TAMPA, Fla. — Opening night for the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday night is going to look a little different than we are used to seeing.
There will be plenty of new faces in the Green and Gold.
Line-up staples from a year ago — Sebastian Guenzatti, Steven Dos Santos, and Jake Lacava — are gone. League MVP Leo Fernandes is out for the season with an Achilles injury.
“That’s a blow for us, but that’s not going to define our team,” Rowdies midfielder Charlie Dennis said.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Aaron Guillen added. “He’s a great player and a great teammate.”
“Leo had some moments of magic last year; there is no getting away from that,” head coach Neill Collins said. “He will be the first to tell you he was part of a team. Someone else will come in, play a role, and it will be about the team.”
Nine new players are on this roster. Some may call that a “rebuild." But not the Rowdies because of the quality of players they brought in.
One of those players to fill the shoes of Fernandes is Charlie Dennis, who came to Tampa Bay from Oakland this off-season.
“You see by the size of him,” Collins said. “He brings great athleticism and physicality. He can create in the final third, he can score goals. It’s something we may have missed from the midfield last year.”
With the roster turnover, and their missing piece, Dennis is looking forward to proving this team is still capable of winning big.
“We’ll be there to support him in his recovery,” Dennis said. “It makes us want it even more and prove to the people that doubt us wrong that we can go out there and do it without him, really.”
The Rowdies will look to set the tone on Saturday night against Indy Eleven at Al Lang Stadium.
“I’m really looking forward to it. This is what we work hard for in the offseason, do all that recruitment, train hard,” Collins said. “We have to keep it in perspective. We have a long season ahead.”
