by Friday, May 30th, 2014 – Detroit City FC 3, Cincinnati 2
Sunday, June 1st, 2014 – Detroit City FC 2, Indiana Fire 2
[Work commitments are preventing me from putting together a full write-up this week (read: crushing my spirit and keeping me from the things that I love), so I’m just going to write a few thoughts on the weekend as a whole. There should be a guest post on the Indiana game up in a day or two.]Random Thoughts
The Game: Cincinnati Overall, pretty even in terms of possession and chances for both teams. City came out and dominated the first half, Cincy the second, and then City picked up where it left off last year: scoring late to steal points on the road.
It was also nice to see them playing on a full-sized field; they showed that they are not just a long-ball team, despite what some opponents and their supporters would have you believe.
Finally, thumbs up to the referee, who let the teams play, called what needed to be called and didn’t bite on any of the borderline stuff.
Stoppage Time Question I’ll let Reddit user BDCanuck take it:
Standouts Against Cincinnati, Zach Myers had probably the goal of the season so far, a rocket from near the top of the box off a rebound (Fast Forward to the 23:00 mark to see it HERE). Fellow striker Will Mellors-Blair had a goal in each game, and Cyrus Saydee had a very good weekend, capped with a goal and assist against Indiana.
Defense After three clean sheets to begin the season, City gave up two goals in consecutive games. They still came away with a win and a draw so it’s not time to run around and panic, but for comparison, they only gave up two goals once in the 2013 regular season (6/21 at Cleveland, a 3-2 win).
New (and Old) Faces Locky Savage and Miche’le Lipari made their first appearances of the season on Friday night, as did former FC Sparta captain George Chomakov (Welcome to the Light Side). Against Indiana, Eliott Tarney got the start in goal.
Big Picture This was the only two-game weekend of 2014 in which both games were on the road. The next three (June 6th & 8th, July 4th & 6th, and July 11th and 13th) consist of home and away games, and the final two include short road trips to Dearborn Heights and Lansing.
Coming out of these two games with four points is a very good result, especially with the second game being against one of the strongest teams in the conference. City currently trails Indiana by a point in the standings, but has a game in hand.
NPSL Midwest We’re roughly a third of the way through the season, and it seems pretty clear that Indiana and Lansing are going to be City’s main competition for the Great Lakes West Conference title. As of this moment, Cleveland is on top in the East, and the Central is just getting going so it’s too early to make any definitive statements there.
Obligatory Pirmann
Rouge Rovers
As the fanbase grows, opposing teams should expect to see support for DCFC at their places on a regular basis.
On a related note, the Northern Guard now has chapters in Lansing and Cascadia. #growingthegame?
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