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USL Phoenix Rising FC

Difficult Road Trip Looms as Arizona United SC Makes Playoff Push

July 30, 2015 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Phoenix Rising FC News Release


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (July 30, 2015) - This weekend Arizona United SC (7-10-1) faces a task more daunting than just a road trip: two road matches in three days.

"(There will be) full concentration on Friday, first and foremost," said Arizona United SC head coach Michael Dellorusso. "And then in the back of our mind, how do we deal with it on Saturday to prepare for Sunday. We know that, we'll travel with more players and then we'll see how Friday goes."

Dellorusso went on to say that uncertainty is the most difficult part about a two-game-in-three-days stretch. Uncertainty about injuries. Uncertainty about how fatigue will affect players. Even uncertainty about possible suspensions, should a player receive a red card. It's why the team will travel with 22 players instead of the standard 18 on a road trip.

"It's definitely physically demanding, but some of us who have been around USL remember the good old days of Friday-Saturday or Friday-Sunday (matches)," said goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski with a smile. "So some of us are used to it."

The first of those two matches will be tomorrow at OKC Energy FC (7-5-7). It will be the first meeting between the two clubs this season. The Energy are currently in fifth place with 28 points. The top six teams in the conference make the playoffs.

"They're a very explosive and good team going forward," Dellorusso said. "(Head coach Jimmy Nielsen) is known to be more organized in the back, so it's a pretty well-balanced team. It'll be a good test for us. I think if we play our game and concentrate on ourselves, hopefully we can come out and get a good result."

United enters the match in 11th place with 22 points, five points off from the final playoff spot. In its last match, Arizona fell to Austin Aztex, 1-0.

"We've talked about, home or away, we need three points from every game," Woszczynski said. "That's our goal. We're really emphasizing it now. ... The table looks worse than it is but we need to start getting those goals and it's going to start Friday."

United's second match will be Sunday against Tulsa Roughnecks FC (7-8-4), another club on the outside looking in to the playoff picture. The Roughnecks sit in seventh place with 25 points. The two clubs have already met once this season, with Tulsa escaping Scottsdale Stadium with a 1-1 draw.

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