- Slug: Sports-Rising Abrupt End, 380.
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By Edwin Perez
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – A COVID-19 outbreak among the Tampa Bay Rowdies wasn’t the only factor that led to cancellation of the USL Championship match between Phoenix Rising FC and the Rowdies.
Expiring contracts and commitments to international teams made rescheduling the game impractical, which also played a role in cutting short the Rising’s season.
The USL announced in a statement Saturday that the game between the Rising and the Tampa Bay Rowdies had been canceled because of safety issues, and USL president Jake Edwards said a simple postponement wouldn’t work because of the timing of the required quarantine and the potential for more infections.
“All those players (who tested positive for COVID) will now go into two-week quarantine and need a preparation period,” Edwards said in an interview on ESPN FC. “So we were looking at a three week postponement at the very least.
“It was always our intent to finish the season around this time, knowing there were risks of playing during this part of the year with cases going up.”
He said the league and teams realized that trying to play the game presented significant risk for players – with no guarantee that further infections might not show up and prevent the game from being played in three weeks.
The Rising had nobody who tested positive for COVID-19 after going through testing on Tuesday and receiving results Wednesday. The team arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday to wrap up training and undergo another round of testing before the championship.
Some Rising players and coaches expressed their individual reaction on Twitter.
“2020 strikes again,” Zac Lubin tweeted. “After doing everything right as players and club, following protocols and going through everything 2020 has dumped on us, playing in a final, fighting for a trophy for the city of PHX was the payoff for everything we’ve been through, would have made it worth it,”
“Extremely sad for not being able to enjoy the moment of playing the USL Final,” Santi Moar tweeted. “Proud of all the efforts and sacrifices that everyone in this organization made through the year to get to this point. A helpless sensation at the moment but hard to compete against 2020.”
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