On Saturday night, Phoenix Rising took on Charleston Battery for the first time since beating them in last seasons championship match, witch was hosted n Charleston.
Although the final matchup last year was an exciting one, with Rising taking it 3-2 in penalties, the rematch tonight was a 0-0 draw.
Charleston is currently ranked 2nd in the eastern conference standings while Rising is 8th in the western standings. Charleston may be looking for vengeance after Rising beat them in front of a record setting sold out crowd of over 5,000 people at Patriots Point on November 13, 2023.
Saturday’s game kicked off at just above 100 degrees underneath a beautiful desert sunset. The first half was steady paced with a handful of miscommunications from Rising and even a few missed opportunities. In the 44th minute, midfielder Federico Varela would be just a couple steps behind a perfectly laid cross leaving players visibly frustrated to end the half.
At half, Rising led possession at 51% while Charleston was just behind with 49%. Rising totaled 4 corner kick opportunities while Battery had none.
Returning to the second half, Phoenix should have had a goal in the 51st minute when a ricochet off the goal post left Alejandro Fuenmayor in awkward positioning as he attempted to head the ball in and missed–but a simple tap with his foot would’ve scored it.
Head Coach Danny Stone spoke about that moment after the game saying, “It’s a moment in the game—that it is what it is, it happens, and yeah of course it’s a moment where we might win the game, but Ale (Alejandro) played well tonight, he was a good performer tonight and a moment like that happens sometimes,” said Stone.
In the 72nd minute, Erickson Gallardo would attempt a shot from just outside the box but it would steer wide.
In the 85th minute, an altercation erupted after Charleston’s goalkeeper Adam Grinwis and Rising defender Pape Mar Boye collided on a corner kick attempt. Mar Boye would go down and Grinwis proceeded to get in his face exchanging words before Mar Boye would push Grinwis out of his face.
After some last-minute back and forth attempts on goal by both teams, the official would blow the whistle and the rematch of the championship would end in a draw 0-0.
“I thought the performance was a very positive one, I thought the game was a good game, I think that what we actually saw there tonight was two good teams playing against each other and as far as the performance went I felt the game had good energy in it, I felt we as a team showed that we wanted to go and attack the game tonight, and wanted to go and win the game tonight,” said Stone after the game.
Rising will be back at 38th St/Washington on Friday July 19th at 8pm when they face El Paso Locomotive.
