For FC Tucson, it’s just nice to be home for a while.
Last weekend’s road trip — the team’s last of the season — featured a canceled flight out of Tucson, an impromptu caravan up to Phoenix to catch another flight, a midnight arrival in South Carolina, a thunderstorm that delayed kickoff the next day … and then a 4-0 loss to Greenville Triumph SC.
“By the time that game even started,” head coach Darren Sawatzky said, “our guys were exhausted.”
The loss at Greenville followed up a 5-0 defeat at home to second-place Lansing Ignite FC on Sept. 6, but the Men in Black remain optimistic. Their four remaining games will all be played at Kino North Stadium, starting with Saturday’s game against the Richmond Kickers.
“It’s hard to say you’ve been a bit unlucky after you’ve given up nine goals in two games,” defender Lamar Batista said. “If you’re watching the games, you can see we’re not playing poorly, but that’s no excuse. We need to be sharper from the back four, up through the midfield and the attackers as one big unit.”
As the lower-division affiliate of the Phoenix Rising FC of the USL Championship and, above them, Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer, FC Tucson’s role is to develop players for bigger stages.
Batista, 21, personifies that purpose, having played for all three teams this season.
“Our job is to help maximize what LAFC saw in Lamar, and that’s helping him develop as a young pro and get some valuable minutes,” Sawatzky said. “Over the course of the season, Lamar’s really grown. He’s more dangerous in the air, become more adept at knowing where and when to pass out of the back and he’s become meaner as a defender.”
Both LAFC and Phoenix Rising are juggernauts this season — LAFC is atop the MLS standings, while Rising is riding a 20-game winning streak atop the USL Championship standings. (Yes, that’s 20 consecutive wins).
Playing time wasn’t going to come easily in either of those places.
Batista was more than happy to go along with LAFC head coach Bob Bradley’s wishes and come to Tucson, where he’s appeared in 15 games for the Men in Black.
“(Bradley) watches all the games, and just knowing that he’s watching keeps me disciplined with my game and not take any plays off,” Batista said.
Sawatzky said the team’s recent struggles aren’t down to a lack of effort, and sometimes the club’s focus on player development comes at the expense of winning games.
“We have a relationship with LAFC and Phoenix Rising, and we’re committed to that,” Sawatzky said. “If playing for results meant that I’m coaching for my job, we wouldn’t be doing our job as a club.
“Part of player development is allowing them to make mistakes and play through them.”
