Phoenix Rising still chasing first 2026 league win

A poor opening half hour saw Phoenix Rising lose 2-0 on the road to Sacramento Republic . Goals from Blake Willey and Dominik Wanner put the hosts ahead early, as Phoenix slumped to a fifth-straight league game without a win to open up the 2026 season. Another slow Phoenix Rising start Phoenix Rising’s hasn’t looked best in the early exchanges for most of this season, and the match in Sacramento proved no different.

A poor early performance saw Sacramento score twice before Phoenix even recorded a single shot. Republic gained possession within Rising’s third of the field on four separate occasions in the first half, producing wave after wave of pressure that Rising’s back line struggled to deal with. The hosts could have added to Rising’s misery further, had referee Muhammad Hassan pointed to the spot after an early challenge on Arturo Rodriguez that appeared to be a stonewall penalty.

Sacramento also put the ball into the back of the net off a first half corner, though this effort was disallowed and a retake ordered by the referee. Improved, but not enough After conceding a second goal, Phoenix Rising finally started to show signs of improvement, but rarely threatened Danny Vitiello in the Sacramento net until after the half-time break. Across the second half, Rising did outshoot Sacramento by a large margin, creating 1.

3 expected goals (xG) while boasting nearly 72 percent of possession. Ihsan Sacko , who replaced Gunnar Studenhofft at half-time, recorded three chances created. However, some of Phoenix’s second half threat could also have been created thanks to Sacramento’s more reserved approach to play, and ultimately, the visitors could not find the breakthrough that they needed.