Now that Phoenix Rising are 20 percent through the season, we here at Firebird Soccer wanted to look at what has gone well and who has left much to be desired.

Stock Up

Soloman Asante

It should surprise no one who has watched a Phoenix Rising match this season that Soloman Asante has been the team MVP so far this year. Asante currently leads the team in goals (4), assists (2), and chances created (22). That chances created number is almost twice the amount of chances of the next highest player on the team, Colin Fernandez with 12. As Asante goes, so does Phoenix Rising and it will be interesting to see if anyone can help loosen the burden on Asante.

Carl Woszczynski

The Arizona United and Phoenix Rising veteran has made a strong return to the net after being beaten out for the starting role last year by Josh Cohen. Despite the additions of John Berner, Dallas Jaye, and Zac Lubin this past off-season, Woz has started every match and provided a much needed steadiness to the Rising defense. Woszczynski has made some highlight saves, including his diving stop in the season opener against Orange County and his 1 v 1 save against Reno.  

Doueugui Mala

Speaking of steady defense, Doueugui Mala has stepped up this season to become the leader on the backline. Combining with Devante Dubose on the right side of the defense, Mala has proven able to keep opposing teams at bay and leads the team in clearances and blocks while win 78 percent of his aerial duels.    

Stock Down

Kevon Lambert

There has not been too many individual players that have been a disappointment performance-wise, but I would put Kevon Lambert in that category. It may be a part of the tactics that coach Patrice Carteron prefers, but Lambert often finds himself pulled out of position and leaves the middle of the field open for the opposing team to attack. His turnover against the Real Monarchs led to the game’s only goal. We’ll see if anything changes now that James Musa is back healthy to help Lambert cover the backline.

The Attack sans Asante

As great as Asante has been so far this year, the rest of the Rising attack has struggled to carry their load for the team. If you take away Asante’s four goals, Phoenix has scored 6 in the first seven games of the year. Three of those goals came in one match, courtesy of Chris Cortez’s hat trick against the OKC Energy. Asante and Gladson Awako have been the only constant starters in the attack as Carteron tinkers with what works best going forward.

The Newbies

There was a lot of excitement this past off-season with all of the additions Phoenix made to their returning core. However, the early returns have been less than we might have imagined. Only three of the nine new additions have spent time on the field and only have shown any type of consistent play, Asante, Billy Forbes and Colin Fernandez. It will be interesting to see if any of the new additions get a chance in the next run of matches as the Rising play three times in eight days starting Friday.

What do you think? Who has impressed you so far and who could step it up in your mind? Let us know in the comments below!