Rising Return Core of 12, Sign 9 New Players In All-Out Push for USL Cup

PRFC Comes Off Best Regular Season Campaign in USL Championship history

20 straight wins set an American professional soccer record. A regular season record of 24-6-4, good for 89 points, set an all-time best in the USL Championship. One home loss in regular season play. Three players with 15 or more goals scored. The highest goal differential in USL Championship history. The 2019 Phoenix Rising Football Club was very impressive – but due to the knockout nature of the USL Cup Playoffs and a team that appeared to be running out of gas at the end of the year – the #1 seeded Rising lost at home 2-1 to #4 seed (and eventual USL Champion) Real Monarchs, the reserve team of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. PRFC obviously excelled on both ends of the field in nearly every match they played in – after they fell behind in their final match against the Monarchs, they began an all-out assault on the Monarchs goal that was inches from tying the game multiple times – but why couldn’t they get the job done, especially given the chemistry and strength in what was obviously the best team in USL Championship history – featuring USL MVP, Golden Boot Winner, and all-USL 1st team forward Solomon Asante, all-league forward Adam Jahn and all league defenders Amadou Dia and AJ Cochran. So what went wrong, and what direction are the Rising being taken in to correct those problems? Let’s take a look – first, by analyzing the current roster – standing at 21 players, and surely incomplete, most likely to be filled out with some rather impressive trialists.

Phoenix Rising FC’s Roster So Far

Offense

Phoenix’s biggest loss comes in the form of the departure of target man Adam Jahn, who scored 17 goals in the #9 spot in his best season to date, second only to USL MVP and Golden Boot winner Solomon Asante’s league leading 22. Jahn’s effort earned him a spot alongside Asante in the all – league USL Championship 1st team and made him the top American born male goalscorer in any domestic league in the country. He departed for MLS’s Atlanta United for a rumored $100K transfer fee and a guaranteed season long loan of United winger Lagos Kunga, who has spent the last two years with the USL’s Atlanta United II and Charleston Battery. His ball dribbling skills and pace should finally give Rising manager Rick Schantz an option behind key man Asante, who’s late season fatigue may have played a major role in PRFC’s sputtering finish to the 2019 season.

Outside of Jahn, the Rising return every key player and added some exciting new additions to the USL Championship’s highest scoring offense. Junior Flemmings and Asante man the wings, and the duty of replacing Jahn falls to newcomer Rufat Dadashov, who joins the side from Germany’s 3.Bundesliga and has been capped over a dozen times by the Azerbaijan National Team. Dadashov scored 14 goals over 51 games in Germany and has scored 5 goals in international play over 24 games. His ball control and target man size combined with verisitilty make him a promising #9 for PRFC.

Expect the usual contributions from one of last year;s key men, #10 Jon Bakero, and new signings from regional rivals – from New Mexico United, all-league 2nd team forward/midfielder Santi Moar, and from San Antonio FC, former Manchester United academy product Jack Barmby, who tallied 8 goals in the 2019 campaign.

Defense & Goalkeepers

The back line sees some pretty massive upheaval going into 2020. The losses of fullback Amadou Dia (transfer to Sporting KC – MLS), fullback Mustapha Dumbuya (transfer to Tampa Bay Rowdies -USLC) and CB Doueugui Mala (free agent) constitute a substantial amount of turnover, especially with Dia, who was the Rising’s iron man stand out defender for the last two years with the club. Phoenix did retain the services of all league 2nd team CB AJ Cochran, CB/FB Corey Whelan, and CB Joey Farrell, along with super-subs Kyle Bjornthun and Austin Ledbetter, who can play on the wings or inside as needed. The most exciting new addition is 2018 USL Defender of the Year Darnell King, who anchored the USL’s top defense with Nashville SC in 2019, and wing back Owoso Ansah-Kontoh, who stood out in starting 26 games with rival Orange County SC in 2019. The Rising defense may have one more spot left to fill with 21 players signed to a 24 man planned roster, so we may see a trialist fill one of those spots, or a potential call-up from FC Tucson in the form of Spanish league veteran Roberto Alarcon, who signed a contract with Tucson, but may prove too talented for the USL League One side. Defense does look solid, but losing both sides of the 4-3-3 wing formation may mean the first few games for the Rising will be a little rocky as the side adjusts to a new style of play out of the back.

Goalkeeper is steady as she goes, with last year’s all-league 1st team starter Zac Lubin returning as the #1. Sporting Kansas City has loaned out former Swope Park Rangers GK Eric Dick out and he will compete for minutes with Lubin and assume the #2 role in 2020, a role that may be expanded after Lubin showed signs of wear and tear near the end of the 2019 USL season and playoffs.

Conclusion

There’s no reason to think that PRFC won’t have an excellent campaign in 2020 . FiveThirtyEight predicts Rising are the odds-on favorite to lift the 2020 USL Cup, and this roster has more depth on it than the 2019 version, which is nearly unfathomable. The loss of Jahn may prevent a deep run at the US Open Cup if it comes at the cost of a poor league finish , so I expect to see PRFC focus on on winning our first ever USL Championship title in 2020, and it’s a very real possibility. However, we learned one thing in 2019: don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Rising open up pre-season play tonight, Feb. 8th at Grand Canyon University against the Antelopes in a free, open to the public match at 7:00 PM.