A Phoenix team has been in the current USL in one form or another since 2013, but until Didier Drogba came to town, it never made the playoffs.

In what will be his second and finalseason with the Rising, the 40-year-old Drogba, who is retiring, led to the USL Cup with a 2-1 win at No. 1-seed Orange County SC in the Western Conference final, its third straight wins in the 2018playoffs after exiting in the conference quarterfinals in 2017.

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