Match Preview Presented by Mayo Clinic
Phoenix Rising (1-3-0) hits the road for the second time this season, taking on FC Tulsa (1-1-0), Friday at 5:30 p.m. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ and broadcast the following morning locally on CBS 5 at 9 a.m.
Both Phoenix and Tulsa come into the match having lost, 1-0, the last time out. Tulsa fell in Orange County while Rising lost at home to New Mexico.
“I’m disappointed with the game,” said Rising head coach Danny Stone. “We didn’t get to grips with the type of game it was or the conditions. We didn’t find ourselves in the game, in possession particularly. We competed. We pushed in the second half. We tried to drive the game. We just weren’t effective enough to create opportunities. The quality in what we did with the ball was not good enough.”
“We changed the system a couple of times during the game,” added Stone. “We always came back to the same struggle. We have to ask more of ourselves. However we played, we weren’t able to develop the chances we needed.”
Saturday’s match will be the home opener for Tulsa, which traveled to Vegas and picked up a 3-1 win on March 16. Midfielder Blaine Ferri picked up two assists in that match by winning balls deep in enemy territory and quickly transitioning to offense. Tulsa put more shots on goal in that match, 5-4, despite owning just 28 percent of the possession. Despite losing to Orange County, Tulsa also had more shots on goal by a 6-3 margin.
Despite the frustrating start to the 2024 season, Phoenix should not be deterred. The defending USL Champions started last season with a 0-1-1 record in March. Even during the best season in USL history, Rising went 0-0-3 in March of 2019 before finishing the year with a record of 24-4-6.
[The team knows] they’re better than what they showed,” said Stone. “We didn’t produce enough quality. Give credit to the opponent for their side of it but we look at ourselves. We look at the quality we provide in the game and today, we’re disappointed we didn’t produce more than that.”
Gauging by the best seasons in club history, Rising is right on track.
