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By Cooper Burns
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – After Saturday’s decisive 4-0 win, Phoenix Rising FC turn the page to arguably their biggest game of the season. On Wednesday night, Rising face their rivals, Orange County SC, in a matchup with playoff implications.
The game is packed with storylines as both teams compete for the final two spots in the Western Conference, but none bigger than facing former Phoenix Rising coach Danny Stone, who was named interim coach of Orange County SC on Aug. 30.
Stone, an assistant coach for Phoenix Rising from 2021-23, helped guide the team to its first USL championship title last season. On Jan. 18, he was promoted to Rising coach after Juan Guerra left for Major League Soccer.
However, Stone’s tenure with Rising did not last long. On June 29, just six months after he was hired, Rising parted ways with him after a 5-6-6 start and an exit in the round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup.
Wednesday marks Stone’s first game against his former club.
Despite some competition against an old friend, Rising is only worried about the three points available in their playoff push approaching the end of the regular season.
“For us, it’s another game where we need to pick up points, it’s an important game in the standings and that’s the motivation we have in this game,” Rising interim coach Diego Gomez said.
Points in any fashion for Rising will prove difficult, considering Stone stands on the other side. No one knows the team quite like him. While there may have been small changes, most of the team remains the same.
Since Stone’s departure, only two players have signed with the team, Damien Barker John and Tomás Ángel. Additionally, minimal changes have been made to both the offensive and defensive sets, causing minimal changes in statistics and making it easier for Stone to game plan.
“It makes it more difficult, he knows the player’s strengths and weaknesses, and he can take advantage of that,” Gomez said.
Despite Stone’s advantage, there is still one caveat, according to Rising midfielder Charlie Dennis.
“I’m sure he knows a lot more than other coaches about our players, but at the end of the day he’s not the one playing the game,” Dennis said.
Whether Stone knows how Rising will operate is not on the mind of the players heading into the match. The players are focused on “one game at a time,” according to Gomez.
“Every game right now, we are looking to win right now, so that is the mentality we are going into the game with so nothing changes really,” Dennis said.
Pregame and postgame interactions between Rising players and Stone on the field will be in the spotlight. But the friendliness will end once the game begins.
Currently, Rising has a four-point cushion over Orange County and one game in hand. Additionally, Rising has seven games left while Orange County only has six.
Rising have played one less game than Orange County thus far but have more road games remaining.
The importance of this match cannot be overstated due to the schedule difficulty that both teams encounter for the remainder of the season.
Out of the six remaining games for Orange County, four of them come against teams ranked above them in the standings, including the top two teams in the Western Conference, New Mexico and Colorado Springs.
Rising faces five teams ranked above them in the standings in their last seven games of the season, including the top teams in both the Western and Eastern Conferences, New Mexico and Louisville.
With the schedule difficulty ramping up late in the season, Gomez knows that his team is facing a big challenge. But with challenge comes opportunities – and that is why Rising is focused solely on Orange County.
“I did not hear anyone talk about Orange County when we played San Antonio and this week nobody is talking about the Las Vegas game, everyone is focused on Orange County,” Gomez said.
It is no secret that these two teams have a history between them. Over the last few years the rivalry has only grown as the games get bigger.
Statistically, the last 33 matches between the two are nearly identical.
Here is how it has gone over the last 33 matches between the two teams:
While they have played many games against each other, the last few have felt more important than others. Last season, the two teams faced off twice in the regular season. Rising won the first matchup in Irvine by a score of 1-0.
Fast forward to the end of the 2023 regular season, Rising managed to draw against Orange County at home. The draw for Rising ended up being the reason that they made the playoffs after losing their final two regular-season games.
After sneaking into the playoffs, Rising once again faced Orange County in the Western Conference semifinals. By a score of 2-1, Rising managed to knock off Orange County and eventually win the USL title.
This season has not been any different.
Wednesday night will be the second of two regular-season matchups between the squads.
On June 8, Rising knocked off Orange County at home, 2-1, in a game that was hotly contested with a total of six yellow cards, while Rising’s Edgardo Rito earned one red card.
No matter what happens Wednesday, Gomez already has made his postgame intentions with Stone public.
“Hopefully we have a glass of white wine,” Gomez said.
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