Despite trailing 2-0 as the half-time break approached, Phoenix Rising rescued an important point away to Sacramento Republic.

An Ihsan Sacko brace, with goals coming in the 45th and 85th minutes, secured a 2-2 draw for Phoenix that prevented them from slipping further behind the playoff line.

Slow start

It wasn’t the best of starts for Phoenix Rising on the road in Sacramento.

In fact, it wasn’t until Ihsan Sacko’s first goal for the visitors that Rising even managed to put a shot on target.

In that time, Sacramento found the net twice.

First, Tyler Wolff found himself in enough space to nod one in off a cross in the 18th minute.

Eight minutes later, Danny Crisostomo capitalized on a poor attempt from Rising at playing out of the back to intercept, setting up Memo Rodriguez. Rodriguez then chipped the ball easily over Patrick Rakovsky who had been caught in no man’s land.

Ihsan Sacko chases golden boot

It fell to Ihsan Sacko to turn things around for Phoenix Rising on the night.

After finding the net in a Wednesday night clash against Colorado Springs, Sacko found a brace in this match. Like on Wednesday, his first goal came off an assist from Diego Gomez.

Late in the game with Rising pushing for an equalizer, Sacko again found the net, this time off a volleyed effort at the far post.

That moves the Frenchman to 12 goals across the season, level with Detroit City’s Darren Smith for most goals in the league this year.

Phoenix Rising trends continue

As the playoff chase continues, there were some familiar moments in Phoenix Rising’s match against Sacramento.

In conceding two first half goals, Rising continued its trend of conceding before the break. Over the season, Phoenix has conceded 15 first half goals in league play. Only two sides — Sporting JAX and Brooklyn FC, both of which are struggling at the foot of the Eastern Conference table — have conceded more goals in the first half.

On the other hand, after conceding first for the 12th time this season, Rising secured its sixth draw from that position. Notably, the team has still yet to win in league play in 2026 after giving up the first goal.

Owain’s take

A point on the road? You’ll take it.

From another losing position for a Phoenix Rising team still below the playoff line? Yeah, you’ll definitely take that.

There are definitely some positives to take from the match. Rising improved after the break compared to their first half showing. Ihsan Sacko is finally hitting form again, having scored in two consecutive games after you could have begun to question if he’d slowed down. It also means that, after two games in a week, Phoenix has amassed four points.

Those are good things to note, but the question really is: does this result move the needle?

Watching this game on Saturday night, my answer was no.

That doesn’t mean that it was a bad result. A point on the road in Sacramento is always a decent enough outcome. There’s nothing about this match that makes me more worried about the path forward, either.

But this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this match, is it? If anything, it’s very much the story of Phoenix Rising’s 2026.

They go down early, conceding first. At the break, they’re still trailing, even if they’re working their way back in. By the end of the match, they’ve rescued a draw. They show good fight, and they walk away with a point.

So far in 2026, Rising has conceded first in 12 of its 21 league matches, and has now drawn exactly half of those. If you take the stat based upon trailing at half-time, we’ve seen Phoenix trail at the break six times this year, and the team has drawn half of them. In none of those games has Rising claimed all three points.

That’s why this game isn’t a needle mover for me. I’ve seen this fight before. I’ve seen Phoenix Rising come back from looking like they’d lost it all only to walk away with a point. They’ve been doing this all season long and it has led them to exactly where they are right now: 11th place in the Western Conference, looking up at almost all of the table.

Maybe I’m being a little harsh. Things could have been worse tonight, and as Sacramento took a 2-0 lead, I thought it likely that they would have been worse. If Rising had lost, they would be sitting four points behind the line. The path forward would be harder, and time would definitely feel as though it was ticking away.

I look at those qualities displayed tonight as something that would be particularly handy in the playoffs. They are qualities that would make Phoenix a team that others don’t want to face. But we’re not in the postseason yet, and Rising still needs to actually make it in. If they want to do that, especially as they concede the first goal so often, they’re going to have to find ways to win from those positions instead of just drawing.

So celebrate the draw. Celebrate a fight back to claim a point. Enjoy the fact that this team can’t be counted out of taking something from a game, even when they go down by multiple goals on the road.

But is Phoenix Rising in a better place than they were before travelling to Sacramento? I’m not so sure.

At the very least, though, they’re not in a worse place.