After spending a month enjoying the comforts of home, Rising is finally hitting the road again to face LA Galaxy II today.
“Routines are actually a bit easier on the road to create,” Rising coach Rick Schantz said. “The routine of how we travel, when we eat, keeping them together to really keep them focused. The big thing for us this week is to take advantage of the fact that we’re playing on a Sunday, we have an extra day of rest. Now we have to prepare for a very good team.”
This is the second and final time that Rising will face LA Galaxy II this regular season. In their first meeting, Rising took a 3-1 victory after a first half brace from Luis Manuel Seijas. As Los Dos as a reserve team, though, it means that Rising can’t guarantee they’ll see the exact same side.
“I would say they will probably play kind of the same because they’ve only had two games in between the last time we played them,” Rising defender Channing Chasten said. “They’re up and down, could bring some guys from the first team down and things like that. We’ll have to see, analyze what their team sheet is but it’ll be kind of similar but it’ll be intense as well.”
“I know that the first team is out of town the night before, so I’m not sure what that means for them,” Schantz added. “I’m sure they’re flying back on charter, and there may be some first team guys that drop down and play in that game on Sunday. It doesn’t matter. We expect to play a very, very good team: a team that plays a very interesting style and with some rotations from the back four to the back three. If you’re not prepared for it, it doesn’t matter who the players are.”
In a change from usual clashes at LA Galaxy II, Rising will take the field inside Dignity Health Sports Park’s main stadium. Los Dos typically play in the complex’s track and field stadium instead.
“I know their field’s big as well, the guys have been talking about it,” Chasten said. “So to have us playing on a big field, I think we could do well, spread out the field and have our attackers really go at it.”
It’s not an environment with which Rising is unfamiliar. In 2020, games took place in that venue as well.
“Sometimes in the main stadium without fans, there’s really a lack of air movement,” Schantz said. “It doesn’t really move around a lot in there. The size of the field, the quality of the pitch. A team that really likes to play and knock it around can really benefit from playing in there.
“For us, it’s good because generally we’re fairly athletic and having a lot more room to run is good, but it also means you have to defend a lot more space. I think it’s going to be a challenge for us. We have to take into account all these different challenges.”
Whether the challenge will be more than that Rising faced in the track and field stadium remains to be seen. Last season, Rising lost one of its two trips to Carson, and won the other one thanks to a late own goal.
“Every team is good in this league,” Arturo Rodriguez said. “You can see from some teams last year, they were in the bottom and now they’re at the top. It’s pretty competitive.”
Now, on the road again, Rising has the opportunity to prove that its recent form isn’t just thanks to home comforts.
“This group we have this year has shown that they deal with adversity fairly well,” Schantz said. “They can handle change. They can handle adjustments. It doesn’t matter what players are on the field, they’re willing to fight until the very end. That bodes well when you travel.”
