Phoenix Rising drops Jägermeister Cup opener to San Antonio

Phoenix Rising‘s winless run at home continued thanks to a 1-0 loss at home to San Antonio in the Jägermeister Cup. Juan Agudelo’s strike would prove to be the difference in the match, as well as the game’s only shot on target from either side.

Jägermeister Cup sees changes to lineup

Rising coach Pa-Modou Kah previously pushed back on the idea that he would prioritize certain competitions over others, but availability issues prevented him from putting out his strongest squad in the Jägermeister Cup.

The continued issues at center-back — exacerbated by Mo Traore‘s very recent return as he sought permanent residence, and Casey Walls’ surprise retirement from football — saw Carl Sainté line up on the back line instead of his usual position in defensive midfield. A bout of illness for Jearl Margaritha saw him start the night on the bench, with Hope Avayevu moving to the wing in his place and Jamison Ping coming into the midfield.

“I was looking for him to create from the wing which I know he’s already done because we’ve had him play there,” Kah said of Avayevu.

While Rising defensively held mostly solid despite the changes, Rising’s change to the front-line did cause some imbalances. Avayevu’s tendency to drift inwards towards play led to an attack that was heavily focused on the right wing.

In fact, over 90 minutes of play, Phoenix only touched the ball four times on the left-wing side of the goalpost within the last 18 yards of the field. Two of those touches came close to being in line with the goalpost.

Attacking woes

For the first time since Rising’s season opener, the team failed to find the back of the net.

Worse yet, Rising didn’t record a single shot on target.

When asked what factors went into the team’s failure to put a shot on goal, Pa-Modou Kah replied “If I knew, we would have scored, no? That’s football sometimes.”

Rising’s attacking woes were far more pronounced in the second half than the first. Before the break, play was in the San Antonio third 27 percent of the time, but that fell to less than 20 percent in the second half. Similarly, all but one of Rising’s seven off target shots came before the interval.

After the match, Pa-Modou Kah turned his ire on the officials, with particular focus on one decision in the first half.

“I think one moment that could maybe have changed the game was the offside call in the first half,” Kah said. “I mean, the guy was through, and the linesman was behind the play.”

Pape goes down

For almost the entirety of the season to date, Phoenix Rising’s center-back depth has been a huge challenge. Against San Antonio, the team suffered yet another blow.

Club captain Pape Mar Boye exited the match late in the first half due to injury, after previously seeking treatment earlier in the game. Boye has been one of the most relied-upon players in Rising’s squad, playing every minute save for those missed due to his red card against Monterey Bay.

Pa-Modou Kah brought on Harvey Neville in his place, and switched Collin Smith into the center-back position. Alex Araneda was available on the bench, however Kah later said that he would not have been able to see out the match for the length of time required due to his own recovery from injury.

It is unclear for now how long Boye will miss due to injury, or what specific injury he has suffered.

Owain’s take

Phoenix Rising fans have been waiting since September 2024 to see their team finally win a home game. After three straight weekends at home in which the club picked up only a solitary draw, they’re going to have to wait until at least May for one.

It can be easy to dismiss the loss to San Antonio due to the fact it was a Jägermeister Cup game. In other circumstances, I’d agree with that. The problem is that Rising sits at the bottom of the West in the league and is clearly still trying to work things out. At that point, beggars can’t be choosers. Something has to start going right for this club when it comes to results.

Interestingly enough, Rising didn’t do too bad of a job defensively against San Antonio. Giving up zero shots in the first half and just four overall, you’d hope to come away with a result. Unfortunately, that one lapse in the second half proved enough to give the hosts no share of the spoils.

Rising’s first half showing offered promise, but the final execution was often poor and simply failed to challenge Daniel Namani in the San Antonio net. The second half? Well, it’s probably a good thing I got a extra few hours sleep in the morning, or I may have found myself dozing off.

Pa-Modou Kah turned some of the postgame spotlight onto the officials, and after hearing the same words last week, I really hope that this isn’t about to become a trend. Phoenix Rising has enough of its own issues to worry about. Until the team finds a way to put together a complete 90-minute performance, they haven’t earned the right to point fingers at others. And anyway, this is USL Championship: the economics of the league mean the officials are part-timers, and you’re going to get what you get. You’d better get used to it.

This result, and the nature of the Jägermeister Cup format, means Rising will be facing an uphill battle to qualify for the next round. That said, that probably isn’t something that’s too much of a concern.

The real issue coming out of the match will be the center-back depth. Mo Traore’s return to Arizona will help, and the defender should be fit to go soon. But the loss of Casey Walls will have come as a surprise, and if Pape Mar Boye is set for an extended spell on the touchline? Well, I don’t think anybody really wants to think about that.

That’s yet another blow to the start of Rising’s season, although the description of it as the ‘start’ is very quickly ceasing to be apt. Answers are going to have to come sooner rather than later, but so far, they still don’t seem to be coming quite soon enough.