Phoenix Rising celebrate their USL Championship at CityScape

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Soccer fans began marching from the stadium near the airport onto the downtown light rail before finally taking over the CityScape. They came to celebrate the Phoenix Rising becoming the 2023 USL champions!

“We have the best fans in the league. It is so amazing to celebrate this championship with them. They’ve been supporting us so much and to win them a championship and celebrate is really important,” said midfielder Panos Armenakas with the rising.

The road to get to this point was a long one. The rising before the season began moved from Chandler to downtown Phoenix and got a slew of new players, but even so, they ended up winning it all in a nail-biter of a match against Charleston.

Fans and players rewatched those emotional moments during the ceremony. “You always come with the ambition to win and Everyone wants to win in the league but to be part of history is great,” said Armenakas.

Before the celebrations, Arizona’s family caught up with Rising coach Juan Guerra, who, at 36, is the youngest head coach to win the title in league history. He’s enjoying the moment and has a message for the fans. “We want to stay hungry… the organization that we represent, the supporter groups that we represent we want everyone to understand we are a community that grows and hopefully next year will be a continuation of this year,” said Guerra.

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