Rising come back from early deficit, but fall short against one of USL’s most in-form squads
Forward Ihsan Sacko notched his third goal contribution of the season, while forward Rémi Cabral got back on the scoresheet, but it wasn’t enough for Phoenix Rising to return home from Northern California with three points as it fell 3-1 to Monterey Bay FC at Cardinale Stadium on March 29.
Following the match, Rising Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah spoke to another early comeback, his young players receiving minutes, the French connection in attack and more.
HEAD COACH PA-MODOU KAH
General thoughts on the match…
“I wouldn’t say it was a slow start, but we concede again. I enjoyed that in the first two minutes everyone was on top of the game. Obviously, on the free kick we have to do better 100%, but the fact the team showed character to come back again… I think we could have utilized more the transition moments that we had in the first half, but we didn’t.
I think there was nothing in the game until the red card and you concede from the red card, again you concede from a set play, which at this moment is hurting our team. We have to get better, and we will continue to get better, but the work the boys have been putting in, we’re very happy with them.
Again, you have a guy like Braxton (Montgomery) who comes in and he was immense in the back line today. He didn’t put a foot wrong, so I was happy with his performance.”
On Rémi Cabral and Ihsan Sacko’s attacking contributions so far this season…
“It has been great. They are forming a great understanding amongst themselves, and they do great. For us, it’s about keeping them together so that they can create more of a partnership, more of a relationship and understanding among themselves, but we have to keep going, believe in it and get better.”
On seeing Pierce Rizzo and Cyrus Kowall make their professional debuts…
“We were 3-1 down with five minutes to go. There’s not a better way to introduce those kids and I think they did well. Jamison (Ping) was brilliant as well when he came in. He got stuck in. Again, this is a process and for us the process is going step-by-step. No trophies are given out in March, so we just keep going and we’ll make sure we’re there in November.”
