Owain Evans

OPPONENT WATCH: San Antonio FC

  • Rising begins the 2019 season with the first of four regular season away trips to Texas.
  • Phoenix and San Antonio won one game each in their meetings last year. Rising ran rampant in August at home, sealing a 4-0 win with goals from four different goal-scorers. In the reverse fixture just a few weeks later, San Antonio came on top with a 3-2 victory.
  • Rising (and its predecessor club, Arizona United) has never won a match away to San Antonio. In total, the club has recorded three losses and one draw.
  • San Antonio comes into the year after a mixed preseason. There were no goals in their opening two friendlies against El Paso Locomotive, but both games were shorter than a normal match (75 and 45 minutes respectively). They then proceeded to defeat RGV 4-3 in a behind-closed-doors match, thanks in no small part to a brace from Ever Guzmán. Their final friendly was a 3-2 victory over local Division III college side, Trinity University.
  • Alex Bruce had a good preseason for San Antonio, scoring two goals. The club then loaned him out to League One side Lansing Ignite.
  • 2017 USL Goalkeeper of the Year Diego Restrepo left San Antonio for expansion side Austin Bold in January, leaving two players to fight for the role between the sticks: Matt Cardone and new signing Jonathan Viscosi.
  • Cardone is entering his fourth season with San Antonio. In fact, the local boy has never played outside of the city, having previously featured for the Scorpions in NASL, and for the NCAA D-III Trinity Tigers. He started in just over a third of the host’s USL games last year, as well as all of their Open Cup ties. Cardone conceded 18 goals in that spell of league matches, including a Chris Cortez brace in September.
  • Viscosi moved to Texas from Finland in early 2019. He made 59 appearances for Turun Palloseura, but left following their relegation from the top flight. While he has never featured for a Texas-based team, he did briefly play in college at Rio Grande (apparently pronounced as Rye-oh Grand), Ohio.
  • San Antonio is also welcoming three players fresh out of college, but none of them are American.
  • Ghanaian defender Ebenezer Ackon was selected in the third round of the MLS SuperDraft, but went unsigned by the Chicago Fire.
  • English centre-back Johnny Fenwick came to High Point University with experience at Newcastle United and Sheffield Wednesday’s academies, and left with numerous awards to his name.
  • Zimbabwean midfielder Leeroy Maguraushe moved to the U.S. after five years of schooling in Milton Keynes, England. He scored 13 goals during his years at UNC Greensboro, and has also featured for the Sounders U-23 team.
  • Another fresh young face at the club is attacking midfielder Cristian Parano. The 19-year-old Argentinian signed after a successful trial with the club. He previously appeared for San Martín in the Argentine top flight.
  • As a contrast, the experienced Michael Lahoud also joins San Antonio’s midfield. His professional debut came in 2009 for now defunct MLS side Chivas USA, and he most recently featured for USL Regular Season champions FC Cincinnati.
  • Jack Barmby signed for the Texas club on a free in December. He previously failed to break through at Manchester United and Leicester, but has been playing for Portland since 2016. Barmby regularly featured for T2 during his time there, and scored six times for the USL team. He also contributed the assist in T2’s 1-0 win at Rising last October.  His father, Nick Barmby, played for various English sides such as Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool, before managing Hull City.
  • LA Galaxy striker Bradley Jamieson IV is a new option for San Antonio up front. The loanee previously featured in 44 regular season MLS games for his parent club, and another 57 for Los Dos. He didn’t score last year, after starting the season late due to a concussion.
  • While the team has lost one Restrepo, they’ve gained another. Winger Walter Restrepo returns to the Alamo City after featuring in the NASL Championship with the Scorpions. He’s recently been playing in Colombia for Deportes Tolima, and has dangerous pace on the flank
  • A more familiar winger for Rising is Billy Forbes. The Turks & Caicos captain failed to establish himself in Phoenix, recording only three goals and three assists for Rising. He netted 10 times during his previous spell in San Antonio, so will his return see Billy go back to being Billy?
  • 28-year-old Jahir Barraza will be looking to make a comeback this season. Across his career, he finds the net roughly once every four games in the top two Mexican divisions. Last season, he made only 12 appearances and didn’t score a single goal. He has joined San Antonio on a season-long loan from Atlas.
  • A more likely goal-scorer is the returning Ever Guzmán. The Mexican striker, who joined from Liga MX side Morelia late in the 2017 season, leads the club’s all time tally.  Guzmán played in both games against Rising last year, and gave his side a first half lead in the second of those matches.
  • Also returning is defensive midfielder Pecka, who enters his third season with San Antonio. He’s a confident player on the ball, as reflected in his passing statistics (86.3 percent completion). Pecka came through the youth ranks at Flamengo in Brazil before moving to the U.S. in 2011 to play for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
  • After impressing in 2018, academy product Ethan Bryant returns for this season. The 17-year-old attacking midfielder became the club’s youngest goalscorer last year, and also had three assists to his name.

From the Ashes Prediction: A fairly even early-season encounter between two teams looking for a playoff run. Score draw.