The Rowdies have signed Scottish midfielder Stuart Campbell. The team also declined options for midfielders Mozzi and Hill, although both players have been invited to the preseason tryouts. Doesn't look like Mozzi will be back, which I think is unfortunate. Hill is a big "meh" for me, although he played better over the last few games of the season. http://rowdiessoccer.com/index.php?id=31&newsid=1610
I agree that we need to keep Mozzi. He became such an improved player in the latter part of the season and he scored some very crucial goals for us last season during our run towards the playoffs. NO MOZZI, NO PARTY!!!
His dead ball ability will be hard to replace and his crossing is excellent. I think we can agree that he is off and on at times, but he is a young player with a ton of potential. Hopefully he takes this as an opportunity to show up to the trials and prove himself. On the other hand, he's been with the team for two years and if the team only thinks he is good enough to be asked to try out rather than be offered a contract extension then that probably doesn't bode well. I just hope this isn't a case of the owners trying to be cheap with a decent player. If they illegitimately have questions about whether or not he is good for the team, then ok. Just seems a little weird when most people view Mozzi as an asset.
Perhaps this is just the way it is with Division 2 Soccer in this country and we all gotta get used to it until better (financial) days come.
Maybe everyone here knows this, but Daryl Sattler signed today with SA Scorpions. http://sanantonioscorpions.com/club...l-stadium-plans-name-new-players-and-sponsors I kinda thought he was coming back to Tampa. I wonder if his injury really hurt him long term or if Attinella has the #1 spot and Sattler didn't want to wait to win it back. EDIT: I guess I missed this somewhere... Goalkeeper Daryl Sattler is also now a free agent after his contract expired with the end of the season. FCTB does not plan to make a contract offer to Sattler.
We've known for a while that Sattler wasn't coming back. Some of us have known about him going to San Antonio for a week or two, but I guess it wasn't made public or official until today. Good luck to him, the Mob will miss him for sure. Jeff I think was far better than anyone expected, even though he came in with high expectations, and he did so well filling in pretty much all season for Sattler that I guess the team decided he was the future. Sattler is starter material and I'm sure you are right, he likely wasn't interested in fighting for a spot when he could more easily sign with another club.
Any information on preseason matches? I know some MLS clubs are coming down to FL but its hard to pin down dates and times. Thanks!
We definitely need to play MLS clubs this preseason. Not to knock College teams, but playing MLS competition is a definite upgrade.
I agree. His new team breaks ground on their own stadium this spring. http://sanantonioscorpions.com/club...l-stadium-plans-name-new-players-and-sponsors
hear, hear. Although at this point I wouldn't count on it. MIGHT swing another game vs a team like BK Hacken from Sweden, they will be in Orlando for their preseason. I think MLS just starts too early for us to get games vs them, especially when we barely have half a team going into February.
NASL schedule is out: http://rowdiessoccer.com/index.php?id=31&newsid=1641 Alot of good things, only a couple of small bad things. All in all I think we should be happy with this. Home games are more balanced throughout the season. The home finale unfortunately falls on a Wednesday and I hear that the Rays host the Red Sox on the same day. Also hearing that the Rays host the Yankees on July 4th. So those two points suck. Otherwise, good stuff!
Good but from a marketing point of view and since we are the day and age of internet, shouldn't fans be able to buy and print tickets online?
well that confirms the suck. Don't really care much about the home finale as it was already going to be tough as a midweek game. But the Yankees being in town on July 4th is gross. Even if the game is over before the Rowdies open the gates at Al Lang it could affect attendance pretty heavily. Hope not, but we'll see.
This could also be a terrific cross-marketing opportunity. If the Rays could shift their start time to 1:10 or 1:40, or the Rowdies shift their start time to 7:30, you could get people between the games. It's the 4th of July. What excuse is there for not exercising a little coordination? Are the Rowdies on TicketMaster yet?
We tried the 7:30 start time last year and the game did not finish before the city started the fireworks. The move is to give us more time to complete the game and let people move onto the field to watch the show in the sky.
While it is a nice thought, I really doubt the Rays would be interested in working with the Rowdies. what WOULD be great is if there could be some cross promotion as well as coordination. Probably will never happen. Wasn't the July 4th game supposed to kick off earlier last season as well, but the rain storm caused delays? Regarding the Rowdies being on ticket bastard, no they aren't. While they are at Al Lang they have to use the garbage ticket system that the St. Pete Baseball Commission uses and it is very limiting. One good thing they ARE doing differently this season though is to have ticket vendors around the Tampa Bay area, at local shops and bars. That hopefully will help with awareness and with single game ticket sales.
Well they kind of had cross-promotion the Rays let Rowdies use their huge billboard by the Trop to announce games.
So it looks like Aaron King is out with NYRB for their preseason camp. Any chance he comes back to Rowdies or is he done with Tampa?
Do you mean he has been cut already, or that you are just noticing that he is there on trial? If he has been cut then I sincerely hope the Rowdies make a move to get him back.
Well that sucks for him. He's had at least a couple of trials with MLS teams now, doesn't seem to be getting anywhere and at this point I'd expect him to re-enter the D2/D3 player pool. It will be LAME if he lands at some other NASL team.