Rowdies Open England Tour With 2-2 Draw Against Nottingham Forest XI

NOTTINGHAM, England – Playing more than 4,000 miles from home, the Tampa Bay Rowdies more than held their own in a 2-2 draw against a Nottingham Forest XI in the first match of their preseason tour of England on Wednesday.

Kalif Alhassan and Tommy Heinemann scored the goals for Tampa Bay as the Rowdies took an early lead, fell behind and rallied for a draw. Ten players played the full 90 minutes for Tampa Bay.

After originally planning to play the match on natural grass at Nottingham Forest’s training facility, overnight and morning rain moved the match onto artificial turf. Near-freezing temperatures, a harsh wind and an intermittent drizzle didn’t get in the way of the match though, as the two sides played a high-quality showcase.

”I thought we played really well, in the first half especially,“ Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell said. ”We created a number of good opportunities and when halftime came, we didn’t really want to stop. It took a while to get going in the second half, but I’ve got to get a lot of credit to Forest. We withstood the pressure and then finished the game pretty well. It’s really pleasing because for a majority of the guys, it was their first 90 minutes.“

Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell continued the trend of playing a nominal 4-2-3-1 formation in the match. Michael Langer started behind a back line of Darnell King, Tamika Mkandawire, Stefan Antonijevic and Zac Portillos from right to left. Michael Nanchoff and Justin Chavez formed a double pivot in midfield behind Eric Avila, Kalif Alhassan and Darwin Espinal from right to left. Tommy Heinemann played as the lone forward. Walter Ramirez replaced Espinal in the 63rd minute, Tampa Bay’s only substitution of the match.

Nottingham Forest played a strong XI that included a mix of bench players from the first team’s 1-0 win over Preston North End in league play Tuesday night and members of the Under-21 and Under-23 teams.

”It was physical, it was aggressive and I’m really proud of the way our guys played today,“ Campbell said. ”I’m delighted with the way they came together because it’s still a relatively-new team and that bodes well for us going forward. As a team, we’re improving game-by-game.“

The Rowdies played aggressively, transitioning from defense to attack at breakneck speeds, earning the opening goal of the match on a clinical counter attack.

Espinal won the ball in midfield and immediately carried it forward down the left hand side, squaring for Justin Chavez streaking down the right from a deep position. With a defender closing, Chavez slid a through ball for an oncoming Kalif Alhassan, who took a few touches before finishing past Forest’s goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

Tampa Bay continued to play with a mean streak and could’ve scored a few more goals, but instead conceded in the 41st minute to send the match into halftime at 1-1.

Forest scored again in the 75th minute to take a 2-1 lead, but the Rowdies would fight back to earn a draw on Heinemann’s goal in the 79th.

Nanchoff took a corner kick from the left side which found Heinemann with his back to the goalkeeper. Heinemann gave it back to Nanchoff, who looped in a cross to Mkandawire on the back post. Mkandawire headed it across the face of goal and Heinemann finished it emphatically with his head.

The Rowdies will be back in action Friday morning against a Notts County XI in the second match of their preseason tour.