LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies will host the USL Championship final on Sunday and finally ended Louisville City’s dominant Eastern Conference run. But how? Ultimately, the Rowdies made significantly better use of the ball than their opponents, and that saw them through to a title decider.
Louisville held over two-thirds of the possession in the match, controlling 68.7 percent possession. But the Rowdies worked better and, despite seeing less of the ball, totally controlled the match, especially the first half.
Tampa Bay was most impressive in the air, winning 66.7% of the aerial duels; when the ball was in the air, the vast majority of the time that was going to end up in a Rowdies possession.
The clearance chart doesn’t entirely show aerial duels, but it does help reflect how strong the Rowdies were in the air. Notably, not all of these were in the box, but all over that final third of the pitch. By cutting those balls into the box out and getting rid of them, Louisville could not really build and create opportunities to get in front.
What also stopped Louisville from getting control is the number of interceptions the Rowdies managed throughout the match. Tampa Bay pinched 11 interceptions and, as shown above, did most of these out-wide.
This forced Louisville into playing a narrower shape, making it hard for the hosts to score, as shown by the average positions below.
That saw the men in purple pay much too predictably, limiting their options and allowed the Rowdies to quickly clear the ball out, as it was easy to tell where it was going.
Tampa Bay got the job done, scoring two goals on just three shots on target. Both teams struggled to get shots on target, but the Rowdies didn’t have to resort to popping off shots from a distance. Louisville had the bulk of its shots coming from distance.
Only one of the shots from distance was on target from Louisville (and one marginally inside from a tight angle). On the other hand, the visitors only had one genuinely audacious strike, but they could afford to, not having to chase the game.
Tampa Bay has been making most of this part of its style all season, and it paid off against Louisville. Phoenix will be another test, a team that has promised to win the league for so long but always come up short is nowhere, and it will be a stern test at Al Lang Stadium on Sunday.
Photo: Tampa Bay Rowdies
Florida Soccer Report 