It doesn’t take much to get excited for the second installment of Orlando City B and the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
“There’s more than points at stake for this one, it’s local pride,” OCB head coach Anthony Pulis said.
“As soon as the schedule comes out for the start of the season, the first game we look for is Orlando City,” Rowdies head coach Stuart Campbell said. “When were they coming to us and when were we going to them, so it’s a game that we’ve really been looking forward to for a long time.”
The two teams met back in March for the first game of the season, the Rowdies won at home 1-0 courtesy of a penalty kick. But a lot has changed in the almost four months since.
“I think we’re a lot better team than we were at the start of the season,” Pulis said. “We’ve certainly improved since then and hopefully we can perform similarly to we did against Pittsburgh the other night but just take our chances.”
Thursday’s match goes beyond just a rivalry on the pitch, there could be big implications to USL standings. The Rowdies sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference while OCB is just outside the playoff field but only 6 points behind Tampa Bay.
“It’s going to be a real challenge for us to go there,” Campbell said. “But it’s one we’re really looking forward to.”
“Going down there and losing was tough for us,” OCB goalkeeper Earl Edwards said. “But we played well the first game of the season, and I think we’ve improved tremendously since then. I’m looking forward to the game tomorrow and hopefully we can get a result for our fans.”