Rising returns home after a disappointing performance in El Paso where yet again they received 0 points. Rising also displayed a similar performance which showed low energy and lackluster performances.
First, let’s recap the game from Saturday where Rising lost their 12th game of the year. I have been wanting to do a little comparing from Juan to Rick but clearly that would not be fair as Juan has only had one week and a game. But with that being said I want to throw the stat out there that El Paso had 7 shots on target on Saturday, that is the same number of shots on target Rising has had in their last 3 games combined. Let that sink in for a second. It took 3 games for Rising to have the same amount of shots on target that El Paso had on us in one game. This is also the most shots on target by an opposing team since we played Oakland on 7/27. Rising lost in almost every statistic on Saturday, the only ones they were “better” in was shots and corners. Juan came to the team stating he wanted to change the way Rising plays and wanted to control possession. Juan elected to play a few players out of position and played with only three players in the back. The breakdown came in the 28th minute and it was only downhill from there as Rising watched the ball go into the net two more times in the 45th and 61st minute. The only bright note, Ryan Flood finally scored a goal after trying all season long as a defender and always soaring the ball over the crossbar or playing the ball out of bounds. This goal for Flood was his first one for the season.
RGV comes into this game 8-11-6 in 10th place just 1 spot, and 1 point in-front of Rising. RGV is 1-1-3 in their last 5 games and through the season 4-5-4 in away games. RGV have 4 players tied as their leading goal scorers, Lopez/Fjeldberg/Coronado/Ycaza all have 4 goals on the year. Leading the way in assists is Martinez with 6 and he also has the most chances created with 39. So look for Martinez to be the man that RGV will be looking for as it seems all of their success has been coming through him. Shut down Martinez, and maybe Rising can end up with 3 points tonight.
It will be interesting to see if Juan makes any changes to his lineup tonight or if it stays relatively the same. It will also be interesting to see if Juan comes out in the same formation that completely failed on Saturday.
I’ll end on this note. Anything less than 3 points for this game will be deemed a failure. Every game is a must win for Rising if they want a chance of getting the last spot in the playoffs. Another draw, or worse a loss, may seal the deal for an end to the Phoenix 2022 season.
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