Since you may not read it elsewhere, allow us to make your soccer day: The Rowdies struck gold on Saturday night on the seat of a bicycle kick from Deshorn Brown.
Brown got the unexpected start over Georgie Hristov Saturday for “tactical reasons”, according to coach Stuart Campbell.
“It was just tactical,” Campbell said. “I couldn’t possibly just drop Georgie, he’s been fantastic all season. I knew they had a couple big center backs. I felt, especially at the start of the game, we needed someone who could match the physicality.”
“[Richmond’s defenders] are big strong guys,” Brown said. “Everywhere I go, I’m matched up with big defenders. I’m kind of used to it.”
Brown displayed a magnificent splendor on the pitch with goal that ultimately gave Tampa Bay the 1-0 win of the Richmond Kickers. Brown’s overhead kick is something he’s been working on, which he has apparently perfected.
“I like doing bicycles” Brown said. “I made up my mind to go for it and got the goal.”
It was as simple as that. He likes doing bicycles.
Brown wasn’t the only unexpected and successful start of the evening. Due to illness, star defender and rock of my life, Luke Boden, sat out, forcing midfielder Marcel Schafer to undertake the challenge of playing defense. Schafer didn’t flinch in the face of a change in roles and dominated the left side.
“Luke has done great for us,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, he went down with an illness in the middle of the week and we were hoping he would be fit for the weekend, and we found out [Friday] he obviously wasn’t right. [The change] wasn’t’ something we panned.
It was a classic Tampa Bay domination win; Rowdies held over 66 percent of the possession while passing more than enough to make Richmond’s head spin, but were unable to break through the defense other than Brown’s lone wundergol.
“I wanted us to start the second half as if it were 0-0 and I wanted us to go out and get the next goal,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do that. We had a couple of half-chances … but defensively, we were sound.”
Sound is an understatement. “Man Mountain” (Campbell’s words, not mine) Damion Lowe has possibly claimed his right as fastest member of the team, and fellow center back Neill Collins continued his Neill Collins-ness while Darnell King helped keep the team’s fourth clean sheet of the season.
Getting back to winning ways after a three-match winless streak is hugely important to the success of the Rowdies, but more important than the win is what’s coming up on May 2.
The city of St. Pete will hold a referendum for public vote on May 2 that will decide whether the club can take control of Al Lang Stadium and renovate it to meet the standards of MLS. This renovation will raise the capacity of the stadium to the required 18,000 seats and will be done 100 percent with private funding, leaving no tax money needed for the project.
It's no secret how I'm voting Tuesday. Only question is, if you care enough to read this, do you care enough to vote?
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 4, 2017.