Phoenix’s loss to San Diego was “one of those nights”, according to Rising coach Rick Schantz.

In his weekly press conference, Schantz expressed frustration at individual errors, unlucky bounces and the decision to disallow a goal late in the game.

“Two of the goals were big, big mistakes on our part defensively in individual execution, and I actually just had some film with some of those guys, and one of the things that I told them is the way that we play, we don’t give them a ton of support,” Schantz said. “Junior and Santi and Rufat, they’re asked to do so much high pressing and scoring goals that it’s difficult for them to come 80 yards back and double down and help in the wide situations. It looks like Darnell [King] is out of position, or Darnell’s doing something wrong, when he’s playing 1 v 2 all the time.”

It was those errors, he said, that gifted Rubio Rubin a hat-trick on the night. In particular, Schantz noted mistakes on the second and third goals.

“A.J. [Cochran] is showing him to his right foot, and he doesn’t get close enough, and he doesn’t push him out wide quick enough or make a tackle, and we gave up a goal on a split shot,” Schantz said of Rubin’s second, before explaining that the team’s gameplan with the center-backs in that situation should have seen Cochran force “the shot […] to come from wide of the two centre-backs.”

For the third goal, deep into stoppage time, Rising’s coach again pointed to mistakes.

“[Rubin] dribbles through Darnell and I think Jon is a little passive on his defending, and he gets to A.J.,” Schantz said. “A.J. should have forced him down to the line. That would have been a tough angle.”

Late in the second half, however, controversy focused on the officiating. As Rising rushed to take a quick free kick, the ball bounced off the referee. 12 seconds later, it was in the back of the net. Instead of awarding the goal, Farhad Dadkho gave a dropped ball to Rising near the halfway line.

“The referee had total authority to just let the goal stand,” Schantz claimed. “He did not have to go by the letter of the law, and nobody would have complained.”

After the match, Dadkho’s crew revealed in a written answer to a media pool question that the goal had been disallowed as the ball had struck him, followed by Rising starting a promising attack. The 2019-20 Laws of the Game, which are in effect for USL this season, introduced this provision, which also applies if the ball immediately enters the goal or if there is a change in possession. Prior to this change, referees were simply considered part of the field conditions, with all balls deflecting off them remaining in play.

“My feelings and my emotions are like: yes, I know that the rule is what it is, and he interpreted it that way, but the referees […] they don’t have to follow the rules exactly. They never do,” Schantz said. “He could have made a different interpretation.”

Schantz also shrugged off suggestions that a double touch from the free kick – where the player who takes the set piece touches it again before any other player – would have negated the goal anyway. The Laws of the Game call for an indirect free kick to be awarded to San Diego in such a case, although it’s unclear if the provisions around the ball hitting the referee would have instead resulted in a Rising dropped ball.

Ultimately, Rising’s coach was happy with how his team tried to fight back from a 3-1 deficit at half-time, and thought his players could still have come away with the points.

“It was one of those nights, you know, where every time we won the ball, it deflected right to one of their players,” Schantz said. “I told our guys, we had [an opponent] that was extremely motivated. We made a lot of mistakes, and we still created 19 chances, nine of which were high quality chances to score goals. We still could have won that game.”

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE

• According to Schantz, the team took the defeat hard. “Usually our Monday sessions are lively. “The guys are good to be back on the field after a couple of days off, but […] last night, you could sense that something was off,” he said. “You could sense that they were still very angry and upset about it.” However, he reported that the atmosphere has improved as of Tuesday.
• Damion Lowe could be in line for his first start on Saturday. “I think he is ready, physically,” Schantz said. “I don’t know if he’ll be able to complete 90 minutes, but […] he said he’s really happy with the way his body is right now.” Orange County is expected to look to long balls, much like they did in the previous matches between the two sides this season, and Rising’s coach described dealing with those balls as “Damion’s forte.”
• Owusu-Ansah Kontoh’s performances earlier in the season were revealed as the reason that he’s been frozen out of the squad lately. “He got a couple of opportunities,” Schantz said. “He made a few mistakes. We made a switch. Kyle [Bjornethun] was OK, and Darnell now has defensively been more solid, so it’s just the way that it works.” Kontoh hasn’t been named in the matchday squad over the last four games, after beginning the season as Rising’s presumptive starting left-back.
• Schantz expressed optimism in the team’s chances this year, comparing them favourably to last season’s squad, who he said felt they’d already achieved something just by winning the regular season title. “This year, you’ve got a group that’s had a little bit of an up-and-down season. We’ve responded very well to losses or poor performances.” He put part of that growth down to there being more leaders in the locker room, but also noted the challenge faced by the club to reach this point. “If we get out of this division, or we win it, the one thing I know is we’ll be battle-tested, and we’ll be ready. It’s a little different from last year, and in years past, but I’m glad that we’ve played a lot of very good, tough games.”