With two loan signings and a friendly against USL League One’s Union Omaha, Wednesday was a busy day for Phoenix Rising. Here are four things we learned:
1 – OVERALL PERFORMANCE AGAINST OMAHA
In a 90-minute match spread over three equal periods, Rising fell to a 2-1 defeat to Union Omaha at Wild Horse Pass.
A likely-offside Rufat Dadashov initially gave the hosts the lead shortly after the first break, but both JP Scearce and Greg Hurst put the ball past Zac Lubin to give the spoils to the visitors.
Rising dominated possession for much of the game and played serious starting contenders for the duration of the first two periods. However, they were unable to turn that dominance into goals, with the team’s coach describing the performance as “really poor” from a clinical standpoint.
“Final third has just been not there yet,” Rick Schantz said. “Usually, it’s the last to come but we’re missing chances. Guys aren’t making the proper runs. We had probably eight or nine crosses in dangerous positions that were just horrible crosses. We’re trying to float balls in rather than just whipping them in with pace.”
A combination of trialists, academy players and unused first teamers rounded out the game for the last half hour, but neither side managed to find the net again.
“They play long every single time which we’re not used to at all, and we didn’t win any aerial duels and second balls,” Schantz said. “We were good in the first 30, 60 maybe. But if you’re not going to score goals, you’re not going to win games.
“I’m not even worried about the defending right now because we just got so frustrated with our lack of finishing that it put us in really bad positions because we got exposed and really opened up.”
2 – DEFENSIVE TWEAKS
A new defensive partnership was tested out on the pitch today, with Kevon Lambert and James Musa pairing up at the back.
“We did it on purpose a little bit today because we expected to have a lot of possession of the ball,” Schantz explained. “Tobi Adewole is still nursing a little bit of a hamstring, but I think it was fun to see Kev and Musa and then Aodhan. They were handling any sort of pressure really, really well, and that allows our front guys to take more risks and to stay a little bit higher.”
While Musa did appear to lose his man on the free kick leading to Omaha’s first goal, the pair generally succeeded in keeping the pressure away from Rising’s keeper. It remains to be seen if Schantz will look to reuse this pairing in games where he expects Phoenix to control the ball for large spells.
3 – NEW SIGNINGS
Two new signings were announced Wednesday morning, with Jeremy Kelly and Andre Rawls joining on loan from Colorado Rapids.
23-year-old Kelly, a right-back, joined the Rapids shortly after being drafted in 2020 in exchange for $75k General Allocation Money. The defender made eight appearances for Colorado last season, including travelling with the team to the MLS is Back tournament. He also boasts some additional experience in the professional game after playing on an amateur contract with the Carolina RailHawks (now North Carolina FC) before attending college.
“Jeremy comes to us with an amazing pedigree,” Schantz said in a press release. “He is multi-talented and will bring an extremely high quality of play to our team. Jeremy is calm and composed. He is also a very good passer. I was impressed with him after one training session.”
Kelly featured in the final 30 minutes of Wednesday’s friendly against Omaha.
Andre Rawls is a goalkeeper with USL experience in Wilmington, Orange County and Colorado Springs. Over 66 league games, he’s conceded 86 goals and kept 16 clean sheets.
Intriguingly, Rising is the team that Rawls has conceded the most goals against during his career.
“Andre is an outstanding goalkeeper,” Schantz added. “He is very athletic and intelligent. He reads the game well and can play with his feet. The competition between Andre and Zac [Lubin] will be fierce, but will make both of them better. I couldn’t be more excited to have Andre join our team.”
Rawls kept a clean sheet through the opening 30 minutes of the friendly against Union Omaha.
With reinforcements at the back, attention instead turns to the backup striker behind Dadashov. Are we likely to see any movement on that front soon?
“We’re fine,” Schantz explained after Wednesday’s match. “We already have a couple of guys and we’re being patient. It’s a long process and our window is open I think until June with the extension so we’re not too worried about the timing right now.”
4 – LOOKING AHEAD
After five clashes, Rising has yet to record a positive result this preseason.
“Our eyes are set on better performances,” Schantz said. “It’s a little slower than we anticipated, and for us to say that last year we started really well, we also didn’t have a six month break and things are a little bit different.
“But we’re going to be fine. I saw so many bright things out there today. Things that we used to not be very good at and that used to be kind of a weakness for us. What we usually are very good at, right now, it’s just not clicking, so I’m not too worried.”
In Schantz’s mind, it’s the club’s attack that needs to pick up over the coming weeks.
“Solo was in some really good, dangerous positions,” Schantz said. “I thought Jon Bakero came out a little too deep and didn’t stay high enough, but Aodhan, his passing from the midfield is fantastic for us. Rufat needs to get in the box and stay in the box, and stop coming so deep for the ball.
“It’s like no one wants to score on our team until they have the ball at their feet and they think they can score, so I’d like to see that improve.”
In Pictures: Rising falls 2-1 to Union Omaha
