so in a stadium that had previously been a proverbial house of horrors for them. Bruno Lapa scored the first goal just three minutes into the game. Lucas Turci added a second with a fabulous strike from 19 yards out just 15 minutes later. And then Bruno Lapa got a second goal on the counter attack, just as Birmingham was starting to crank up the pressure early on in the second half. For a team that had created a ton of chances in almost every game (Assistant Sporting Director Caleb Patterson-Sewell said last week that they were top five in the league in chances created) it was certainly nice to see those chances start finding the back of the net. In fact, prior to the 3-0 win against Birmingham the only other league game where they scored multiple goals was the season opening win against Las Vegas (though Nighte Pickering did bag a pair of goals in the US Open Cup win against Miami United).

The Tampa Bay Rowdies might not be top of the table, but their current spot in 4th place in the Eastern Conference doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. Yes there are three teams ahead of them in the standings, but the Rowdies have played seven games this season and have yet to lose any of them. Two of their last three games have been wins and dominant wins at that. Back on April 11th they went on the road to Miami FC and absolutely dismantled them, with a final score of 5-2. They followed that up with a 1-1 home draw against the El Paso Locomotive. Most recently was a 3-0 thrashing of New Mexico United, with former 901 FC forward Cal Jennings getting two goals in the first 15 minutes of the game to send the Rowdies on their way to all three points.

Despite the move this year to the Western Conference, Memphis 901 FC still has plenty of history with the Rowdies. The first game in team history was a 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay in front of 8,062 fans at AutoZone Park with the game decided on a penalty in the fourth minute. There was also the devastating home playoff loss to the Rowdies in 2022. Before a crowd of 6,063 Memphis had the chance to win it with a penalty in stoppage time. The penalty was saved and instead the Rowdies came back and won the game in the 99th minute on a penalty. Last season saw a pair of thrillers, the first of which saw a come from behind win by the Beale Street Boys after Tampa’s coach was sent off and shown a red card for kicking a water bottle. And 901 FC won the return leg down in Florida several weeks later by a score of 4-2.