“We never have a defensive mindset.”
Coming off the worst goalscoring season in Phoenix Rising history, Pa-Modou Kah is ready to make a difference.
“I can’t change what happened last year, but I can change definitely what is now in the present,” Kah said. “In the present is us focusing on being a team. Goals and everything will come, but everything comes through hard work where you create cohesion and relationships, so I’m not worried about that. I think we’ll score goals.”
Kah arrives in Phoenix as the club’s fourth head coach in three years, following a 2024 season split right down the middle between Danny Stone, who was relieved of his duties after just 17 matches, and Diego Gomez, who served as interim coach until Rising’s playoff exit.
Along with the change in coach is a drastic change in personnel, with ten brand-new faces joining Kah in Phoenix.
“We have very good lads in the group now,” winger Jearl Margaritha, who finished 2024 in Arizona, said. “Different cultures, of course, a lot of different cultures now. Everybody is just getting along well. We’re doing great. There’s a good vibe, good atmosphere in the group, so I think we’re making good steps towards the first game.”
“It’s been brilliant since day one,” assistant coach Vikram Virk said. “Getting to know a new group is interesting. It’s always something you’re excited for and since day one, these guys have put their head down. They’ve worked hard. They’ve taken as much information as they can, and they work hard every single day.”
Virk is a new addition to the backroom staff, having previously coached under Kah in Canada and in Texas.
“It was in Victoria [when I first met Kah]. I was coaching with the Highlanders—”
“He was trying to steal my sessions,” Kah interrupted from the side.
“—so I would always be sitting back and watching the sessions in his first year with Pacific,” Virk finished. “From there, we got introduced, we talked a bit and from that, we didn’t look back.”
When Kah took the job in Phoenix and called Virk to join him, “it was a pretty quick response, similar to last time.”
“We get on well, so it was a no-brainer to me,” Virk said.
While Virk has been joined by new additions in performance coach Devon Manifold and video analyst Vitor da Costa Ferreira, some familiar faces remain in the backroom staff, including former captain and assistant coach Darnell King.
“It’s [been] intense and the standard is set early,” King said. “It’s a good thing to do in these moments, especially with new players coming in so they understand who we are and what we’re about.
“Obviously, Pa and Vik have set the standard as well as I have and everybody else around the facility to let the boys know this is what it is, this is what we’re about and this is what we’re going to be about every day going through the season.”
That standard is visible just by watching Kah whenever his players are on the field.
“If you just watch the training or come to the games, you’ll feel his energy,” goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky said. “He doesn’t care if you make mistakes, but he wants you to fight and go 100 percent in every moment.”
Kah’s intensity can be especially obvious in the way he addresses his players during sessions.
“It’s more about the passion, because this is what we live for,” Kah said. “The players know me and understand me, and for me, it’s helping a player. At that moment, I know the quality of the players, so for me, it’s to make sure that he does the right thing at the moment.”
At the same time, at 38th & Washington, you can see a different side to Pa-Modou Kah. It’s the side where he starts dancing, or quips in with jokes. Sometimes, he’ll be doing so with sweat pouring down his face, having joined in with his squad during a training session.
“It’s serious fun, as Pa always says,” Virk said. “When we’re on the pitch, we know the work we have to do and we know every single day we have to work as hard as we can to reach our goals this year.
“Again, we’re human beings as well. We see each other every single day, so we want to enjoy the time with each other as well. But when we cross that line, we know there’s work to be done.”
His approach has helped him to build relationships with his players, with all that have spoken through the preseason singing his praises. For some of those players, they’ve also followed him here after playing for him at other clubs.
“The best way to describe it is that he really tests you as a person and as a player,” defender Collin Smith said in a recent Q&A for the club. “For me, I feel like that’s a big piece. A lot of guys think they’re going there just for the football, but you get to learn a little bit more about yourself, what it means to be a group, have that camaraderie, have that collectiveness. All those things are huge whenever you’re pushing towards a championship.”
“I think Pa’s a big character for the team,” midfielder Noble Okello added. “Obviously, he has a big personality. He pushes our standards every day to work hard and meet the goals that he’s set out, whether it’s small things like cleaning up the locker room, cleaning up around the facility.
“He sets standards for all of us to maintain. I think that it affects us on the field, and we can see that, especially the last couple of games.”
Maintaining those standards at all levels of the squad, and throughout the entire season, is going to be a key for Kah.
“You don’t only have a starting eleven,” Kah said. “People forget that. It’s a long season. We have a squad. That’s what I always say.
“I don’t have a starting eleven. I have a squad that is always going to push each other, that’s always going to pressure each other to perform. At the end of the day, with the ambition that we have to want to win and grow as a club, you need people that are going to drive each other to get better.”
At the same time, Kah will have standards of his own to uphold. They’re based on expectations from a fanbase that tolerates nothing short of success, but also of his own making based on responses to questions when he was introduced to the fans back in January.
“Would you rather win a game 1-0, or 5-4, and—”
“5-4,” Kah answered, not even waiting for the question to come to a finish. Phoenix Rising hasn’t scored five times in a competitive game for over a year.
“Do you want to see goals? There you go.”
