Since winning the USL Championship game last season, Phoenix Rising has said goodbye to 13 of those championship winning players, and the head coach of that roster Juan Guerra.
The team also lost head coach of the 2024 season, Danny Stone.
The positions that have suffered the most loss are the defense and the forwards.
The defensive side had lost 6 of the 13 players, while the forwards lost 4 of the 13.
The most recent key losses were Panos Armenakas when Rising transferred him to Memphis 901 FC and Erickson Gallardo when he was transferred to Liga FUTVE’s Carabobo FC.
In their 2023 season, Rising finished the season, including the playoffs and championship, with a record of 16 wins, 10 losses, and drew in 12 matches.
So far this season out of 22 matches, Rising has 6 wins, 8 losses, and has drawn in 8 matches.
Rising is currently holding the 9th seed in the Western Conference standings which leaves them out of the playoffs currently.
Despite this seasons struggles, last night’s game showed signs of hope for the franchise with new faces making several attempts on goal, creating better chances, and putting up a strong fight against the 3rd ranked Tampa Bay Rowdies in the Eastern Conference.
Head Coach Diego Gomez spoke to reporters after last night’s match about his team’s performance.
“I think the guys performed really well. We were playing against a really good opponent, but everybody playing on the field—it felt like a two-point loss, because we were the better team today in our opinion,” Gomez said.
Tomas Angel started last night in the striker position and his offensive teammates created great chances but were called offsides in what would have been a goal, and had their shots stopped by the Rowdies goalkeeper.
Gomez spoke on Angel’s performance.
“I feel like Tomas gave us a lot with his movements and he was the first one that was disappointed to not score a goal but I feel like he can score a lot for Phoenix Rising.” Gomez said.
As far as how Gomez thinks his team is meshing with all of the new additions to the roster,
“It takes a little time to adjust, it takes a little bit of time to yell between everybody, it’s going little by little, getting a good understanding to each other, they understand Tomas much better, Charlie also getting much better position, so I think it’s a process, they’re working really hard—all the players are working really hard,” Gomez said.
Gomez told Northeast Valley News if there was any specific new player fans should watch for and Gomez smiled and replied that all are making him happy and he’s impressed with all of them.
Rising has a week off but will be back at 38th St/Washington to play North Carolina FC on Saturday August 24 at 8pm.
