Rising hosts El Paso in Western final
Phoenix Rising FC is one step away from making it to the USL Championship Final, and will get that chance in its final home game of the season Saturday night.
The club will host El Paso Locomotive FC in the USL Championship Western Conference Final at 7:30 p.m., at Casino Arizona Field. The winner will meet either Louisville City FC or the Tampa Bay Rowdies, which will play earlier Saturday in the Eastern Conference Final in Louisville.
Rising FC already knows it will not host the final if it can get past El Paso. That's because the club voluntarily relinquished home field advantage for the USL Championship Final earlier this week. It also reinstated head coach Rick Schantz for the remainder of the season, after assistant coach Blair Gavin went 3-0 as interim manager, navigating the club to the Western Conference Final.
The club opted to give up home field in a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, after an incident in the final regular season game against San Diego Loyal, in which Rising forward Junior Flemmings was accused of making a homophobic slur at Loyal's Collin Martin, who is openly gay.
Loyal players and coaches walked off the field in protest, forfeiting the game. The points allotted
Phoenix for the forfeit resulted in it securing home-field over either Louisville or Tampa Bay if Rising FC can advance to the title game.
Instead, the club will travel if it wins Saturday.
A subsequent investigation resulted in Flemmings' suspension for the rest of the season. Schantz was placed on administrative leave, for comments he made that appeared to be insensitive to the situation, but was allowed to return last week.
Schantz, who has since apologized and pledged to work for the LGBTQ+ community, is set for his return to the pitch against El Paso. He credited Gavin's work while he was out.
"He (Gavin) was fantastic," Schantz said.
"When you're in this position the one thing I said to Blair is, 'It has to be you. You have to do what Blair Gavin would do.' Because if you're pretending to be someone else the players will know right away. Blair is extremely intelligent, extremely analytical, knows the game very well and played at a high level. The players respect him for that."
Phoenix defeated El Paso 3-1 when the teams met on Aug. 1 at Casino Arizona Field. Rising FC won despite being outshot 23-8. The three goals accounted for 21 percent of all goals El Paso allowed during the regular season.
“(El Paso coach) Mark Lowery is one of the best coaches in the league,” Schantz said.
"They have experienced players. They’re going to be a tough team to beat. Last time they were here they showed they can play extremely well against us. We got a few opportunities that game and took advantage, but I said it then, I knew we would see them again in the playoffs.”
Both clubs' goalkeepers, Phoenix's Zac Lubin and El Paso' Logan Ketterer, are tied for eighth in the USL Championship in saves with 41.
“I was so proud of Zac,” Schantz said. “He made a big mistake against Reno but he shrugged it off and kept going. He ended up making three of four massive saves on breakaways and then was the hero in the shootout.”
Phoenix and El Paso both are coming off back-to-back 120-minute games, including a Rising FC's win over Reno on penalty kicks.
“The grit and determination of this team far outweighs our ability to play pretty, attacking football in 2019,” said Schantz. “This is the playoffs. We have to be mature and humble and recognize we’re playing very, very good teams. This is what you need to do to win championships. It doesn’t have to be pretty.”
The match will be shown on CW61, ESPN 620 AM and ESPN+.