Sounders FC 2 (9-15-4, 31 points) plays its final home match of the 2017 USL season against Phoenix Rising FC (11-7-7, 40 points) at Starfire Stadium on Wednesday, September 20 (7:00 p.m. PT, live-stream on SoundersFC.com. The visitors enter the affair in top form, going unbeaten in their last eight matches, but will come up against a resilient S2 side fighting to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Wednesday’s Western Conference clash is the second meeting between these two sides, with the S2 falling 2-0 away to Phoenix back on September 2. Despite controlling possession for large swaths of the match, the Rave Green were shutout offensively and conceded two goals against the run of play.
While most teams in USL rely on youth and emphasize player development, Phoenix Rising, which holds aspirations of becoming a MLS franchise, boasts a roster laden with stars of the international game. Their trio of stars -- Didier Drogba, who’s also a part owner, Omar Bravo and Shaun Wright-Phillips -- boast a plethora of top-flight European experience.
Although the last meeting between these two sides ended in a 2-0 win for Phoenix, the scoreline doesn’t tell the full story. S2 created plenty of chances from the run of play, driving down the flanks at will and stringing together some intricate passing sequences. If not for a world-class save from goalkeeper Josh Cohen in the 91st minute, S2 would have grabbed a point on the road. Some of the underlying data points from that match, as well Phoenix’s recent outings against Western Conference opponents, paint a clear road map for S2 in the upcoming fixture.
With Felix Chenkam operating as a classic No. 9, S2 could carve apart the Phoenix backline by overloading one side, playing passes to the Cameroonian’s feet, and quickly switching the point of the attack for the weak-side winger to go 1v1 with the full-back. Wary of this threat on the flanks, the home side’s back line became pulled apart, creating gaps for Zach Mathers to pick apart with well-weighted through balls.
Another glaring weakness for Phoenix is the defense’s difficulty in dealing with service from wide areas. In their last three matches, opponents have generated 18 key passes off of balls served in from the flanks. With Chenkam providing his clever movement in the box, plus the likes of Mathers and Henry Wingo making clever runs, S2 has enough quality to punish the visitors.
Here are three storylines to watch.
Track the Movement of Wright-Phillips
Arguably the most effective of Phoenix’s three DP-esque signings, Wright-Phillips -- if he makes the trip to Seattle -- will be the danger-man for S2 to target defensively. When he lines up centrally in a classic No. 10 role, the Englishman tends to float around the final third, finding pockets of space between the lines, and looks to receive the ball on the half-turn. From there, he likes to drive forward in order to pull defenders to out of position before switching the ball to the flanks.
With an intelligent, defensive-minded midfielder like Francisco Narbon, S2 has the personnel to nullify Wright-Phillips. Look for the Panama international to shadow the former Manchester City star, forcing him down blind alleys and providing a defensive shield.
Slow Them Down in Transition
Much like Colorado Springs, Phoenix Rising doesn’t need a ton of possession to punish opponents. In fact, they’ve averaged around 43 percent possession over the last four matches, from which they’ve collected ten points. What makes them so effective is the speed with which they break in transition, often playing accurate, long-distance passes to the wingers, who tend to stay high and wide when not in possession. From their last three matches, Phoenix has produced an eye-popping 12 key passes from the middle third of the pitch.
There are plenty of ways to negate this strategy, but S2 should key-in on applying a Jurgen Klopp-style gegenpress, in which the attacking unit commits to a 5-6 second high-press as soon as they lose possession. And with the likes of Henry Wingo, Guy Edoa, Shandon Hopeau, David Olsen, Seyi Adekoya and Charles Renken manning the attack, they’ll have plenty sufficient athleticism and pace to make the Phoenix midfielders uncomfortable.
Chenkam’s Movement
As stated above, the Phoenix backline has a tendency to get pulled apart in possession. With that in mind, look for Chenkam to have an absolute field day. The Rainbow FC alum’s best characteristics are his off-the-ball movement, link-up play and lethal finishing. So if Phoenix’s back-four remains compact, he can slide across to provide numerical overloads. But if they stretch across to negate 1v1 situations on the wings, there will be massive gaps for him to make his clever, inside-out runs between the gaps. From there, he’ll have plenty of chances to find the back of the net.
