Jägermeister Cup Preview: Rowdies vs Miami

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USL Tampa Bay Rowdies

Jägermeister Cup Preview: Rowdies vs Miami

April 25, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release


USL Jägermeister Cup Group Stage Round 1

Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Miami FC ‚

Saturday, April 26, 7:30 p.m. ET ‚

Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg, FL

2025 League Records: ‚

Rowdies: 1W-5L-0D, 3pts, 11th East (0-2-0 at home) ‚

Miami: 2W-4L-0D, 6 pts, 7th East (1-0-0 on the road) ‚

Anniversary Night Autographs: Be sure to arrive early for a special Anniversary Night autograph session from 6:30 until kickoff in the Midfielder Courtyard with Rowdies legends Mike Connell, Georgi Hristov, and Keith Savage, Perry Van der Beck, and more! The first 250 fans in line for autographs will receive a limited-edition Anniversary Night autograph poster.

Tune In: ‚ Tampa Bay 44, ESPN+

On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rowdies will take the field against Miami FC at Al Lang Stadium for the USL Jägermeister Cup campaign. While every Rowdies home game is a night to look forward to, Saturday's match has extra meaning. April 26 marks the anniversary of the club's outdoor debut at Tampa Stadium in 1975 as the region's first professional sports team.

The Rowdies delivered a win in that first outing in 1975, with forward Derek Smethurst and defender Alex Pringle scoring to secure a 2-1 win overtime win over the Rochester Lancers. The current Rowdies will hope to send the fans home with smiles on their faces as they did a half century ago.

"It's very rare to have an opportunity where you get to play on exactly the same day, on exactly the same month 50 years from when it all began," said Interim Head Coach Steve Coleman. "For us, it gives us a real special night to celebrate a birthday not many football clubs get all the time. It's a special time for the football club. There will be a lot of people who will be at the game who will have be there on Saturday. We hope to connect with those people and the people that are maybe coming for the first time as we celebrate the anniversary."

Nearly two dozen past Rowdies players and staff from the last 50 years will be in attendance at Al Lang as the club marks a significant milestone and aims to claim their first home win since September of last year."

"I always remember the importance of wearing this shirt," said Rowdies captain Aaron Guillen. "The history this club has is massive. Having the people that created that history watching us this Saturday, hopefully that gives us a boost, and we can get those three points so we can all celebrate together."

Matching Up with Miami

Tampa Bay's lone win of the year so far came against Miami back on March 22. Since then, Miami has strung together back-to-back victories in the league and will be looking to take that momentum into Al Lang this weekend in the opening match of the Jägermeister Cup. In nine previous meetings between the two sides at Al Lang, the Rowdies have only been on the losing end of the result once, a 1-0 defeat on April 9, 2022.

"Miami have picked up a couple of wins in the last few weeks," said Coleman. "They're very threatening on the counter attack, so we have to be very mindful of how, where, and when we give the ball away and be prepared to defend in those moments. That's the theme of the year, when so many teams in this league are dangerous on the counter. It's also, for us, about making sure we impose ourselves on the game with the ball."

USL Jägermeister Cup Rundown

As the Rowdies celebrate their outdoor debut in 1975 on Saturday, they'll also make their debut in the expanded USL Jägermeister Cup against Miami. All USL Championship clubs will compete for the Jägermeister Cup after the tournament's first edition last year was only contested between USL League One teams. The Jägermeister Cup is a World Cup-style tournament with a group stage followed by a knockout phase. The Rowdies have been drawn into Group 6, alongside Miami, the Charleston Battery, FC Naples, Greenville Triumph SC, and South Georgia Tormenta FC.

How to Advance - After four rounds of group stage matches (two home, two away) starting in April and ending in July, the team with the most points in each group will advance to the knockout phase. Two wild cards teams from the six groups will be chosen based on goals scored in the group stage round. The two teams with the most goals scored in the four group stage rounds will advance to the knockout phase. If necessary, points earned and then total wins will be used as additional tiebreakers.

Points System - Teams receive the standard three points for a win and one point for a draw in the group stage rounds. However, games that end in a stalemate after 90 minutes will immediately go to a penalty shootout, with the winner receiving an additional point. The addition of a penalty shootout will be familiar to fans of the Rowdies from back in the day. The original NASL also implemented a penalty shootout in 1975 to decide a winner from a tied match.

Discipline Rules - There are no suspensions from caution accumulation in Jägermeister Cup games, and yellow cards in the tournament do not count toward the regular season caution accumulations. Red cards will only result in suspension for the next tournament match unless deemed more severe by the League Disciplinary Committee.

Knockout Phase - Once the group stage concludes, the two wild card teams will be automatically slotted as away teams for the quarterfinals, the opening round of the knockout phase. From there, a draw will determine the rest of the set of matches in the quarterfinals. The tournament will then proceed in a single-elimination format with draws after each completed round to determine the next matchups. The USL Jägermeister Cup Final is set for the weekend of October 4.

Rowdies Availability Report

OUT: Bodily, Hilton, Moon, Wyke

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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