(Tempe, AZ)  Sporting KC won’t have Phoenix Rising Trialists to bully during today’s visit to Casino Arizona Field.  The MLS team kicked off pre-season with a 4-0 drubbing of Phoenix Rising trialists on January 25, but they will face a very different environment as they step onto the familiar pitch.

In Review: Phoenix Rising comes off a 0-1 loss which found the Columbus Crew first line scoring against the Phoenix Rising second team in the 70th minute.  The Crew’s Lucas Zelarayan placed a cross over the head of substitute keeper Eric Dick and onto the head of USMNT forward Gyasi Zardes to make the difference.

Rising FC made a powerful showing, with the majority of possession in the first half.  Keen ball handling by Junior Fleming was met with a bit of poor luck on a close-range shot that was deflected by the Columbus keeper Eloy Room.  The rebound found the foot of Rising FC newcomer Rufat Dadashov, but his shot was blocked again by Room for the double-save.  For many watching in the crowd and online, it was difficult to tell which of the two squads was representing MLS.

The second half saw the Crew in better form, as the Phoenix Rising first team was subbed out completely.  The Rising FC backups played strongly, but with a backup keeper and two trialists, the team couldn’t hold the Crew at bay.  Dick made several saves, including two highlight-worthy diving saves, and the match finished with a loss in the competition, but a win in tactics.

The Other Guys: Real Salt Lake and Sporting KC drew last Saturday in a nil-nil draw that found SKC without important pieces of its starting lineup.  Starters Tim Melia and Felipe Gutierrez were scratches, as well as Gerso Fernandes and Erik Hurtado.  Head Coach Peter Vermes told The Blue Testament’s Chad Smith “Just little knocks and we don’t want them to turn into something big.”  This will be SKC’s second of three Visit Tucson Sun Cup matches.

What To Expect:  Phoenix will look to continue developing communication and finding player strengths.  The transition of Solomon Asante from a winger to a center-midfielder will be interesting to watch.  Asante continues to hold the captain’s armband, but his struggles with penalty kicks may mean that Jon Bakero or Santi Moar will be the next to step to the spot when Phoenix earns its next penalty.  Rufat Dadashov has continued to impress fans and pundits with a solid work rate.  Phoenix supporters are eagerly awaiting him to place a ball in the back of the net to give him a proper welcome to Casino Arizona field

As is typical in pre-season, the biggest questions lie not at the top of the field, but the back.  Communication between keeper Zac Lubin and his defenders seemed quite poor against Columbus.  Multiple errors in judgement nearly lead to a very different result.  More concerning is that the errors seemed to be between Lubin and his continuing teammates, not new arrivals King and Kontoh.  Common sense and trust-in-the-process tell us that Peter Ramage and his defenders will work this out and we’ll see a better form tonight against SKC.

The short Saturday-to-Wednesday recovery period may mean Coach Schantz shows significant field rotation in the match, either in the form of shorter playing time for starters or a shake-up of the starting lineup.

This and That: Backup keeper Eric Dick faces off against the team that loaned him out … former Phoenix Ironman Amadou Dia will face off against his former team … Sam Stanton (Scotland) is the lone missing signee from the squad.  There has been no reason for his delayed arrival provided by the team.  … Phoenix subbed in two trialists in Saturday’s match, “Nick” and “Denis”.  Former trialists “Gio” “Mitch*” and “Walter” did not see playing time … Phoenix currently has 21 players rostered, leaving three to six spots open.

Starting 11

*UPDATE 2/19/2020 5:30PM: Trialist “Mitch” was rumored to be Mitchell Taintor, formerly of Sacramento Republic (2018-2019).  Taintor was announced this afternoon by San Antonio FC.  The Club does not comment on personnel moves.