After a week off so early in the season, Rising returns to Phoenix to open their new stadium to fans with an expected 10,000 fan sellout. Rising also welcomes San Diego for their second, and last, meeting of the regular season.
Coming into this week, Rising (0-1-1 1 point) wants to get their first three points of the season with San Diego (2-1-0 6 points). Risings last outing was in San Diego where the Loyal got the best of them 3-0. San Diego saw goals from Conway (44th), Damus (74th), and Bodily (90th) where Collier assisted in both the Damus and Bodily goals. Rising saw 67% of the possession with 16 shots, 3 of which were on goal. Rising tripled the amount of shots they took from week 1 against Charleston and saw an increase in their possession and pass accuracy. Whole everythjng approved on the stat sheet, the only thing which mattered at the end of the night was the scoreboard.
Prior to the game this week Head Coach Juan Guerra spoke on the podcast "The Fan Experience" and mentioned the following regarding his tactics of possession and building out of the back:
That's just our identity… Versus San Diego we were able to keep almost 70% of the possession in San Diego's field and that lead to creating 16 shots. Out of 16 shots, 9 were inside the box and we have to get better at shooting more on target and making it more difficult for the oppositions goalkeeper to make saves. Last game I was not happy with the result, but I was happy with the performance.
Juan was also questioned about tactics during a media availability on 3/31 where the stadium was unveiled to media. Juan mostly talked regarding preparation for San Diego and stated he was surprised to see the Loyal play against Sacramento with different tactics after a 3-0 win against Phoenix. He made note usually teams will not make any major changes after a convincing victory. Juan continued to make comments regarding the Rising's "Identity" and how he plans on continuing to play the same fashion of soccer.
In the same media availability, co-captain Kevon Lambert was asked if Juan had any different message to the team regarding this week after the loss to San Diego and Lambert stated:
The message has always been the same since day one. We've set out our path, goals and what we want to achieve. It's not going to change no matter if we're doing good or doing bad. The message is always going to be the same.
Club president Bobby Dulle was also available for comment and stated he had high aspirations for the team this year and his goals have not changed and he remains determined to bring the league championship back to Arizona. A question was asked regarding the expected 10,000 fan sellout crowd for the game tomorrow (which would be a club record attendance) and if the club continues to sellout if there was a capability to expand the stadium for more seats. Bobby responded with:
The beauty about this facility is we have the ability to expand... if we can keep it up throughout the season I think there will be opportunities to keep growing.
Expectations are high for Phoenix tomorrow as they open the new stadium which has the ability to keep the team here for 10 years. The team has made major strides for fan experience including allowing tailgating, a new partnership with light rail, dollar beer night and who knows what else in store. April 1st will be a night to remember and hopefully the first of many great memories to be made.
Kickoff is set for 7:30PM Arizona time.
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