Tampa Bay ‘s season ended on a sour note last year with an extra-time loss in the conference semi-finals. Despite all the expectations, the club was left wanting more after bowing out of the United Soccer League’s Eastern Conference Semi Finals, but this year has all the makings of another serious contention for the top spot.

Youth and speed is the theme this year, according to head coach Stuart Campbell. This is a stark contrast from previous years where the Rowdies relied on experience and expertise of veterans to the game, but changes were made this season.

Yes, changes, though the Brits are ones to be keen on change (although, Campbell is a proud Scotsman), but the captain of the helm is excited for the new challenge.

“We had a good season last year, but one of the things we reflected on is we wanted to go a little bit younger this year and try to introduce some more speed to the team and I think we definitely done that in the off season,” Campbell said.

Youth and speed; combine that with a deep core of last year’s squad with still features the veteran leadership of Joe Cole, the scoring prowess of Georgi Hristov, and the rock of our defensive line up, Neill Collins, the Rowdies are expected to thrive (again) this year.

“Sky’s the limit for this group. I know every one of these players is hungry to win this year,” Campbell said.

Cole is also excited to be a part of the Rowdies for his third season. The three-time Premier League champion is confident the club will make an impact on the league’s season and says winning a USL title would “mean the world” to him.

“We’re really excited about the season,” Cole said. “I think the recruitment has been very good this year. We’ve identified where we want to strengthen gone out and got a lot of good young American players – which is very important over here, they know what the league s about – So we set the bar high this year.”

Offense will be a key component this season, which is expected to be explosive with the key additions of goal scorers like Jack Blake and Jochen Graf.

“We scored a lot of goals last year,” Cole said. “The communication is good, the movement is good, I think we can score a lot of goals this year.”

The Rowdies opened up the 2018 season with a 4-1 win on the road last week. They will look to build on that win in tomorrow’s home opener at Al Lang against a strengthened Bethlehem Steel side. Kick off is at 7:30