Rowdies And Georgi Hristov Are On A Roll

Photo credit: Matt May/Tampa Bay Rowdies

Last Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rowdies won a crucial league game for the second week in a row. Georgi Hristov scored a goal for the second game in a row. A Tampa Bay player was also named the NASL Player of the Week for the second week in a row.

“We’re trying to stay grounded,” Hristov, this week’s Player of the Week, told NASL.com. His teammate, the English midfielder Joe Cole, earned the award the previous week when he had a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win against Minnesota.

In the Rowdies’ most recent victory, 2-1 over visiting Ottawa Fury FC, Hristov scored both goals – with Cole providing the assist on the game-winner that kept alive Tampa Bay’s hopes of capturing the Spring Season title. Tampa Bay closes out its Spring Season schedule at Jacksonville on Saturday, needing a victory by six goals to have any thought of overtaking the first-place (and idle) New York Cosmos.

“Honestly anything can happen in soccer,” said Hristov, who won the Golden Ball in 2013 when he scored 12 goals. “We’re going to win the game, but I don’t really think about doing something like six or seven goals. We really respect our opponent and it will be very difficult to go there and say we’re going to win by a lot of goals. We play every game for a win. If we’re able to keep a clean sheet it will be great.

“There’s always a theoretical chance, but we have to remember that this season, this year is very long. There’s a second part of the season and we’re going to need points for the overall [standings] again. Of course we just go there and play to win the game. Honestly, if we win 1-0 I’ll take it.”

Hristov and his teammates were given Monday off by Coach Stuart Campbell with the team on a three-game winning streak (which includes a victory in the Lamer Hunt U.S. Open Cup). On Tuesday, with a tropical storm raging in the area, the club trained indoors at Tropicana Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“It was raining for three days,” Hristov, 31, said. “It was good we could train, but there was the turf and it was hot inside.”

Hristov’s versatility has given Campbell the luxury of slotting him in wherever and whenever needed, but he has featured mostly as a forward.

“In soccer, every player and every coach and every team has to find its internal chemistry,” said the thoughtful native of Bulgaria. “We have a lot of new players. I missed two weeks during the preseason because of an injury and during that time some guys did better than me toward the beginning of the season. The coach had to make a decision. I’ve never doubted his belief in me, it’s just at certain times other players deserve to start. It was all good. I was waiting for my chance.

“It’s easy to say Georgi plays forward three games and scored three goals, he’s going to play there. Honestly, I really feel comfortable playing as a No. 9, a No. 10, or even on left side. My first year in 2013 I played on the left side. I’ve always played all these positions. I’ve never just been a No. 10 or a forward. Last year I had the most assists in the league. It felt good. It also depends on what kind of players you have in the team now. Then it’s up to the coach. But I feel very comfortable anywhere on the field.”

After coming on as a late substitute in Tampa Bay’s 2-1 loss at the Cosmos on May 22, Hristov has started in three consecutive games, scoring in the past two (he now has four goals in all competitions), which includes the game-winner in a 1-0 win over FC Cincinnati in the Open Cup (the Rowdies will play at Columbus of MLS in the tournament next Wednesday) and two goals in the win over Ottawa Fury FC.

The recent stretch has now moved the Rowdies back in the hunt for silverware when they hit the field in their Spring Season finale.