A protest by Phoenix Rising‘s main supporters group overshadowed the club’s win over Colorado Springs Switchbacks in front of a sparse midweek crowd.

Fans from Los Bandidos remained silent for the first half of play, while raising banners calling for club president Bobby Dulle and sporting director Brandon McCarthy to leave their roles.

On the field, goals from Ihsan Sacko and Gunnar Studenhofft combined with an own goal forced by Jean-Eric Morsou to give Phoenix Rising the three points, lifting the club to potentially just a single result swing away from a playoff place.

Los Bandidos go quiet in protest

It was a first half at Phoenix Rising’s stadium, but not the kind you’re used to seeing — or perhaps, used to hearing.

During the first 45 minutes of play, Rising supporters group Los Bandidos remained silent, opting against their usual chants and drums. They also lifted banners that had previously been displayed in 2024 calling for club president Bobby Dulle and sporting director Brandon McCarthy to go, with both depicted with red noses and jester hats.

In a statement posted to social media before the game, Los Bandidos highlighted multiple reasons for the action, including a recent incident in which midfielder Hope Avayevu blasted a dead ball in frustration into the South End, hitting a supporter. They also took aim at the club’s front office and ownership.

“Our culture and the standard that we have established are not yours to neglect,” the statement read. “Win or lose, we will no longer accept the inaction and silence of ownership as the club crumbles on and off the pitch. Our stadium is a sad reflection of our club today. Everything is falling apart.”

The result was an eery quiet across the stadium throughout much of the first half, which wasn’t helped by the sparse crowd in attendance throughout the remainder of the stadium. Los Bandidos ultimately restarted chanting in the second half of play.

Asked about the protest after the match, Phoenix Rising coach Pa-Modou Kah emphasized the need for togetherness.

“Let’s stay together as a club,” Kah said. “Obviously we all want to go in one direction, which is Phoenix Rising. We are all doing our best job to put our club in the best possible way. I think the more you are united as a group, and the more you work together as a group, good times are going to come ahead.”

Tate Schmitt makes his return

There have been some familiar faces making their return at Phoenix Rising after lengthy spells on the touchline with injury. Among them, Damian Rivera made his return to play on Wednesday night after missing close to two months.

But there was also a return after five years of absence from the Valley.

Tate Schmitt was announced as the latest Phoenix Rising addition on gameday morning, signing to a 25-day contract with the club.

A Phoenix native, Schmitt previously suited up for the team on loan from Real Salt Lake in 2021. He was most recently with MLS side Nashville SC, making just three appearances for the club in 2025. Schmitt was unattached through 2026 prior to Rising picking him up.

“You talk about somebody who knows this league, somebody who has played higher up, somebody with the experience, local boy,” Kah said. “Bringing that into the group, I think, was a great signing for us in terms of what we need.”

Schmitt entered the match in the 77th minute, making his first appearance in this spell for the club.

Phoenix Rising finds three points, moves to three back from playoffs

After a rough few weeks for Phoenix Rising, the club finally found a way to get itself over the line for a win.

“I think it was a well deserved victory,” Kah said. “Obviously you don’t want to give away a goal, and you give away a goal at the end of the first half, but I think we took our chances and I think today was a hard fought victory and sometimes that’s what you need to kickstart your playoff race.”

Ihsan Sacko gave the hosts their lead from a decent shot in the box in the first half, before his effort was cancelled out by Adrien Perez in a late scramble before the half-time whistle.

As the clock ticked into the last 20 minutes, Rising regained their lead, with a Jean-Eric Morsou cross turned into the Switchbacks net by Colorado Springs captain Matt Mahoney.

Then, in stoppage time, substitute Gunnar Studenhofft sealed the three points after rounding Christian Herrera to tap in from close range.

According to Sacko, the team took lessons from their struggles in recent weeks into this match.

“We did a lot of video,” he said. “We saw our body language, and I think tonight, we rectified that. It’s a good thing for us, because we know when we are together, we can do it.”

Owain’s take

It may not have been pretty, but we’re not at the point of the season where pretty means anything.

Sitting outside of the playoff places as we enter the final stretch, points are the only thing that matters on the field. On Wednesday night, Phoenix Rising took all three.

In all honesty, Rising did not dominate Colorado Springs in the match. If you break down the expected goals (xG) figures, the visitors actually recorded a greater total, albeit that doesn’t account for the own goal that gave Rising a second half lead.

That being said, Switchbacks were wasteful in front of goal, and very rarely forced Patrick Rakovsky to do a whole lot of anything. By contrast, Rising had fewer shots, but more than twice as many were on target. That says something, given that just a week and a half ago, Phoenix couldn’t even muster a single effort on target against Lexington.

It may not have been a perfect display against Colorado Springs, but it was still a better display. It was one that showed fight, and that fight was enough to push Phoenix Rising over the line in a midweek clash. It still may not be enough — this club has ground to make up and remains three points below the playoff line — but it’s the kind of result that this team needs to make a legitimate push at the playoffs as the year draws to its close in late October.

I wish I could end things there. I really do. And yet once again, the bigger picture off the field is overshadowing any progress, big or small, that is made on the field.

I wish that it wasn’t, but it is, and we cannot choose to simply ignore it.

Officially, the attendance at 38th & Washington was 3,504. That is the industry standard description of the number of tickets distributed, and not a reflection of the actual crowd in the stands. If you were to tell me that anything approaching 3,500 fans were actually present to see Rising’s match against Colorado Springs, I’d presume you’d also express your belief in Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny.

Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was a Wednesday night. But to listen to those excuses is to ignore the fact that, in years past, all of those have applied, and yet the club continues to slide deeper and deeper into irrelevance even with those caveats. It also ignores the fact that this decline is far from unique to midweek matches on school nights, and that the club’s crowds in general have collapsed all season long.

That collapse in attendance only makes the voice of the main supporters group, Los Bandidos, even more important. Gone are the days that the club brass could somewhat shrug their shoulders and dismiss them as just a small segment of the fanbase, because the rest of the fanbase is simply hemorrhaging numbers.

Many of their concerns are shared by those outside of the supporters group as well, though. It doesn’t take much effort on social media to stumble upon them: people who otherwise focus on being positive and talking about how they love certain players will in the same breath express that they’re not too sure about Bobby Dulle or Brandon McCarthy, the two who usually draw the most ire from supporters. In the last match, I saw two fans sitting in the North End, usually a calmer spot filled with families, sporting t-shirts that read “Dulle out” on one side, and “McCarthy out” on the other.

We’ve reached the sad point where one of the most common questions I get in interactions with fans is how much longer I think this club will exist. It’s not really a question of if this club has a future, but more how long of a future it has. They’ve resigned themselves to the fact that Phoenix Rising, given how it’s being run and amid the backdrop of general instability that always plagues USL clubs, will at some point in the near future cease to play.

When you consider that, in addition to the protests at the match this week and general disillusionment around the club on a day-to-day basis, it is beyond clear that the fanbase of Phoenix Rising no longer has confidence in the leadership of this club to take it forward.

This isn’t a minority opinion any more, espoused by a few on social media and ignored by many who just want to enjoy the football and not rock the boat. I am thoroughly convinced that the vast majority of fans who actually know who Dulle and McCarthy are, and the roles they play at the club, want them gone. There are of course those who aren’t still familiar with them, but with each passing game, it becomes clearer that this club no longer reaches those people and they continue to dwindle in number. If they’re even aware of the club any more, they’re voting with their feet.

The hardcore fans are dwindling, too, though. It’s sad to hear people who I’ve known coming to watch this club for years and years say that they may not renew their tickets for next season. This club was something that was once fun to those people, and an escape from the grind of everyday life. It isn’t any more.

It is worth adding that while Dulle and McCarthy bear the brunt of the blame from the fanbase for everything going wrong, that the club’s general decline has also coincided with the increased importance of Pablo Prichard, who is now the club’s principal owner. Prichard plies his trade as a plastic surgeon in Scottsdale and made appearances at the club in his early years of involvement, including stepping out of a helicopter on the pitch to address the crowd in one game. He seems to have sunk into the background in recent times. His influence hasn’t, though, and a familiar face to fans in Bill Kraus — who has been part of the ownership group since the rebrand — no longer serves as the club’s governor.

Ultimately, it’s going to be on Prichard to decide if continuing to burn money forever in the act of running Phoenix Rising Football Club is worth it. Nothing I’ve seen from the team’s leadership at present suggests that they have even the slightest idea as to how to turn that around and prevent the annual bonfire of cash from growing even greater.

I could go on forever about the state of this club, and many of you who have bumped into me from time to time at games probably have been subjected to that talk that could go on and on and on. But I need to draw this to a close, and I’ll do it with this.

It may not be in keeping with the normalities of American sports, but it’s often said about football clubs that the players, coaches, staff and owners are merely its custodians, and that its the fans that the club truly belongs to. The former groups will come and go, some staying for a long time, and some only for a short time. The latter — the fans of the team — were here before any individual’s stay at the club began, and will remain here long after.

We’ve seen what happens at clubs within USL that fail to actually let their fanbase feel like they have some ownership over their clubs, and it isn’t pretty. Just take a look at Las Vegas Lights, and you’ll still see the permanent damage caused by the Lashbrook years. Knowing better when the results show that you really don’t know better doesn’t help, and nor does ignoring your diehard fanbase when it’s quite clear what they want. All it ultimately does is turn your club into a form of irrelevant circus with no apparent exit.

There are some within the club who understand that relationship with the fans and respect it. There are others who I fear will never truly understand that dynamic, despite whatever lip service they may pay to it. At the end of the day, they would see this club turn into that circus, ignorant to the fact that it will be the downfall for themselves and for Phoenix Rising.

But hey, if the clown shoes fit…

Or in this case, perhaps a jester’s hat and red nose may be more appropriate.