The dreams of another upset of a MLS team at Al Lang Stadium were dashed away before they were even fully formed when the Rowdies lost their opening match of the 2015 U.S. Open Cup 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

If Tampa Bay had pulled out a victory on the road in the Steel City, they would have played host to DC United on May 17th. Instead, they dropped their second straight match to a USL team in Open Cup play. In fact, the Rowdies were one of seven NASL teams to lose to a USL foe on the night. The third division league swept all the matches between the two leagues in third round of the competition.

Head coach Thomas Rongen said during the off week that he and his staff would approach Wednesday’s match with absolute seriousness. He followed through on that promise by starting the exact same starting XI that played in the team’s 1-0 victory over Fort Lauderdale the last time they took the field. Unfortunately for Rongen and company, the results on the field were far from similar.

“You’ve got to give Pittsburgh a lot of credit,” said Rongen. “They clearly deserved to win. It’s pretty startling to me that we can play such a great game against Fort Lauderdale with the same Starting XI and such a mediocre game here. We’re extremely disappointed, but we have to move on and learn from this.”

The entire complexion of the match may have been drastically different had the Rowdies converted on an early opportunity. After less than two minutes of play, forward Martin Nuñez charged into the six yard box and rifled a shot that Pittsburgh keeper Ryan Hulings did just enough to deflect away.

Nunez and the Rowdies had a nearly identical chance in the 19th minute. Midfielder Georgi Hristov delivered a threatening corner kick that found the head of imposing center back Stefan Antonijevic. The header was cleared off the goal line by Pittsburgh’s Stephen Okai and onto the feet of Nuñez. Once again, though, Hulings was able to deny Nuñez with an excellent reflex save.

These two moments were the lone bright spots for the Rowdies attack. Pittsburgh brought intensity and physical in every area of the field and the Rowdies did not respond well for long stretches of the match, especially in midfield. The constant pressure from the Riverhounds left caused some careless giveaways and left the Rowdies with little space to operate in midfield as they tried to work the ball forward in the attack. This left target forward Maicon Santos stranded up top, waiting for quality service for much of the night.

The Rowdies also seemed content to sit back rather than applying pressure of their own in the midfield when Pittsburgh possessed the ball. The Riverhounds were given acres of space to slash through the midfield into the Rowdies final third. The back line managed to hold its shape and prevent the home side from penetrating the 18-yard-box most of the time, forcing them to instead settle for shots from distance. The back line could only step in front of so many shot attempts, though, before one snuck past Matt Pickens. The keeper had made some solid diving saves on shots from distance when called upon in this match, but he was unable to stop Pittsburgh’s Rob Vincent when the midfield came streaking down the center of the field at the start of stoppage time and fired a low-driven shot to the bottom corner.

The loss is a devastating reminder of the high stakes of every Open Cup match. A deep run in the competition could have brought tremendous publicity to the club as it continues to establish its new image in the home market and abroad. Now the focus must shift entirely to the NASL playoff race where, fortunately, the team is an excellent position. However, the Rowdies may need to overcome some troubling trends if they are to one of the four teams remaining at season’s end.

It may still be too early to tell but the Rowdies midfield has crumbled when faced with physicality in the midfield and have yet to put in a solid performance on artificial turf this year. Games in the NASL can get downright physical and dirty when many players lack a certain technical ability, so that’s a problem that may need to be addressed sooner rather than later. The same can be said about the poor outings on turf. Five teams, nearly half the league, play on some of the worst turf in professional soccer. Adjusting to this and finding a way to get results on the troublesome surface is a major factor in succeeding in the NASL.

With an away match at Indy Eleven in a few days, the team has an opportunity to reverse the turf trend. Luckily for the Rowdies, Indy is coming off their own Open Cup loss and also had to play 30 minutes of extra time.

IMAGE, TAMPA BAY ROWDIES