July 3, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Phoenix Rising FC News Release
Phoenix Rising FC (5-6-6) is back on the road this Saturday, July 6, traveling to San Antonio. The match will be broadcast live on Arizona’s Family Sports beginning at 6:00 p.m. local time.
It has been an eventful week for Rising, as the club parted ways with its head coach over the weekend and named assistant coach Diego Gomez interim head coach. Gomez has experience in coaching roles in different leagues, but this will be his first opportunity to lead a team in the USL Championship.
“I’m very thankful to Danny [Stone] for the opportunity, the way he behaved with me, for the confidence, and for how he was with me,” said Gomez. “Now, as a group, all of the players and the staff are looking to be competitive, to rise in the standings, and to raise our level of play. I see a group that is hungry, and I’m personally hungry – I want to win Saturday, and I want to do well for this club, the staff, and this group of players.”
Rising has struggled to pick up meaningful points in its last ten games, with a 3-2-5 record. Its difficulties have largely been on the offensive side of the ball, while its defense has been relatively staunch, recording five shutouts so far this season, averaging 1.06 goals for and 1.24 goals against in 2024.
San Antonio has had similar struggles on a much larger scale to start the season and is currently on a five-game losing streak, during which it has conceded 10 goals. All this after starting the season 4-3-5.
“San Antonio is not in good form right now, but we know the capacity of the team,” said Gomez. “It’s a team that historically has been one of the top teams in the league, and it’s a stadium that is very difficult to go and get points. It’s a team that is going to be tough, will make the game hard, that’s going to press you and win duels, but we feel confident that we can come out with our tools and go and get three points.”
San Antonio (4-8-5) currently sits second to bottom in the Western Conference standings, 14 points out of first place. They matched up against the Western Conference leaders last weekend and nearly stole a point in a 2-3 result that saw forward Juan Agudelo tally a brace with goals in the 34th and 37th minute. Up 2-1 and up a man, San Antonio saw its lead disappear with New Mexico scoring just before half and converting a penalty kick early in the second half to collect all three points.
Rising will take a quick week…