It’s been over two years since the last meeting between an Orlando City side and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. It was a slugfest back then, with matches generally finishing with single goal differences and fans getting into altercations that made national news. The I-4 Derby was a proper rivalry — something Orlando City hasn’t really had since — generated by the genuine dislike of the population centers for each other.
Even though they were separated in the soccer pyramid by division and in the U.S. Open Cup by geographic regions (the Rowdies are considered part of the central region, often getting paired in the same bracket with the likes of Chicago and Columbus, while Orlando resides in the east), the two sides sported a passionate distaste for the other.