PREVIEW | Rowdies Host Improving Scorpions At Al Lang Stadium

If history is an indicator, don’t expect a draw in this match. In four years of playing against each other, Tampa Bay and San Antonio have never tied. The Rowdies are 6W-0D-7L all-time against the Scorpions, including a win for each team this season. The Rowdies opened the season in San Antonio with a 3-1 win over the defending champions on April 4, but also suffered their most lopsided loss of the year in San Antonio, a 3-0 defeat on July 11.

Rowdies midfielder Richard Menjivar played 2014 and began 2015 with the Scorpions before being acquired by the Rowdies in a trade on April 29. Menjivar has played in six matches for Tampa Bay this season, including five starts.

Midfielder Freddy Adu returned to the match-day squad in last week’s loss to FC Edmonton after recovering from a lower leg injury that had sidelined him since the July 25 match against Fort Lauderdale. Adu dressed for the match but was an unused substitute.

San Antonio arrives in St. Petersburg six points out of the picture for The Championship, the NASL’s four-team postseason tournament. The Scorpions picked up a home win last week, defeating Indy Eleven, 2-0, at Toyota Field.

The road hasn’t been kind to the Scorpions in 2015, with the team posting a 2W-3D-5L record away from Texas this season. San Antonio’s last road victory was a 1-0 win over Atlanta on June 6.

Scorpions forward Omar Cummings, in his first season in the NASL, has scored 10 goals and is second only to Fort Lauderdale’s Stefano Pinho in the Golden Boot race. Cummings averages a goal every 166 minutes this season, but hasn’t scored since August 8.

Scorpions goalkeeper Daryl Sattler played two seasons in Tampa Bay, making 28 appearances for the club. Defender Brad Rusin began the season with Tampa Bay, but did not make an appearance before being traded for Menjivar. He’s made 10 appearances for San Antonio, including nine starts.