RISING REBOOTS IN STYLE
Team returns with dominant victory over Galaxy II
When Phoenix Rising FC winger Junior Flemmings recorded the first goal, basket, run or touchdown by a Valley professional sports team in four months Saturday, no fans could be heard cheering.
It wasn’t the prettiest of shots. Flemmings didn’t kick the ball cleanly after being setup beautifully on the right wing by Solomon Asante, and the ball awkwardly bounced over the goal line into the back of the net. But it didn’t need to be pretty.
It was the notch on the scoresheet, the immediate celebration with teammates, the goal music blaring over the loudspeakers at Casino Arizona Field. No spectators were there to witness it — COVID-19 spoiled that moment — but it was the symbolism that mattered. Sports were back.
The ninth-minute strike was the first in another display of an attacking master class by Phoenix, which blitzed through Los Angeles Galaxy II 4-0 to mark a successful return to play for the first time since March 7.
“It’s just practice,” Flemmings said about the goal. “We keep working on it, as you can see, just to get better and better.”
Flemmings and Rising FC has done a lot of that lately: practice. But this weekend, that practice was finally put to good use, and Rising FC gave their fans watching from home a
show 121 days — the length of the pandemic-induced USL Championship shutdown — in the making.
Even with the long layoff, Rising FC didn’t look like they had missed a beat. Through exposing space at the wings, completing set piece chances and with a touch of brilliance from a star, it was a vintage quartet of goals from coach Rick Schantz’s men that propelled them to an opening win in Group B play.
Perhaps the scary part, then, is that Schantz thinks Phoenix can play even better.
“It took them a while to get going, I think. And that’s where I could see that we missed the energy of a crowd,” Schantz said, face mask on at the microphone. “We were OK. After we scored the goal, I think there was a period of time where we got a little bit lazy. Anytime you win is good, but we’ve got to give credit to LA, too. We turned it up at times ... organizationally we were OK, defensively we were OK, but we know we can be better.”
In dominating possession 64-36% for the first 45 minutes, Phoenix commanded control and used it to create chances. Flemmings’ goal came early, but he influenced another score 30 minutes later by creating contact in the 18-yard box and forcing a penalty. Midfielder Jon Bakero then buried the kick to double Rising FC’s lead.
Bakero opted to take the penalty over Asante, another prime option Phoenix has at its disposal to score spot kicks. The Spainard was thankful of Asante’s willingness to give him the moment; Bakero converted the chance with a cool bottom-left corner finish.
“I felt confident to take it and appreciated him for giving me the confidence and being able to help the team,” Bakero said. “We talk about it before the game, after the game and during the game. I had the confidence and had been feeling good, so I winded up taking it.”
Phoenix’s best goal was its third. As stoppage time ticked down before the halftime whistle, a Galaxy II defender poorly cleared a ball from his box into the path of defending USL MVP Asante. As he did 22 times in 2019, the Ghanaian beat an opposing goalkeeper, only this time he took a single touch and blasted a low driving effort from the half-volley to slot past Galaxy II goaltender Abraham Romero from about 25 yards out.
Asante then finished the job with a final right-footed strike via a cross from Santi Moar, making his debut, following a corner in the 81st minute. That sealed Phoenix’s second win in as many tries to start the 2020 season, in games four months apart.
Schantz came away impressed with the play of Moar. A 2019 All-League Second-Team nominee for New Mexico United last season, he adds yet another cog to the juggernaut that is Phoenix’s attack.
“When you have forwards like that on the front line, you can make up for a lot of mistakes,” Schantz said. “(Santi) is so dangerous. I know he’s a very good player, the hard part is I have Junior and Santi
both playing in the same position right now. We’ve thought about a lot of different combinations, but the reality is we’re going to get a lot of games in a short period of time, and we’ll need all of them.”
After the first 10 minutes of the second half where Rising FC defended deeper and allowed the young Los Angeles side more room to work with, Galaxy II had a few notable chances to make it on the scoresheet. Los Angeles forward Augustine Williams had a point-blank headed goal taken away due to being offside in the 48th minute, while winger Ivan Gutierrez hit the right post with an effort four minutes later.
That small spurt of momentum diminished as the half went along. Rising FC became more aggressive in pressuring the ball as time ticked by, maintaining their dominance with defensive discipline and organization.
Having more players at their disposal helped Rising FC, too, especially on a night when it was 110 degrees at kickoff. USL clubs this season, like most leagues restarting across the world, are allowed to make up to five substitutes per game over the usual three. Schantz used all five Saturday and played around with setups a bit as Phoenix pulled away, such as when he put sub Austin Ledbetter (a defender) at right wing for roughly 10 minutes.
“It was 3-0, so to be honest it was a plan at about 60 (minutes) we had talked about the midfield making a change because we expect our midfielders to run a lot,” Schantz said. “And then I was going to wait a little bit, but because of the score I thought it would be good to get the forwards, as well. So it was helpful, because no one got hurt.”
The scene in Scottsdale on Saturday night played as sort of a microcosm of events during the last few months in the United States. Phoenix players exited the tunnel for the national anthem wearing black “Rising Against Racism” T-shirts in response to the recent episodes across America of protests over racial injustice. As for the anthem itself, only a few Rising FC players kneeled for it compared to nearly all of Galaxy II, though all players kneeled in unison for a separate silent protest shortly after the anthem ended.