1-1 draw against Orange County<\/a>, while Oakland was coming off a 2-1 win over New Mexico.<\/p>\nRising\u00a0was\u00a0looking for their first win of the season, while Oakland was looking to continue their perfect start to the season, as they had two wins in two matches.<\/p>\n
The first six minutes saw a lot of possession for Rising, while Oakland sat back, focusing more defensively.<\/p>\n
Phoenix kept up with the possession, especially with the backline, trying to find a chance, but nothing was being made in that final third.<\/p>\n
The game continued to be possession based, and it switched into the midfield, as players rushed for loose balls or find the open man.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u00a0think\u00a0the first 20 minutes, we started well,\u201d Rising head coach Pa-Modou Kah said. \u201cThen after\u00a0the 20\u00a0minutes, we didn\u2019t control the game.\u00a0Then we gave away two goals; I think it was very simple to avoid those goals.\u00a0We didn\u2019t press together after the first 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 20th\u00a0minute, Rising\u2019s JP Scearce made a crucial error at the back, and Oakland had a chance, but Phoenix goalie\u00a0Chituru\u00a0Odunze kept it out, and as it rebounded, Oakland skied the ball, keeping the game scoreless.<\/p>\n
In the 26th\u00a0minute, Oakland shot a rocket from close range, but Rising was able to keep it out and deflect it for a corner.<\/p>\n
Despite starting strong, Rising found themselves overwhelmed as Oakland began putting pressure alongside Oakland\u2019s strong counter attacks, which forced errors in the midfield and backline for Rising.<\/p>\n
Despite that, the first thirty minutes\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0see much action, but Oakland was picking up the pieces to break the deadlock.<\/p>\n
In the 42nd\u00a0minute\u00a0Oakland had another chance, and while it went past Odunze, Rising defender Adrian Pelayo headered it away, but one minute later, Oakland found the opener.<\/p>\n
Oakland got the ball into the box, and as\u00a0they got close to the near post,\u00a0Bobosi\u00a0Byaruhanga snuck the ball to Wolfgang Prentice, who sent it near the far post, with no chance for Odunze to save it, making it 1-0 Oakland.<\/p>\n
Just a few minutes later though, Oakland made it two, as a ball was swung in from the left-hand side, before Julian Bravo leaped to meet it, and sent it bouncing into the top right to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n
Those two quick fire goals made it 2-0 to Oakland entering the second half, and Rising had a mountain\u00a0to climb, as Oakland had all the chances and momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cPa (Modou-Kah) was very annoyed for obvious reasons,\u201d Rising midfielder Diego Gomez said. \u201cHe has that energy and he told us that we could give more and in the second half, it reflected.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a matter of learning as\u00a0well\u00a0that we\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0give one minute away. We\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0give away anything. We\u00a0have to\u00a0keep working for\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three minutes into the second half, Oakland nearly made it 3-0,\u00a0but Odunze kept a header out.<\/p>\n
Rising put pressure on Oakland, as Oakland was glad to\u00a0waste time\u00a0and keep the ball.<\/p>\n
Rising\u2019s\u00a0pressure eventually led to some chances, but it also allowed a few counter attacks that Oakland had made.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we handled it well,\u201d Kah said. \u201cBut this team, still, no excuses. Our job is to make sure that we get points.\u00a0I think it\u00a0was a good game for the fans in terms of\u00a0the excitement, but I think we can give them more excitement by doing a job and being ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rising\u00a0played\u00a0with more width, allowing for more options for players to find.<\/p>\n
Rising subbed on Gunnar\u00a0Studenthofft\u00a0for Hope\u00a0Avayevu\u00a0in an attempt to\u00a0make more chances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was\u00a0very happy\u00a0with Gunnar (Studenthofft),\u201d Kah said. \u201cHe did what we asked of him, he was aggressive, he got in the box, he created an opportunity for himself. This is what he always\u00a0wanted,\u00a0and I believe in him.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0far from being a finished product\u00a0but with what he has,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0a handful.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0very happy\u00a0with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
With only 25 minutes to go, Phoenix was looking to salvage the game, but Oakland was on the front foot.<\/p>\n
In the 74th\u00a0minute, Phoenix\u2019s Darius Johnson shot one from range, but Oakland goalkeeper Raphael Spiegel kept it out.<\/p>\n
Rising tried pressing, crossing it into the box, but Oakland read every move.<\/p>\n
In the 85th\u00a0minute, Ihsan Sacko for Rising ran down the right-hand side before cutting inside and finding an open Gomez, who found the top right corner to make it 2-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel happy,\u201d Gomez said\u00a0regarding\u00a0his goal. \u201cGet my first goal with this shirt, with this club. And then the confidence that we can get the result because it was a big moment for the whole team, and I think the second half was ours and I felt that we could equalize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rising\u00a0was\u00a0now looking to salvage a point as five minutes plus stoppage time\u00a0remained.<\/p>\n
Rising began pushing for that equalizer desperately, while Oakland was looking to hang onto all three points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat set the standard,\u201d\u00a0Studenthofft\u00a0said about the team\u2019s pressing. \u201cThat\u00a0set\u00a0the momentum. We want to win the\u00a0ball;\u00a0we want to get there and score goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
After about\u00a090 minutes, the fourth official\u00a0indicated\u00a0seven minutes of extra time. More than enough for Rising to equalize.<\/p>\n
Rising kept getting chances via corners and free kicks, as Oakland kept fouling Rising players, but Phoenix\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0equalize.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what you want as a coach,\u201d Kah said. \u201cYou want a headache, to make a decision as to who\u2019s going to\u00a0play,\u00a0and I got a lot of answers today. So next week there will be some decision\u00a0that I will have to make, and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rising kept pushing, and in ninety-fifth minute, they were rewarded, as Charlie Dennis cut in from the left-hand side and crossed it in.\u00a0Studenthofft\u00a0headered it home past Spiegel, making it 2-2.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stayed calm,\u201d\u00a0Studenthofft\u00a0said. \u201cI waited for my chance, and if one chance didn\u2019t go, I waited for the second one. Once that opportunity came\u00a0again,\u00a0I knew\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0put it away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rising\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0done, as in the dying moments of the game, Dennis took a shot, but Spiegel forced a corner, keeping it 2-2.<\/p>\n
Phoenix got one more chance, but the cross was cleared, and the referee\u00a0signaled\u00a0full time, as Phoenix salvaged a point against Oakland,\u00a0just like last year<\/a>.<\/p>\nPhoenix will visit Tulsa at ONEOK Field Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rising hosted the Oakland Roots on Saturday night at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium. Rising was coming off a\u00a01-1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-231327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}