Signing him was a major priority for Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have tracked MD since he was a standout collegiate forward at Rutgers University, so I am delighted to finally get the chance to work with him here in Tampa Bay,\u201d said Rowdies coach Dominic Casciato. \u201cHe has proven himself to be a top forward in this league over the past couple of years, so I am excited to see what he can bring to our group in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of competition to sign MD throughout the league, but he chose us because of his belief in our project, how we will play, and what we are building here. Our fans will love his ability to find the back of the net and willingness to work tirelessly for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Myers already has a pair of goals in four matches for the Rowdies.<\/p>\n
Akpunonu knows that the Battery defense will have their collective work cut out for them when facing Myers and the Rowdies\u2019 potent attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cMD does everything you\u2019d want a striker to do,\u201d Akpunonu said. \u201cHe is really good at finding the goal. He\u2019s good in transition, he\u2019s strong on the ball, he works hard and he finds a way to put the ball in the back of the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having practiced against him for a full season gives Akpunonu an insight that few defenders around the league share.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be some mental mind games going on out there,\u201d Akpunonu said. \u201cI know what his tendencies are, and he knows mine. You can\u2019t overthink things. Sometimes when you do that, you can get caught out of position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when stopping a forward as good as MD, you have to play more instinctually and just put your best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akpunonu\u2019s coach has every confidence that his central defender will be up to the task.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, Joey is one of the best center backs in the league,\u201d said Battery coach Ben Pirmann. \u201cJoey can do it all, but he won\u2019t be doing it by himself. It\u2019s going to take all 11 players to slow down what is probably the best attack in the league so far.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Signing him was a major priority for Tampa Bay. \u201cI have tracked MD since he was a standout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[105324,105320,105321,105323,105325,135,137,136,105322],"class_list":["post-236748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ben-pirmann","tag-charleston-battery","tag-charleston-battery-soccer-club","tag-joey-akpunonu","tag-md-myers","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-usl-championship-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}