phoenix – Phoenix Rising FC announced Friday that the club has signed midfielder and Phoenix native Jose Andres Hernandez ahead of the 2023 USL Championship season. This transaction is pending league and federation approval.
Born in Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico, the midfielder attended Maryvale High School in Phoenix. Hernandez was named the US Soccer Development Academy Western Conference U-18 Player of the Year in 2014-15 and competed for the RSL Arizona Academy before attending UCLA for two seasons before turning professional.
Rising FC head coach Juan Guerra, who coached Hernández at Oakland Roots SC before arriving in Phoenix in the middle of the 2022 season, said: “I am very happy to be working with Jose again. There aren’t many players who read the game like him.He’s a technically clean, dynamic player who fits our style of play very well.”
After being named the Bruins’ Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Hernandez signed with Real Salt Lake as a homegrown player in 2017, appearing in seven games and scoring one goal in Major League Soccer. During that period, Hernandez was on loan for Real Monarchs SLC, where he also played in the USL Championship, with eight appearances as the Monarchs earned his season record for best regular in the league in 2017. Scored 2 goals.
Since then, he has also played in championships for LA Galaxy II and OKC Energy FC, spending the past two seasons with Auckland Roots SC. Overall, the 26-year-old is a regular in the Championship.In his season he has made 126 appearances, scoring 11 goals and he has scored 11 assists.
“I’m a very attacking player, but I give my all in and out of the game,” Hernandez said. “I’m not afraid to do the dirty work and get rough. After all, my feet speak for themselves. I want the ball. I like to connect passes instead of flipping them.” is.
