It’s been a few weeks and maybe the pain of what happened at the 2021 USL Championship Final has calmed for Tampa Bay Rowdies fans. If it has maybe those fans will be ready to take a dive into those close-calls, or those fans may have to bookmark this and come back. The Rowdies got close to but did not win, the championship in 1978, 1979, famously in 2020, and most recently in 2021.
1978: L Soccer Bowl to New York Cosmos 3-1
Three last four champions had come from the Eastern Division (and all four years the premier, the regular-season winner, was from the Eastern Division). As a result, it was unsurprising when the Eastern Division was tight again this year, despite the New York Cosmos moving to the National Conference. All four teams in the Eastern Division (the New England Tea Men, the Rowdies, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and the Philadelphia Fury) advanced to the Playoffs. New England topped the division beating out the Rowdies due to one more win. Despite that New England was stunned in the first round by the Strikers. Tampa Bay came through to the final knocking off Chicago Sting, San Diego Sockers, and the hated Strikers (winning the last two in a mini-game) to meet the empire of the Cosmos, who were fortunate to make it as they would have lost the conference semi-final 9-6 if it was scored on aggregate rather than on games won. In front of 74,901 people (still, the third-highest attended US club championship game) the Cosmos completed the double with a 3-1 win after jumping out to an early lead.
Rodney Marsh starred for the Rowdies this season scoring 18 goals and providing 16 assists while Arsene Auguste was a vital part of the back-line and Steve Wegere was strong upfront.
1979: L Soccer Bowl to Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1
It was a better year for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1979 finishing with more points and winning the division by four points. After a dominant win over the Detroit Express in the first round, a win on penalties and a 1-0 win sent the Rowdies to the conference title against San Diego. Holding home advantage the Rowdies won the second leg on penalties forcing a mini-game in which they scored the golden goal. The Whitecaps made the final thanks to a 3-2 shootout win over the Cosmos in the same stadium so came in confident. A goal in the 13th minute set Vancouver off, Jan van der Veen equalized in the 25th but Trevor Whymark sealed his brace and the match on the hour mark.
2020: Championship Cancelled
After COVID-19 nearly tanked the whole season, it did take out one game, the Rowdies were denied the trophy by a COVID-19 outbreak which led to the final being canceled. The Rowdies came in as the hosts and were likely the slight favorites against Phoenix Rising FC. It was a relatively simple “regular” season for Tampa Bay, taking top-spot from the opening match and never looking back, having only three losses all year. The Playoffs were much the same story, two tight wins against Charleston battery and Louisville City FC put the Rowdies in the final while Phoenix came through two penalty shootouts. That may have made the Rowdies the favorites but winning on shootouts may not mean you’re so overworked that you can’t win the final.
2021: L USL Championship Final to Orange County SC 3-1
The only season in this list where the Tampa Bay Rowdies won the regular-season title only to lose the championship game. Much like 2020, the Rowdies took the lead in the division from the first match, only slipping to second for two weeks. That reflected a mid-season slump where the Rowdies lost four of five matches. From there they would only lose one more match in the regular season. After demolishing FC Tulsa 6-2 in the first round, playoff hopes were high. But from there the Playoffs were much harder. The Rowdies squeaked past Birmingham Legion and only the Miracle of Al Lang helped them make the final a 3-2 extra-time win over Louisville City FC. Orange County came in after three straight shootout wins, so fans were confident. But the issues exposed by Birmingham and Louisville were capitalized on by Orange County which cruised to the win.
It’s hard to say which of these seasons were the best, 2021 is a strong candidate and perhaps in time may be seen as the best because of the regular-season crown. 2020 also has a strong case since it’s easy to argue that the Rowdies would have won but we’ll never know. Between the two NASL seasons, 1979 seems the easier argument, the Rowdies won the division, unlike the year before, and only lost by one goal.
These things seem to happen in twos, so what happened in 1980? Well, the Rowdies won the division again but fell in the second round of the Playoffs. That would be the last Playoffs appearance for the original Rowdies and the team wouldn’t make the Playoffs again until 2011. If we count the Mutiny it was a 16-year wait for a Playoffs appearance for Tampa Bay and then another 11 between the Mutiny and the modern Rowdies. It likely won’t be that long a wait this time.
Florida Soccer Report 