ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies and Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro will both be looking to conclude the 2017 Florida Cup on a positive note when the two teams meet at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the preseason event. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET.

Tickets: Ticketmaster | Television: Fox Soccer Plus

Tampa Bay Rowdies news and notes

• The Rowdies were handed a 2-0 defeat by VfL Wolfsburg last Sunday in their opening game of the preseason as a mix of signed players and trialists turned out for the first game of the season.

• After falling into a two-goal deficit at the halftime break, Tampa Bay put in a positive second-half performance as Michael Nanchoff, Alex Morrell and Jaime Siaj all went close to finding the net.

• Maybe the most heartening performance for the Rowdies was that of fullback Zac Portillos, who went 70 minutes in his first game since suffering a season-ending injury last May.

• Of the Rowdies’ signed players, Nanchoff, Neill Collins and Martin Vingaard all went 90 minutes in the preseason opener.

Atletico Mineiro news and notes

• Atletico fell 1-0 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Wednesday night as Mexican international Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez had the only goal for the Bundesliga side.

• Mineiro will be hoping to find more attacking punch in their second preseason outing after Carlos Alberto and Elder Santana were both limited well by Bayer’s defense.

• Atletico’s loss to Bayer was the side’s first defeat at the Florida Cup. The team had taken victory in both of its contests at last year’s event, defeating Schalke 04 and Corinthians.

• Atletico will hold an open training session in Orlando on Friday ahead of Saturday’s contest. The session will take place at the Omni Hotel at 4 p.m. ET.

Tournament hashtag:

• #FloridaCup2017

Twitter social handles

• Tampa Bay Rowdies – @TampaBayRowdies

• Atletico Mineiro - @Atletico_en