Days after handing them their first starts of the season, Rising coach Rick Schantz issued a challenge to his two 22-year-olds during his weekly press conference.
“David [Egbo] and Arturo [Rodriguez] need to continue to show that they want to compete, and they’re not going to give up their positions,” he said. “It’s not as easy as just saying since we win, you go with the same lineup. It’s too long of a season to think that way, and they’re still going to have to compete to earn it for this weekend.”
Schantz has long proclaimed a policy of selecting players in part due to their peformances on the training pitch, rather than just matchday form.
“On Wednesday and Thursday is mostly our tactical days,” Schantz said. “Wednesday, we’ll play 11 v 11 against each other, and we usually do three or four minute bouts. We’ll do five or six of them. Depending on how well the guys are doing, that are competing, you’ll change the lineup five or six times on a Wednesday. That sends the message to the group that it’s up for grabs, but if someone is really solid and is performing extremely well like Kevon Lambert, and he’s with the first group six straight games, it kind of sends the message to the guy behind him that I’ve got to do more.”
“If a guy comes out and has a great performance on Saturday, does he get a pass the following week?” Schantz added. “No. He still has to compete, and as long as he doesn’t just look awful and put no effort and no desire… but these are professionals, and if they do that they wouldn’t be here.”
Replacing Jon Bakero in the starting midfield trio on Saturday, Rodriguez impressed the Rising coach.
“I thought Arturo was exceptional,” Schantz said. “Sometimes, when a player is used to coming off the bench, because he was coming in the games and giving us such great energy, you worry that as a starter, he may not be able to play with that much energy for 90 minutes. That was our only concern, but I thought he was very good.
“Positionally, he still likes to float a lot, and he likes to go on both sides of the field. Sometimes that causes problems for us, but it’s also good because we’re not as predictable at times. It’s important for us in our offence that we fill the five zones and the channels that we want to play in, so when Arturo’s there on the right hand side with Solo [Asante], it’s pretty special. They do a lot of good things together.”
With Rufat Dadashov still returning to full fitness, Egbo could be handed the opportunity for a second straight start as well. Dadashov suffered a bone bruise in the side’s match against San Diego and was left at home for the clash against Sacramento last Saturday. According to Schantz, the forward will be available for selection by the weekend, but questions remain over his ability to strike the ball during his injury recovery.
For Egbo, it could represent an opportunity to build on his first professional start.
“He started off a little bit shaky as far as the movements that we want from the nine, but defensively was fantastic” Schantz said. “He’s picked it up. He knows which passing lanes to cut off. [He] did a really, really good job. Then after about ten or 15 minutes, his holdup play was fantastic and his combination play was good. I think the goal, he deserved, because he did enough to create a goalscoring opportunity and I’m glad he finished that.”
Rising faces Los Angeles Galaxy II on Saturday at Wild Horse Pass.
Want to hear more? Preview Saturday’s game with Rising Matchday – streaming at 9 a.m. Saturday morning on YouTube and Facebook, and available on demand shortly after.