By Jason Lind (@JasonKLind)

WHO

New York Cosmos (2nd in Fall Season Standings, 1st Overall) vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies (11th, 5th)

WHEN & WHERE

Saturday, September 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida

WATCH & FOLLOW

• Official Viewing Party at Buffalo Wild Wings in Westbury, Long Island (737 Merrick Avenue)
• ONE World Sports
• ESPN3
• Follow @NYCosmos_Match and #TBRvNYC on Twitter

THE STAKES

Going into Saturday’s match, the Cosmos and Rowdies are each part of the postseason conversation. The Cosmos sit first in the overall standings with a seven-point lead over Ottawa Fury FC, and would be the top seed if the season ended today. Tampa Bay has some work to do – they’re tied in points for the final postseason spot but would be left out as it stands. The Rowdies and Strikers have identical records (7-6-7) but Fort Lauderdale has a healthy lead in the goal differential tiebreaker (+7 vs. -3).

New York Cosmos: The Cosmos took a commanding 17 points from the month of August, powering through a seven-game slate to finish with five wins, two draws and no defeats. They’ve strengthened their grip on first place in the league’s Combined Season Standings and are now within two points of Fall Season leaders Fury FC.

Ottawa's unyielding defense will be tested by Omar Cummings, the league's second-highest scorer this year, and the San Antonio Scorpions at Toyota Field on Saturday night. A Fury loss and Cosmos win would give New York complete control of the league. Already winners of the Spring Season Championship and best in the overall standings, the Cosmos could vault into the Fall Season's top spot this weekend.

Tampa Bay Rowdies: The Rowdies tumultuous August is finally behind them, though it did end on a high note this past weekend. They lost three games in eight days in the middle of the month and parted ways with head coach Thomas Rongen and GM Farrukh Quraishi during that stretch. But on August 29 Tampa Bay erased a two-goal deficit in Ottawa to earn an important draw against Fury FC, keeping them even on points with the surging Strikers. 

The Rowdies' excellent Spring Season (they finished a single point behind the Cosmos) has kept them in the postseason race. Bulgarian forward Georgi Hristov, Tampa Bay's leading goal scorer and the third-highest scorer in the league two years running, has turned distributor for Maicon Santos, Darwin Espinal and more of the Rowdies' new attacking options in 2015. Hristov leads the NASL with eight assists this season.

MATCHUP HISTORY

One of the league’s preeminent rivalries in the Golden Era and today, the Cosmos-Rowdies matchup hasn’t played out on the field since April 18. The Cosmos took their 2015 home opener 2-0 over Tampa Bay, thereby taking the lead in the modern series with a record of 3-2-1 (WDL) against the Rowdies since the reboot season of 2013.

Last time the Cosmos paid a visit to Al Lang Stadium, though, the Rowdies emerged with a 3-1 victory on a sweltering August night during the 2014 Season. Tampa Bay will be celebrating 40 years of soccer history leading into and after the game this Saturday. Cosmos forward Lucky Mkosana will return to Tampa for the first time since joining New York late last year.

NOTES

Iron man: With Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer getting a breather last weekend (Brian Holt started against Carolina), Spanish star Raúl became the only Cosmos player to appear in every NASL match this season. Raúl has started 19 of those 20 matches, scoring five goals and dishing out three assists in 1,643 minutes on the field.

Youth movement: U.S. U-17 international Haji Wright recorded his first assist with the first team against Carolina last Sunday evening as a second-half sub. Wright used his 6-foot-2 frame to box out a defender at the edge of the six-yard box, then laid off a ball popped into the area toward Lucky Mkosana. From there his Zimbabwean attacking partner had an easy finish for the game-winning score in the 85th minute.

Twenty down, 10 to go: After New York’s 3-2 win over Carolina this past Sunday, August 30, the team has now completed two-thirds of its season. The Cosmos are 10-9-1 with a +15 goal differential. No other team in the league has won more than eight times this season or has a goal differential greater than seven.