ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rowdies are just one win away from clinching the top spot in the division following an entertaining 4-2 win over Charleston Battery on Thursday night. Possession was key for the Rowdies, a big shift from the match last weekend between the two teams. From there dominating the match in several vital areas followed.
Possession isn’t always important in modern soccer, but it’s not meaningless. Especially when you control as much of it as the Rowdies did on Thursday, 60.6 percent. Starving your opponents of even 40% of a share of possession really puts you in the driver’s seat and that’s how the hosts controlled this match.
It’s not just having the ball that matters it’s what you do with it and the Rowdies certainly did plenty with the ball, scoring four goals. What was impressive was how accurate everything was. Passing accuracy was 87.4 percent and 80.1 percent in the Charleston half. The crossing was an impressive 43.5 percent way ahead of the Battery’s 26.7. As a result of these numbers, Tampa Bay managed 17 shots in the match, 12 of them on target giving a phenomenal 70.6 percent accuracy.
That work allowed the Rowdies to patiently set up opportunities and led to almost all of the chances coming from inside the box as can be seen in the above shot chart. Those from outside came in front of the goal so, at easy angles which made it easier to score, only one of the Rowdies shots from outside the box was off target.
What was really astounding was that all of this came despite how good the defense of Charleston was, managing an 87.5 percent tackle rate. Tampa Bay succeeded by avoiding getting into contests and holding the ball to produce a plethora of chances.
Photo courtesy Tampa Bay Rowdies
Florida Soccer Report 