Match Preview Presented by Northern Arizona University
Phoenix Rising (6-4-7) travels to Florida to face Miami FC (2-8-7) this Saturday at 4 p.m. MST (live on Arizona’s Family Sports and Entertainment Network and ESPN+).
Rising played its best soccer of the season last week, dominating a Memphis 901 FC side that was on a 12-game unbeaten streak, 6-0, at home. Rising grabbed the lead early and didn’t relent, scoring three goals in both the first half and the second half. All six goals were scored by different players in what was a fantastic team display. Rising are now unbeaten in five games.
Rising head coach Juan Guerra was delighted with his team’s performance but is keen to ensure his team doesn’t get complacent.
“It’s been a great week of work,” Guerra said. “There hasn’t been any difference from the past five or six weeks. We approach every week with the same levels of responsibility, intensity and organization. It was a solid performance that led to a very good result, but we utilized this week not to relax but to push because we understand the players are going to be more open to reflection.
We’re making sure we can keep moving forward and solidifying what we’re trying to build. Last week was definitely a step in the right direction, but I promise you I forgot about it as soon as I walked out of the locker room. We were already thinking about Miami. If we really want to make last week be impactful and important, we need to make sure we get the job done on Saturday, and then I can promise you it’s going to look even better.”
Rising are facing a team at the other end of the table next Saturday. Miami currently sits 11th in the Eastern Conference and are on an eight-game winless streak. Miami fired ex-head coach Anthony Pulis on June 20, and replaced him with interim head coach Lewis Neal. They’ve lost both games under Neal, but are still an unpredictable foe. “You don’t really know what to expect against teams that have a new coach,” said Guerra. “Their results have not been positive because the new manager wants to implement his own ideas and he’s not following ideas that they were doing before. The last two performances have not gone great and he wants to switch it up.
For us it’s way different than Memphis. They were coming out of a 12-game unbeaten streak. We knew exactly what they were. When preparing for a team like Miami we focus a lot more on us than the opposition. We try to look at them a bit more individually. What can each player do individually? We try to look at behaviors, but we don’t focus a lot on formations or things they can do tactically within that formation system because it could change. We focused a lot on us this week.”
