Match Preview Presented by Northern Arizona University<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phoenix Rising FC heads to Las Vegas to take on Lights FC this Saturday, August 26. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and Arizona\u2019s Family Sports & Entertainment Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. Match Preview Presented by Northern Arizona University Phoenix Rising FC heads to Las Vegas to take on Lights FC this Saturday, August 26. The match will be broadcast live on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":9854,"template":"","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","sec_enable_news":false},"sec_news_tag":[],"sec_sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-9853","sec_news","type-sec_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
With 10 matches remaining in the 2023 regular season, Rising sits seventh in the West, in playoff position, looking to improve its seeding against a Vegas side that earned one of its two wins on the year in Phoenix.
\u201cLas Vegas came here and grabbed a positive result,\u201d said Rising Head Coach Juan Guerra. \u201cThey haven\u2019t changed much. One of their most intense, aggressive and dynamic players [Tabort Etaka Preston] was just transferred, but besides that, they\u2019re a team that has been consistent in the way they do things.\u201d
Despite posting just two wins this season, Lights are one of seven teams (along with Rising) in the USL Championship to have more than eight draws. Vegas has also lost nine games by just a single goal. Of those nine losses, six came against teams currently in the top five of its conference.
Guerra doesn\u2019t expect Vegas to change its approach in Saturday\u2019s match given Lights FC\u2019s 1-0 win vs. Rising on May 26, but his team is ready to adapt in-game.
\u201cWe\u2019re preparing ourselves for teams to transform during the match,\u201d said Guerra. \u201cRGV pressed us at the beginning and then dropped into a mid-block in the 10th<\/sup> minute. Teams are adapting to not press us high. We\u2019ve seen it in multiple games now.\u201d
Rising fell, 1-0, to RGV last week. The result was the fifth one-goal loss Rising has suffered this season after two single-goal wins earlier in the year. \u00a0
\u201cWe\u2019ve been craving consistency since game seven,\u201d said Guerra. \u201cIt will come when we need it the most and it will<\/em> come at the right time. I\u2019ve seen it in training. The effort and tactical aspects are there. They\u2019ve been consistent there and that is important to creating a healthy group. If your process is right, it is only a matter of time until it turns into a consistency of results.\u201d
Rising will find consistency at the perfect time if it can covert its narrow losses into draws and those draws into wins. Owning homefield advantage down the stretch should help ease that transition. Six of its final nine matches are in Phoenix, but first, the club needs to close out its last two-game road swing in Vegas. The good news is Rising has earned a result in the final match on each of its last three, multigame road trips. \u00a0
\u201cThere\u2019s not much we can show, say or do to motivate players more,\u201d said Guerra. \u201cThey\u2019re motivated. They understand the opportunity we have ahead of us. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re going to see this opportunity and grab it. When this team needed to step up, it stepped up. I need to see that again, but I want to see it again after that, and again, and again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"