Phoenix Rising FC prospect thriving in his new home
Ansu Kanneh knows numbers.
Soccer is a numbers game, for one. With data crunched at hyperspeed from matches in regards to possession, tactics, attacking and countless other uses, getting the winning numbers down is critical to getting riches.
It’s the same with a lottery, as one call of the correct digits brightens outlooks and changes a life forever.
Those two worlds don’t often collide. But Kanneh, recent Phoenix Rising FC academy signing from Glendale, has a relationship that fits that description.
In fact, a lottery is the reason why he and his family are in the Valley in the first place. Thanks to a process known colloquially
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the as the “green card lottery,” Kanneh and his family found their way from Africa to the United States several years ago just by total luck.
Kanneh’s signing on July 14 made him both the youngest player in Rising FC history and the second-youngest player in USL Championship history (14 years, eight months and 13 days), so it’s safe to say the numbers game has gone well for him in his young life.
“I know I’m still young, and like I got a lot to learn,” Kanneh said. “At the same time I know I’ve got to cut up as quick as I can. So I just try to stay calm (but) at the same time pushing.” From birth to age of 10, Ansu lived with his family in Monrovia, the capital and largest city in the small West African nation of Liberia.
Playing soccer all his life, Kanneh eventually found his way to the Elite International Soccer Academy, which was a useful beginning — he often worked with professional players at the academy — for quality local talent like himself.
However, due to scarce resources, reaching the sport’s elite heights became difficult from there, he said. With one notable exception — 1995 Ballon D’Or winner George Weah — Liberia isn’t known as a soccer powerhouse. It currently ranks 152nd in the FIFA World Rankings.
“For the soccer aspect, I was doing pretty good over there, but it’s just like you don’t really have much opportunities over there to take you to the highest level,” Kanneh said. “Living here is pretty cool, but you miss family and friends back home.”
The reason he’s away from home happened in 2016. That year, Ansu’s mother became one of the approximately 50,000 immigrants selected yearly for the Department of State’s Diversity Visa (DV) program, which aims to diversify immigrant population by granting visas to those in countries with low rates of immigration to America the past five years.
Ansu’s stepfather was already living and working in the U.S., satisfying the program’s requirement for winners to have an initial figure upon arrival around as they adjust to a new home. An interview, paperwork and a plane ticket later, the Kannehs were bound for Glendale.
Entering into the pool of applicants isn’t really unlike buying a lottery ticket, Kanneh said. People just shoot for the moon and if they win, they win.
“People just kind of play it, it don’t matter,” Kanneh said. “It’s kind of like a lucky ticket — some people get it, some people don’t. People just play it one at a time and check the result. If you make it through, then it’s pretty cool, and you can just support yourself to come here.”
As for how his soccer journey is going, Ansu has found some of the opportunity here that he lacked back home.
An excellent student, he’s entering his junior year of high school this fall after having completed advanced schooling in Liberia. Kanneh is pretty advanced amongst his peers in soccer, too. He scored 32 goals for North High’s junior varsity squad as a 12 year-old freshman. A year later, on varsity, he scored 15 times.
Rising FC coach Rick Schantz first noticed Kanneh’s talent during a scrimmage of local youth at Casino Arizona Field a couple of months ago with the USL in COVID-19 shutdown mode. The pairings mainly consisted of players nearing college age, with some forwards impressing with the occasional goal. Kanneh, the 14 year-old maverick of the group, scored five times on his first day.
“We had a bunch of 17, 18, 19-year-olds, and this 14-year-old on the field,” Schantz said. “And about seven minutes into the scrimmage, I said, ‘Who’s that one?’ and they were laughing, they said he’s the 14year-old. Lightning quick, extremely athletic. What an amazing kid. Very humble, very respectful. You can tell when you start talking to him he’s learning, he’s picking it up fast. We expect him to be a big, big investment in our future.”
As an academy signing, Kanneh protects his amateur status but still remains able to train and play with the first team at Rising FC, where he practices with elite wingers daily like Solomon Asante and Junior Flemmings.
Kanneh can play anywhere along the front three, and he’s modeled his style as such. His favorite player is Paris SaintGermain star Neymar, but he admires the games of world class number nines like Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez, as well. Eligible to play for both Liberia and the U.S., Kanneh hopes to play at youth level for the U.S. but isn’t sure if he’ll play for Liberia if given the chance.
For now, a bright career in soccer is still just beginning. A chance is sometimes all someone needs — even if it comes down to chance itself. “I’m there not just to learn, but always like (to) kind of make an effort to be part of the starting 18,” Kanneh said. “Asante, he’s like always talking to me and trying to make me be on the right path. It’s pretty cool, but I’m just like learning so much from them.”