USL championship league 01:30 Tamba Bay - Philadelphia 2
home team to score over 1 goal in 1st half @ 1.86 stake 1 cp also over 3 goals is very playable
Tampa Bay will be the 1st team classified for the post-season if they win today and the only thing left to close is the 1st position of the group that will be played with the Charleston Battery, with which they will face in 5 days and again the last day.
They are a very neat and compact team and it is very difficult to create danger for them. It will be seen if they really are like this when they face a strong team in the post-season, but weak teams have nothing to do against them if they take it seriously.
They are in fact the team with the fewest goals after Pittsburgh, that although they have conceded the same (7 goals), Tampa has done so in one game less (11), but instead they are the team that allows the fewest shots on goal per game leaving his rivals with an average of 2.45 shots between clubs. To give us an idea, Philadelphia has taken 40 shots between sticks in 7 games (nearly 6 per game) while Portland, which receives the most, has allowed 79 in 10 games (almost 8 per game).
They have as a positive in addition to the defense that it is the team that scores the most goals from set pieces. Corners and side fouls are a danger (7 of their 19 goals have come this way) and Philadelphia can suffer in that regard due to its inexperience and height.
They have a 7-3-1 balance and have only lost away to Charleston (1-0) while they have beaten Miami (3-0 and 0-3), Atlanta (2-1, 2-1 and 0-2) , Charleston (2-0) and pre-covid New York (0-1). They have drawn 1-1 at home with Miami, 2-2 with North Carolina and 1-1 in Birmingham.
Winning at halftime he was going in 5 of his 7 wins (Miami 2/2, Atlanta 2/3 and Charleston) and in one of his 3 draws (North Carolina).
At home his results at rest were; 0-1 with Atlanta, 2-0 with North Carolina, 1-0 with Charleston, 0-1 with Miami, 2-0 with Atlanta and 1-0 with Miami, therefore 2 green, 2 null, 2 red.
Although they are not good numbers, I consider all the rivals that Tampa has had so far, superior to Philadelphia.
The only real tough rival that Philadelphia has had has been Pittsburgh which beat them 0-6 away (0-2 at halftime) and 4-0 at home (3-0 at halftime). I don't expect Tampa today to be like that or like Reno yesterday, although they could, but what I do hope is that they can go 2-0 at least at halftime and be able to relax in the second half for their next game against Charleston that is key.
Philadelphia at halftime has received 2 goals in all their games except Atlanta on the last day, New York at 1-5 (they went 0-1 at halftime) and Loudoun before the break (0-0) although both in their 3-2 win against New York, as in their 3-2 loss to Hartford they went 2-2 at halftime.
Even though Tampa has not been very reliable on goal and they are overly reliant on Guenzatti (18 goals last year and 5 in 10 games this season) I think they should create enough chances against Philadelphia to at least go ahead at halftime.