by JAKE NUTTING

People still drink coffee on Monday afternoons, right?

Sorry for the delay, folks. Let’s dive right in.

Joe Cole 1, Florida Humidity 0

Well if that is the way Joe Cole performs after only two training sessions with a completely new bunch of teammates, then this signing could be well worth the hype. He looked comfortable directing traffic from central midfield, completed 47 of his 54 pass attempts, won seven of his 11 duels, won all four tackle attempts, and led the team with 71 touches.

“I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the experience,” Cole said. “We should’ve won the game, but lot of good things to take. I think if we take the good things out of the performance, I think we’ll win more than we lose, that’s for sure.”

Head Coach Stuart Campbell liked what he saw out of Cole so much that he threw out the pregame plan of limiting him to 60 minutes, instead keeping him on for the entirety of the match to see if he could help the team find a winner.

“I’ve got to be honest, I was looking for him to get to 60 minutes and he kept going, then after the 65th or 70th minute mark I didn’t want to make eye contact with him in case he said he was tired,” Campbell joked. “I’m being honest. I think I asked him at about the 89th minute, ‘are you okay?’ and he just looked at me. But I’m really happy. I know he’s got to be tired, but I thought he’s done well. I thought he used the ball well, and he’s only going to get better and better once he finds his feet.”

Cole did create some chances for his new team, mostly through set pieces. His service to Tam on the far post helped set up Neil Collins with the best chance of the first half on a sequence that the center back absolutely has to get on frame. Cole then directly set up the defender with a header in the second half that he did get on frame but his effort was denied.

Hopefully as the weeks progress, Cole’s chemistry with his teammates improves and he can begin to create more chances in open play.

Joe, meet PRO Referees. PRO Referees, meet Joe

The most beautiful sequence of the night was set up by Cole as well, but it ended up being pulled back by referee Caleb Mendez. Cole was under the impression he had the green light to strike the free kick 40 yards from goal and delivered a inch-perfect ball for the head of Tommy Heinemann to direct into the net. The defenders were all in position and had their marks, but Mendez was waiting for the wall in front of Cole to back up the full 10 yards (although, it looked like they were far enough away already if you ask me) before blowing his whistle to restart play.

Tampa Bay Turned Up to Welcome Joe Cole

Signing a World Cup veteran and putting him in front of as many microphones and TV cameras as possible leading up to a home match is bound to create some buzz, but you never know how effective it all is until you see the actual butts in seats.

Boy did it pay off. 6,702 filled Al Lang Stadium (300 shy of full capacity) to see what all the fuss with Cole was about. It’s the largest crowd of the year so far, a nice coup to pull of when most teams have trouble matching their opening day numbers. The Rowdies have increased their numbers as the weeks have gone on, proving they can make make a mark with the proper push behind them.

“It’s different to English football, that’s for sure,” Cole said of the atmosphere at Al Lang. “I can’t really speak highly enough of the people here, making us feel welcome. It’s a very family-friendly atmosphere. I’m looking forward to bringing my kids to the game. I think they’ll love it.”

Not Quite a Home Fortress Yet

Saturday’s match with Rayo OKC was Tampa Bay’s fourth home match of the Spring Season. With only one home fixture left on their schedule, the Rowdies head into the most arduous stretch of the spring sprint as they fact back-to-back matches at New York and Minnesota.

Facing that kind of challenge makes it all the more frustrating that they have only been able to take five points from a possible 12 at home so far this year. Just one quality finish in one of their two home draws, or even one lucky deflection, could have made a world of difference for the Rowdies heading into the back half of the spring.

“I’m not disappointed with the way we’ve performed [at home], I’m disappointed with the results,” Campbell said. “As I said, every game we’ve created pretty decent chances and the performances have been good. Ultimately though I’d rather be stood here saying the results have been good and the performances have been bad.”

Avert Your Eyes

As far as I’m concerned, the less said about this one, the better…

“It’s frustrating but I think the most important thing is we fought back and got points, Pickens said. “I think that’s important for us. Soft goals aren’t going to happen all year long, so I mean this is just part of the thing. If you want a perfect world, then good luck cause it’s never gonna happen.”

Pickens, Tam, and Collins are all far too experienced to be giving up garbage goals like that. Despite playing string defensively throughout most of their last two matches at home, the Rowdies have allowed some distressing goals on momentary lapses. It might be bad luck to be burned on so few chances, but the Rowdies defense still needs to clean it up and play to the level they’re capable of for the full 90 minutes.

Leaving on a Positive Note

So in the last edition of Coffee Talk, I called out the Rowdies on the staggering rate at which they’ve been committing fouls and picking up yellows. Well it looks like they listened (or just did their jobs like professionals and they couldn’t care less about what gets written about in Coffee Talk). The Rowdies committed only 10 fouls this week against Rayo OKC and for the first time all year they did not earn a single yellow card. The team is still tied for most yellow cards (17), but they’re now fourth in the league in fouls conceded (149, 25 per match).

On the off chance that calling them out in Coffee Talk did have an impact, maybe we should point out that the team has yet to score a goal in the first half of a match and are tied for second fewest goals in the league (5) with three other teams. All three of those teams also happen to occupy the bottom three spots in the standings. The Rowdies are playing a dangerous game relying on their defense to carry the load while they wait for the attack to click.

I really did mean to end on a positive note…

The New York Cosmos lost to Edmonton, who the Rowdies already beat this year.

There, that’s better.