Phoenix Rising comes back to draw with Oakland Roots

Phoenix Rising overcame a 2-0 deficit to rescue a point against Oakland Roots at home.

The visitors scored two goals towards the end of a lethargic first half, but after Diego Gomez gave Rising a lifeline late in the game, Gunnar Studenhofft found the net deep in stoppage time to secure the draw with his first-ever goal for the club.

A slow first half

Things did not start the way that Phoenix Rising would have wanted.

By the 17th minute mark, the hosts had recorded two shots. That tally hadn’t increased by the break. Instead, Phoenix found itself playing a selection of long balls while lacking urgency in the press to actually pressure their opponent at all.

“I think the first 20 minutes, we started well, but then after the 20 minutes we didn’t control the game,” Rising coach Pa-Modou Kah said. “Then we gave away two goals that I think were very simple, two goals that were avoidable. I think we didn’t defend the box well and stop the crosses as we’d discussed. I think we didn’t press after the 20 minutes together, so it was very disjointed.”

Instead, Oakland punished Rising. Wolfgang Prentice and Julian Bravo found the net in the closing minutes of the first half, sending Phoenix into the break down by two goals.

Another late Phoenix Rising comeback

Rising’s performance started to pick up in the second half, with more signs of urgency in the pressing.

However, it still took until the final ten minutes of the match for the hosts to find a goal of their own, with Diego Gomez netting his first for the club in the 85th.

Ten minutes later, and deep into stoppage time, Gunnar Studenhofft found one of his own to level the scores at 2-2.

“I believe in him and the work that he’s put in,” Kah said of Studenhofft. “He’s far from being a finished product, but with what he has, he’s a handful.”

The final whistle blew just minutes later, with both sides sharing a point apiece.

“I’m very happy with how we’re progressing, but it’s not enough,” Kah said. “Especially when you’re at home, it’s not enough. We can’t give away points at home. It’s far too many.”

Owain’s take

The more things change, the more they stay the same?

Welcome back to 2025, Phoenix Rising fans. Because that’s how it felt, didn’t it?

Some sloppy first half moments. An unnecessary few goals conceded and yet, at the end of it all, Phoenix Rising huffed, and they puffed, and they pulled it off deep into added time.

Still, it’s March. It can be frustrating to see what looks to be the same theme as last season, but it’s still too early to complain about that. If we get to July and are seeing the same problems, then it will be a genuine cause for concern. Just three weeks into the year, with absences already piling up, anything that keeps the points ticking over in spite of issues faced is far from the worst that could happen.

What is concerning though is that the stands are already… well, they’re starting to look sparse.

In this last game, Phoenix Rising recorded its lowest ever March attendance for a league game, with just 4,310 people officially announced as attending. That’s not just breaking the record by a little. The prior worst attendance for a March league match came last season, against Rhode Island, with 5,549 people attending: that’s over 1,200 more than were at this weekend’s match.

This isn’t a one-off, either. After already enjoying the worst-attended home opener in the Phoenix Rising era (save for during COVID, where the club sold out its capacity-restricted stadium), this 2026 team has now put up the two of the three lowest March league crowds in club history. The play on the field, flawed or not at times, doesn’t deserve that.

Unfortunately, it seems once again that while the club’s leadership may put its heart and soul into the on-field product, they are continuing to allow the foundations around them to crumble. There is a clear trend of decline over time, and from the outside it’s hard to tell what exactly they’re going to do about it. Phoenix Rising needs direction from the top, and as best we can tell, one of two things is happening. Either the direction is misguided, or it’s missing entirely. I’m not sure which of those would be worse.

What is clear, though, is that this can’t be allowed to continue. This year is meant to be a celebration as the tenth season under the Phoenix Rising name, but for the sake of this club, something has to change. And if it doesn’t, I have bigger fears than slow starts on the field each week.

Top image: Phoenix Rising FC

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