PREVIEW: Rising/Orange County, Saturday at 7 PM

Phoenix Rising FC Match Preview presented by NAU

Unbeaten in two matches against Orange County this season, Phoenix travels to Irvine to take on the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, streaming live Saturday, October 28 (7 p.m.) on ESPN+ and Arizona’s Family App. The match will also be rebroadcast Sunday at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on AZFSEN.

“This is one of my favorite teams in the USL Championship,” said Juan Guerra. “The things they do tactically, how organized they are, the flexibility they have during their offensive phases of the game. They stay compact and aggressive in that defensive block. It’s impressive and they went on a long spell of winning.

That doesn’t happen by coincidence. It’s not a mistake. It’s a team that is very strong and tactically clean. They have a culture and character. They have a balance of youth and experience. They have players that have won this league and put a star on that crest.”

Orange County enters the match on a four-game winning streak but have only scored more than one goal in a match once since September 2 – a 3-1 win vs. Oakland on October 4.

“We must make sure if they take something, they’re going to have to earn it,” said Guerra. “It’s not going to be something we’re giving to them. If we can do that, we’ll be ok.”

If anyone is going to earn if for OC, it’ll be Milan Iloski. The striker has six goals in his last five matches. He has accounted for 86% of his team’s goals since September 2, including one in the 1-1 draw between these clubs at 38^th St/Washington on September 30.

If Phoenix finds the first goal in the match, it wins. The only time it didn’t was when the team played a man down to San Antonio, the defending champs, for 78 minutes on August 5. Otherwise, the team boasts an 11-0-4 record this season when scoring first.

If Phoenix finds itself down a goal, it has proven its ability to come from behind. Rising did it multiple times vs. San Diego last weekend, and against this Orange County side less than a month ago, thanks to an Luis Seijas-esque goal by Emil Cullo.  

“We’re a team and organization that doesn’t quit,” said Guerra. “We’re a team that pushes forward in moments of adversity. We’re an organization that when people count us out, we take a step forward and say, ‘we’re here.’