PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising was busy in the transfer window this offseason, signing multiple players to long-term contracts.
Rising released many players at the end of last season, with additional players on loan returning to their parent club. To replace them, the club brought in several youngsters, including defender Adrian Pelayo, along with forwards Gunnar Studenhofft and Juan Carvajal, while triggering the buy option on midfielder Jean-Eric Moursou’s contract.
Rising sporting director Brandon McCarthy explained the signings and the team’s commitment in a news conference last Tuesday, as Phoenix began its preparations for the regular season that begins March 7.
“We kind of tried to build this where it’s a long-term project; getting people here who are committed for a few years,” McCarthy said. “We already had a good base built for this year and then it was: How do you find the pieces to go with it?”
Rising are coming off a season in which they finished fifth in Group West under first-year coach Pa-Modou Kah. They lost in the USL Championship Western Conference semifinals to Tulsa via a last-minute winner.
“Standards are high,” Kah said. “It was a bitter ending, but sometimes you need that as a little bit of motivation to go into the new season. We felt it. We know it. But that’s the beauty of football. Now we’ve got to stay in the present.”
With so many transfers, Rising will need to build chemistry. Kah said that process is already underway.
“They’ve been great,” he said. “Also we have some of the academy players that are joining us that are also doing very well.”
Kah spoke highly of Luke Biasi, a defender signed from the defending champions Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
“He knows what it takes,” Kah said. “He walks in with a different level of respect, not just because he’s a champion, but he’s a good person, a great character, but also a good football player.”
As the new season dawns, Phoenix Rising – founded in 2014 as Arizona United SC and rebranded in 2017 – is also celebrating its 10th year as a club. In that decade, Rising won the Western Conference title three times, held the league record for the longest winning streak (20 matches) and captured the USL title once, in 2023.
“We’re excited to still be here,” McCarthy said. “Proud of a lot of the things we’ve done but what’s the next iteration of this? How do we get better [as] a football term? How do we get better as a club? What does the next 10 years look like?
“There’s a lot of pride of where we’ve been and when we look back, there’s been a lot of interesting stories for 10 years, but we haven’t spent really any time reflecting on it.”
In his first year, Kah connected with the fans, signing shirts, taking time to talk to each fan individually, and recognizing the importance of a fan base that cares for the club.
The fanbase always returned the favor, with supporters in the Red Sea area of the Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium singing for 90 minutes throughout each home game, and using smoke grenades whenever the team scored a goal.
“Every year is important,” Kah said. “But we understand the magnitude. We know that, but our focus is on every single day getting better. The boys know it and they’re ready for it. Looking at the supporters, looking at the members of this club, everybody has played their part and we have to continue to play our part and keep growing this club.”
In addition to the aforementioned additions, the club also re-signed Pape Mar Boye, their current captain. Rising also pursued defender Aleksandar Vukovic and Diego Gomez, a midfielder who made a cap for Mexico in 2024.
“He’s going to add experience,” Kah said of Gomez. “He’s going to add technical quality. He’s a good footballer, he’s a really good footballer, understands and plays the game at his rhythm and tempo, so I think it would be very important to our squad and the way that we want to play.”
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