The nerves of the opening game of the season are behind us as we enter week 2 of the season and our second away game this year. Rising (0-0-1) goes to San Diego (1-0-0) this week for a rivalry matchup at the beginning of the year. Before looking at this week let's take a little dive into our stats from last week.
Last week Rising controlled 54% of the possession, even with a high defensive press from Charleston which lead to mistakes and turnovers in our defensive third. With those turnovers Charleston registered 17 shots, 7 of which were on target (41%). The loan goal from Charleston came in the 60th minute by an unassisted goal by Booth. Up to this point rising's performance was less than impressive and was lackluster leading many to believe our performance was no different, maybe even worse, compared to last year. But after the goal, Rising appeared to be more willing to compete. In the 74th minute Danny Trejo equalized thanks to an assist from Gabi Torres. In total Rising had 5 shots and 3 of those being on target (60%). Regarding last weeks performance head coach Juan Guerra said:
"Last week was not perfect. We want to control the game and then create. That being said, a point on the road in the East is big. We had 12 new players out there. Charleston's high press is intense. We have injuries and personal issues we're battling as well. After four or five matches, we'll be more consistent."
Looking over at San Diego, the only goal of the game was in the 42nd minute by the young center back Kasanzu. San Diego had possession in their game 55% compared to Detroit 45%. The Loyal registered 14 shots with 4 on goal (28%) and Detroit registered 16 shots, 2 on target (12%). Looking forward to this game Juan said:
“I saw a different defensive phase from San Diego, at least in how they approached the first game of the season. They were defending deeper and were a bit more organized. They didn’t leave a lot of space in between the lines. The gaps between their players are very small. Detroit did sill find some ways to create chances and cause some problems, especially in the second half, but I liked how they defended. They were more organized than last year.”
Coming into the second game of the season Rising needs to be able to attack much better than they did last week. Especially against a team with such a strong defense according to Juan. Phoenix looks to build out of the back with a slow, possession type of game play. It will be interesting to see how both teams come out for week two and what kind of tweaks they look to make to establish more of this year.
Game starts at 3PM and can be seen on AZ3TV or ESPN+.
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