Rising’s 2026 U.S. Open Cup run comes to an end in the Round of 32
Phoenix Rising suffered a 2-0 defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes on April 15 at PayPal Park, marking the end of its 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup campaign. Following the match, Rising Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah and defender Pape Mar Boye discussed playing difficult competition, looking forward and more.
HEAD COACH PA-MODOU KAH
On his thoughts on the match…
“San Jose scored some goals we could have dealt better with. Sometimes teams will punish you, and that’s what happened today, but overall if you look at our boys and the way they played, I’m proud of them. It was not meant to be, but what we can do is put our heads up and we have another game in Miami and we’ll be ready to go battle for three points.”
On how the team made the most of the experience…
“When you’re down, you don’t change the mindset but the mentality. Right before halftime I thought we scored a goal that was well-deserved. The referee decided not to give it, which could have changed the outcome of the game. Goals change games. There were two goals we could have dealt better with. We can’t change that, but what we can change is that we are going to go to Miami, we are going to battle for three points. The boys gave everything tonight, you cannot ask for more. I’m proud of how they’re performing.”
On his message to the team at halftime…
“At halftime I thought we had an opportunity, and we created one to start the second half. We said that if we got it to one goal, then the game would be interesting, and we could get a second. But it was only half opportunities, not full opportunities, that we created. For me, you look at the positive aspects and you can see that we were toe-to-toe with (San Jose). But goals change games, and we were at the wrong end of it.”
On dealing with upcoming fixture congestion…
“This is part of football. There’s nothing for us to complain about. It’s a job that we’re blessed to be a part of and grateful for. It is what it is and we’re going to deal with it. It’s the second time in two weeks, but so be it. This is what we love to do, it’s our hobby, so there aren’t any complaints from myself or the boys. We relish every chance we have to play football.”
DEFENDER PAPE MAR BOYE
On his thoughts on the match…
“We prepared for the game well. We did everything we could do. We’re disappointed because we wanted to go far in the cup, but we’re going to take a lesson from this game.”
On the difficulties of bouncing back when conceding early…
“It was hard, especially because (San Jose) was playing at home. We weren’t ready for (them to score so early), but we defended well after that. We were doing everything to come back, but we missed our chances. We’ll have to come back and learn from it.”
On playing his first couple of games of the season…
“The entire staff treated me really well, but the fitness staff did everything they could to help me come back. Tonight, I played 15 minutes and I feel like I am getting ready. I wasn’t with the team in the preseason, so I was working hard to get to where I am right now.”
On lessons the team is taking away…
“(San Jose) has more experience than us. We learn from little details we saw in San Jose. They have a lot of players with experience in MLS. We learn from how those players handle situations and stuff like that.”
