Colton Dodgson

azcentral sports

The start of the 2016 season has been anything but friendly to the Arizona United Soccer Club.

Having played its first five matches away from home, Arizona United had dropped its last two matches prior to Friday's match, having been shut out for the third time on the season at the hands of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on April 9.

Offense has been difficult to come by to this point – the team hadn’t scored since its 2-0 win over the Seattle Sounders FC 2 on March 30 before Friday– yet coach Frank Yallop isn’t ready to panic just yet.

“It’s very difficult to win away games,” Yallop said. “People look at it and the different result, we’ve not played at home yet. Once we get sorted out and get ourselves rolling, we’re going to be fine.”

The team defeated the Real Monarchs SLC 1-0 in Salt Lake City on Friday before returning home to play the Mexico Under-20 team on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Peoria Sports Complex.

This will be the team’s first season back at Peoria Sports Complex after playing in Scottsdale last year.

“I think for the team in general it’s obviously it’s good to now we have a home,” Chris Cortez said. “Obviously, I’ve played there before, I’ve had the chance to play in both stadiums and I enjoyed both of them thoroughly when I came and visited here, so now to be able to call Peoria my home, I’m just happy to do it. I know it’s an excellent facility and also had a good time playing here.

“I know it will be a lot more fun now that I have fans cheering for me instead of against me.”

Cortez has played in all four games this season, scoring a goal and assisting on Gibson Bardsley’s goal in the team’s win over the Sounders.

He thinks a little more attention to detail, as well as some rejuvenation, is all the team needs to rediscover its identity on offense.

“I think the big issue has just been a lack of quality in the final pass,” Cortez said. “Aside from that, fatigue has a lot to do with it as well, with the amount of games we’ve played in the small amount of time we’ve done it and traveling on the road has really not helped. When you’re fatigued, obviously quality drops down a little bit.”

However, with a chance to turn the tide against the Mexico Under-20 team in front of a friendly crowd on April 17, the team is confident.

Goalie Carl Woszczynski believes the team’s edge will come in the form of experience.

“They’re going to be a very talented group of young kids,” Woszczynski said. “Mexico’s under-20’s are always one of the best youth teams in the world, they always do well in the youth World Cup, so we’ll need to be prepared, like I said, a lot of young skillful kids, but I think us, being a bit older and having a bit more experience in most cases is really what we need to rely on in that game.”

Yallop also recognizes the challenge that will come with the Mexico Under-20 team, yet he is excited to see how his team steps up.

“This is going to be a tough game,” Yallop said. “The thing for me is I like these games where they test us a little bit, it gives us a view to our fans of different teams we could’ve played against and it gives us a bit of a draw stick, a bit of a learning curve if we play against teams like this.

“I’m happy with the matchup and looking forward to the game.”