Phoenix Rising Head Coach Pa Modou-Kah:
Overall thoughts on the match…
“We allowed early goals in both half, and goals change games and, and I think that was the story.”
On the game plan…
“Goals change games, and you should have done better. But it’s football, there’s nothing we can do about it right now, but just look back to our season and look at things that we can improve.”
On overall thoughts on the season…
“Listen, it’s football. A lot of things have happened, a lot of things have sometimes gone against us, but you got to learn from it and get better.”
Phoenix Rising Defender Luke Biasi:
Overall thoughts on the match…
“I mean, I feel like we had a good game plan. Giving up a goal early is never a good place to start. I feel like we had moments, feel like we played well. Red cards didn’t help obviously; just got to keep our head and in those moments got to execute.”
On the game plan…
“That’s part of it, you got to keep your cool and stick to the game plan. When there’s a goal in the game, the momentum changes a little bit, so you have to find a way to get back on your feet. Sometimes when you get scored on you start playing better. It’s not a good place to start, that’s been an issue all year—our goals in the first or last five or ten minutes. But we stuck with what we were trying to do and it could have been successful.”
On season reflections…
“Inconsistent. But at the same time, we showed moments of what we’re made of and what we’re capable of. Us qualifying for playoffs as a whole shows the resilience we can have as a group and the highest level we can play at. We didn’t finish the way we wanted to, but with the ups and downs, we managed well and we had a chance at going all the way here.”
On the red cards…
“It is what it is. In heated moments like this, in playoffs and rivalry matches, you got to keep your cool—whether it’s officiating, weather delay, people talking trash—you got to keep your cool and make smart choices. I know it’s ironic coming from me.”
