PHOENIX, Arizona (Saturday, August 12) – Phoenix Rising FC (8-7-8) downed El Paso Locomotive FC, 5-0, tonight at 38th St/Washington.
“I’m very happy,” said Rising Head Coach Juan Guerra after the win. “I’m happy for the players. This was a very good week of work. We said after the last game. We were not hurt. We were upset. The last game made us stronger. The boys picked up right where they left off. We needed it.”
Danny Trejo led the way for Phoenix with two goals and two assists on the night. Eddie Munjoma, Gabi Torroes and Dariusz Formella added a goal while Renzo Zambrano and Carlos Harvey picked up assists. Rising is back home for $1 Beer Night on Wednesday, August 30. Tickets for that match are available here or by calling 623-594-9606.
Tonight, Rising Captain Darnell King initiated an attacked that produced the first chance of the match in the 11th minute. The pass came to the feet of Danny Trejo, who ran at goal and fired a shot that whizzed over the head of Locomotive goalkeeper Benny Diaz, but sailed just inches over the crossbar.
Carlos Harvey connected with Trejo via a slick through ball for the second match in a row. The combination opened the back door for a run by Munjoma, who darted to the back post and slammed a shot from close range past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0 Rising in the 22nd minute.
Trejo combined with Fede Varela at the top of the box in the 44th minute. The return pass from Varela to Trejo was perfect, releasing the forward in-behind El Paso’s backline. Trejo beat the goalkeeper to the ball by a step, pushing the ball wide to the left of the goal before firing a shot from a difficult angle into the empty net to make it 2-0.
Varela and Trejo kept the connection going to begin the second half. Varela danced on the ball in the left corner of the El Paso area, memorizing three Locomotive defenders before poking the ball into the path of Trejo. The forward cut inside and ripped a shot towards net but an El Paso defender stepped in front of the ball to deflect it out for a corner kick.
Trejo made it 3-0 in the 70th minute after Renzo Zambrano played in-alone against Diaz once again. Trejo took a touch before beating the goalkeeper with a quick one-two move that allowed him to cross up the goalkeeper and fire a low shot to the near post for his second of the match and 12th of the season.
Torres came off the bench in the 80th minute and slipped behind the El Paso defense five minutes later to earn a penalty for Rising. Formella stepped up to take the spot kick, beating Diaz to his left side to make it 4-0.
Three minutes later, Torres finished off a chance after Trejo had his initial pass blocked. The forward recovered the ball and switched up the defense by going to a streaking Torres, who made his run down the left flank. In alone against the goalkeeper, Torres slid a shot under the left foot of Diaz to make it a 5-0 final.
Scoring:
PHX – Eddie Munjoma (Danny Trejo) 22
PHX – Danny Trejo (Fede Varela) 44
PHX – Danny Trejo (Renzo Zambrano) 70
PHX – Dariusz Formella (PK) 85
PHX – Gabi Torres (Danny Trejo) 88
Discipline:
PHX – Renzo Zambrano (caution) 30
PHX – Panos Armenakas (caution) 43
EP – Benny Diaz (caution) 58
EP – Eric McCue (caution) 60
PHX – Eddie Munjoma (caution) 61
PHX – Uzo (caution) 89
Lineups:
Phoenix Rising FC – Rocco Rios Novo, Darnell King (Uzo 81), Alejandro Fuenmayor, Eddie Munjoma (Gabi Torres 80), Carlos Harvey, Renzo Zambrano (Mo Traore 84), Jose Andres Hernandez, John Stenberg, Panos Armenakas (Emil Cuello 80), Danny Trejo, Fede Varela (Dariusz Formella 68).
Substitutes Not Used: Patrick Rakovsky, Carlos Anguiano.
El Paso Locomotive FC – Benny Díaz, Marc Navarro, Nick Hinds (Petar Petrovic 46), Erik McCue, Yuma, Eric Calvillo (Diego Abarca 84), Denys Kostyshyn (Emmanuel Sonupe 63), Liam Rose (Chapa Herrera 75), Miles Lyons, Ricardo Zacarias (Aaron Gómez 62), Luis Solignac.
Substitutes Not Used: Christopher Garcia, Jose Carrillo.
