FC Tucson News Release -- www.fctucson.com
Monday, May 13, 2013
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Heading into Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup match, one of Phoenix FC’s advantages may actually benefit FC Tucson: the Wolves have played a lot more matches.
“We have an opportunity to play against a team we’ve really prepared for,” said FC Tucson Head Coach Rick Schantz. “We haven’t quite been able to prepare on the field as much as we would’ve liked, but we scouted all (nine) of their matches and we feel we know about as much of their team as we could possibly know.”
What Schantz does know is that beating Phoenix FC (2-5-2), even after the club is coming off back-to-back road losses over the weekend, will be a difficult task. But Schantz said he has confidence in his club’s work rate and any conversation about an upset win has to start with outworking the USL PRO side who will likely be fitter and more cohesive and is already very athletic.
“If we can outwork them and keep ourselves in the game and not make any silly mistakes, it gives us a shot,” Schantz said. “If we get to 15 minutes left to play and it’s still 0-0, it’s anybody’s game.”
FC Tucson (0-0-1) has played just one match, a 1-1 draw against the Los Angeles Misioneros on Sunday afternoon and returned from its season-opening road trip late on Sunday night. Because of the quick turnaround between matches, the club didn’t go through a full training session on Monday and the players still haven’t had a chance to sit down with the staff and go over strategies for the match.
But team captain Travis Campbell was confident despite the lack of on-the-field work FC Tucson will have heading into Tuesday night’s mach. He said the team did well coming together as a unit to defend in the second half of its match against the Misioneros and that the key to a win against the Wolves would be that continued growth on team defense.
In Sunday’s match FC Tucson fell behind 1-0 after a deflected free kick found the back of the net. The defense allowed just two shots in the first half. It allowed zero shots in the second half.
“We’ve been playing soccer for 14, 15 years,” said defender Edgar Reyna when asked about FC Tucson’s lack of matches played compared to Phoenix FC. “We’ll figure it out.”
Should the match come down to the final moments, there’s no doubt the atmosphere will be electric. The match is not only a showdown between clubs from Arizona’s two biggest cities; it’s an historic event.
This is the first time in the 100-year history of the U.S. Open Cup that two clubs from Arizona are squaring off in a tournament match. And it’s not just two Arizona clubs. It’s Tucson vs. Phoenix, a rivalry that is older than the state itself.
“You put any teams, Phoenix vs. Tucson, there’s always going to be a rivalry” said Reyna, who grew up playing soccer for the Tucson Soccer Academy. “It’s going to be a hard game but it’s really exciting. Words can’t express it. You’re just going in front of your home crowd and it’s really exciting.”