Phoenix Rising is prepared to eject fans as part of its “extremely strict” enforcement of new COVID-19 rules, according to the team’s general manager.

Up to 1,000 season ticket holders will be allowed to attend Friday’s game against Las Vegas Lights, but they will be faced with new measures to ensure mask wearing and social distancing.

“We’re going to enforce it,” Rising GM Bobby Dulle said in a press conference on Tuesday. “If we see that it’s someone just being blatantly disrespectful, there’s just no room for it. And we’ll just ask them to leave the venue and not return. We have to follow through, and that’s important.”

Dulle added that fans’ attitudes won’t simply have an impact on their own ability to attend games.  They will also affect the club’s re-opening as a whole.

“It’s really important that our fans adhere to it so that we can continue to host fans through the rest of the regular season,” he said, adding that if fans comply with rules, and local COVID-19 cases continue to decline, the team may expand capacity at a later date.

Fans will be asked to wear masks at all times, including in their seats. Additional measures in place include assigned, distanced seating, the removal of communal areas, and a ban on all bags being brought into the stadium.

Dulle confirmed that Friday’s game will not be designated as a dollar beer night, although alcohol will still be sold by the club to fans.

“We certainly will still have the ability for fans to purchase food and drink, but we’re just not going to do it in the format of reaching into a trough with ice and water and your cans of beer, and passing that out,” he said. “We just didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do.”

The changes will be felt across the stadium, but nowhere less than the South End. While he confirmed that drums will be allowed into the stadium, Rising’s GM emphasized that the changes will still apply for the two supporters groups.

“It’s going to be a little bit different,” Dulle said. “For them, it’s important that they continue to adhere to the rules. They’re not above that. They’re not beyond that. We’ll work with them. We’ll be having some conversations with them this week just to see what we can do managing expectations.”

Dulle said that the team will continue to assess the situation around returning to play on a day-by-day basis, and is not afraid to make changes.

“If we see numbers increase in the state, in Maricopa County, in Tempe, in Scottsdale, we’ll certainly […] pivot and go back,” he said.

VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT

Rising coach Rick Schantz earlier spoke of his excitement to see fans back at Casino Arizona Field.

“I talked to the players about how that announcement impacts our community, how it’s a really positive thing, I think, for the soccer fans in our community,” he said. “Being the first pro sport in Arizona to have fans, it’s something to be proud of.”

Schantz told reporters that he’d been encouraged by Tim Riester, one of Rising’s co-owners, to use the return of fans as a motivator for players ahead of the team’s away match in Las Vegas. He did, using it as part of his pre-game speech.

Now, with the return of fans just a few days away, Schantz is looking to them to provide an added lift that the team has missed since the restart.

“You’re missing out on 8,000 people encouraging you to fight to do well, so we have to pick it up for one another,” he said, adding that the quiet of the stadiums required his players and coaches to focus on positive encouragement from the sideline.

“I think getting the fans back now, they can help me a little bit with that,” Schantz chuckled.

ON THE FIELD

For just a moment last Saturday, Schantz doubted if his side would come away with the victory.

“When that defender slid and saved the one off the line from Junior, I just thought to myself ‘oh my gosh, they’re going to get one lucky break and tie this game 1-1’,” he said. “As soon as that thought came into my head, I just said, ‘no, we have to keep going and keep fighting and show discipline.'”

There was no goal from Vegas, and Rufat Dadashov instead sealed victory with one of his own in stoppage time. For Schantz, that victory was worth more than just the three points.

“It was massive, because it’s been a long time since Phoenix Rising has had a victory like that,” he said. “We had to really grind it out. I think in the past, in a game like that, we would have scored a couple of those extra goals around the 55th, 60th minute, and that might have been a 4-0 win. But the fact that we didn’t, and we still kept them off the board and we didn’t show frustration. We just kept working through it.

“I told the guys right away in the locker room: those are the kind of wins that championship teams need. When it’s difficult: it was hot; it was humid; the field wasn’t great; you had a highly motivated opponent. Everything’s going against you, and you’ve got a 2-0.”

Some changes to the back line contributed to Rising’s clean sheet, with Corey Whelan moving out wide to allow Joey Farrell to slot in next to A.J. Cochran at centre-back.

“We went into that match with the idea ‘let’s put the biggest back four and Kevon Lambert […] on the field, and try to take away their attack,'” Schantz said. “If we could discount their attack, then we knew it was just a matter of time before we got a goal.”

Don’t bet on that being the settled back four though – with Rising’s lineup likely to be chosen more by the opponent and performances in training.

“I think that’s the one area where we can look at our opponents and I feel good with the adjustments that we’ve made,” Schantz said, pointing out that while such a tactic could also work well against Orange County, a matchup against LA Galaxy II would likely require a smaller, quicker back four.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE

• Owusu-Ansah Kontoh is back in full training after his injury, and will be available for selection on Friday night.
• Schantz played up the achievements of Lights coach Frank Yallop over recent months. “I think they’ve got good players, but what he’s done for that club and that franchise in just a short period of time is pretty impressive. I told Frank I knew that as soon as he got the job, oh man, look out, because he’s going to get them together. He’s going to get them motivated.”
• Lights’ Thomas Olsen is just one of the many former FC Tucson players currently plying their trade in USL. What does that say about the project that Schantz and others built in southern Arizona, and how does it benefit his team now? Check out the full response below: