Phoenix Rising hosts Roots, looking for first win of year
Phoenix Rising FC, which won the USL Championship league title last fall, is off to an underwhelming 0-2 start to open the 2024 season after losses to Birmingham Legion FC at home and Monterey Bay FC on the road.
The team lost 1-0 in both matchups, getting outplayed by Monterey Bay but unable to figure out Birmingham despite applying consistent pressure. Rising FC now has to push its struggles aside and look ahead to the next game against the Oakland Roots SC on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Phoenix Rising Stadium.
“We’ll continue to work at this,” Rising FC head coach Danny Stone said of the team’s struggles after its loss to Monterey Bay last week. “This is not specific to certain players, it’s team collective. For the fans, I ask that they trust the process.”
Phoenix entered the season with a new-look roster and staff. The team is now without 16 players that brought the team to Charlotte for the championship last fall, and after former coach Juan Guerra left for a job with the MLS Houston Dynamo, the team promoted Stone to lead Rising FC.
Stone was well-established within the organization, serving as an assistant coach for the past two seasons and attending high school at Tempe Corona del Sol. The team’s two highest scorers last season, Daniel Trejo and Manuel Arteaga, left the Rising for other ventures, leaving Dariusz Formella as the leading returner on offense.
For Oakland, which missed out on the postseason in 2023 for the first time since joining USL Championship in 2021, its 2024 campaign has begun with a win against Indy Eleven and a tie against Charleston Battery.
The Roots saw some key defensive pieces depart, as Danny Barbir and Emrah Klimenta joined new teams. In response, the Roots added center back Gagi Margvelashvili, Niall Logue and Camden Riley.
The team also added forward MicheNaider Chery, who led Violette FC to a Concacaf Champions League upset of Austin FC in 2023.
Stone is confident Phoenix will turn things around in a season that stretches into October.
“The moments that we want to give to the fans, of course, is the next piece of that,” Stone said after the Birmingham game. “And we’re desperate to do that, believe it, we’re desperate to do that. I felt the energy in the stadium was very, very good tonight. And the message I would give to them is, don’t lose that.”