Author: Andrew

Match Recaps - Photo Galleries

Detroit City FC draw with Chattanooga FC in home-and-home series finale

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Article and Photos by Robert Sherman

Detroit City FC returned to Keyworth Stadium for the first time since August of last year on Saturday evening, eager to open its home schedule for the 2018 season. In the first of two friendlies to be held at home before beginning competitive play, Le Rouge drew fellow NPSL powerhouse Chattanooga FC, 1-1, leaving the latter winless in the home-and-home series.

Further into its preseason progression in part to the fair weather in Tennessee, Chattanooga FC should have held an advantage over City, who still have not received all of their players for the year. The lack of a complete roster and less than ideal weather in the Detroit area has partly stifled training for the club in the lead up to the friendlies.

“We’re narrowing down the group to more realistic options,” head coach Ben Pirmann said. “We want to see that front four be more dangerous, more lethal. I told them at halftime that they have to grind.

“Backline cohesion, we’ve got six guys to pick out of the four. We’ve got Stephen (Carroll), Sebby (Harris), and Jimmy (Fiscus), who will battle it out for the two center back spots.

“We have two good options at left back, but I want to see more out of them. T.J. (Stephens) has been solid at right back, but again we need more there.”

As was the case at Finley Stadium last week, the shortened roster was a non-factor for City’s success in the draw, giving head coach Ben Pirmann a foundation to work with as he eyes the beginning of his club’s competitive fixtures.

“We’ll have options,” he said. “Now it’s our job to figure out who plays where.”

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Season Previews - Stats & Analysis

Season Preview 2018: Attacking Midfielders & Wingers

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PART I: Rebel Scum   PART II: Forwards

ATTACKING MIDFIELD & WING

Any discussion of attacking midfielders must begin with Cyrus Saydee, through whom all things are possible.

He’s now the last man standing from City’s inaugural 2012 team, and he’s rapidly approaching Kaline/Yzerman/Isiah/Barry-esque legendary status, if he’s not there already. While he’s been a consistently excellent performer throughout his career, his play last season was on a different level.

Some of his Greatest Hits from 2017 (1:05 makes me feel feelings):

It continues to baffle me how no pro team has ever taken a chance on him. Admittedly, he’s a bit undersized (5’6”-ish), but there are countless numbers of players who’ve overcome that obstacle to carve out successful pro careers. There are 33 teams in USL, and I refuse to believe that none of them could use a player of Cyrus’s caliber. Their ignorance and stubbornness is our gain, but I digress.

A player who did have a pro foray in 2017, Danny Deakin rejoins the team after a season with Orlando City B.

Deakin spent 2016 with City, and was one of the better performers during that disappointing campaign. He and Saydee often teamed up to create quality scoring chances, only to have their efforts wasted by poor finishing or strikers not making good runs into the box.

Since Deakin and Saydee play similar roles as roaming attacking midfielders, any lineup with both of them should also include a strong defensive center midfielder to cover the space left open behind them.

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Season Previews - Stats & Analysis

Season Preview 2018: Forwards

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PART I: Rebel Scum

Note 1: All position previews address the roster as it currently exists.

Note 2: In the case of players who play multiple positions, I’ve listed them at their primary spot (or at least what I think it is, based on the information available).

Note 3: Official DCFC Roster page is here.

FORWARD/STRIKER

A good way to start this year’s position previews is to note that City’s leading goal scorer from 2017 is back. Shawn Lawson brought stability and production back to a position which struggled mightily in 2016, scoring 9 goals and combining well with Cyrus Saydee and Tyrone Mondi, in particular.

A well-rounded forward, Lawson is capable of beating defenders off the dribble, in the air…

…and with pure speed:

And it’s been almost four years since his goal which snapped half a dozen ankles against Fort Pitt, but here it is again, for old times’ sake:

Though his first appearance with City was all the way back in 2013, he’s still just 24 years old and is now coming into his prime. I expect him to be the starting striker at the beginning of the season, but he’s going to face much more competition than he did a year ago. If he can continue doing things like this, though, he may just hold them all off.

The foremost challenger should be Rafa Mentzingen, a fellow 9-goal scorer in 2017, albeit with Lansing United. While Lansing had some tough times, particularly in the defense of large leads, Mentzingen was a bright spot. By far the brightest spot:

Also, since this post is about soccer, I’m obligated to mention that he’s Brazilian. Not that this makes him in any way superior to other players, but you have to admit it conjures up a certain magical aura, kind of like when Don Cherry talks about hockey players who are, “Good Ol’ Ontario Boys.”

Getting back on point, if Rafa doesn’t start as a central striker, I think he may fit best in the left wing role vacated by Tyrone Mondi. His slick dribbling and pure finishing may also draw some comparisons to Will Mellors-Blair, and there’s some chance he’ll live up to that hype. No matter where he lines up, his attacking prowess and nose for goal will get him on the field right away.

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Season Previews - Story of the Club

Season Preview 2018: Rebel Scum

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Photo by Robert Sherman
Photo by Robert Sherman

A Death Star hangs in the sky above us, its massive cannon poised to fire at everything we’ve built and fought for. It didn’t just randomly appear there; we’re partially responsible for drawing the Empire’s attention. And while not everyone on that battle station is evil, those who are in command see us as a threat to their dominance in this part of the galaxy. For we’ve shown there’s a different path to success, and they can’t allow our ideas to spread.

There are some people who are rooting for our destruction. They see us as petulant upstarts who care only about ourselves. “Why can’t you just step aside and let the true power take your place?” they ask. “The Empire will bring order and justice.” This is a lie, of course. One only need look around at other systems to see the results of submission.

And then there are those who suggest coexistence, as if it’s our desire to continue on in our current state forever, rather than continue the growth that’s brought us to this point. There can be no coexistence with tyranny except as its subject. Accepting the Empire’s domination will only diminish us and result in our permanent subjugation.

To be clear, we want to run this City. We want our colors alone on its buildings and in the streets. We want to become interwoven into its very fabric and become part of its history. We want our children and grandchildren to experience what we have and carry on the legacy. We want to build something that will last into the next century and beyond.

We want all these things, and we want others, wherever they are, to have the same opportunity.

It would be wonderful to go about our business and ignore the moon-sized weapon aiming at our heads, but that’s simply not a viable strategy – its mere presence has very real effects on our fortunes. The dark shadow it casts has scared away potential allies, yet still we work tirelessly to recruit more to our cause.

We’ve overcome other threats before, but they were more or less our equals. This new one is our greatest test. Even if our fighters can penetrate the station’s outer defenses and deliver a torpedo to its ventilation shaft, the Empire will be back. If we win a victory here, though, we’ll buy ourselves some time so that when they do return, they’ll be up against a mighty fleet.

This is the year on which our future hinges. What we’ve accomplished is significant; what we’re going to do is even greater.

Rebellion is in our blood. City is in our hearts.

General Soccer - Story of the Club

What Is and What Should Be

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Photo via DCFC

Saturday, April 21st, 2018 – Detroit City FC 2 Chattanooga FC 1

Photo via DCFC

Every year it becomes more evident that there are two competing visions of how to build soccer in America. The first, and the one that’s been around longer*, is the top-down, centralized model represented by the USSF, MLS, SUM, and their subsidiaries. The second is the grassroots, community-based model, best exemplified by independently-grown clubs.

While small, local clubs have existed in this country for over 100 years, it’s only in the past decade they’ve become truly relevant on the national scene. If I had to pick a date, I’d say the founding of Chattanooga FC in 2009 marks the beginning of that era. As the sport has grown in popularity and become more ubiquitous – just go to any public place with a good number of people and count the number of soccer jerseys you see – the number of independent clubs has exploded. And, while most of them sizzle for a year or two and then fade into nothingness, there are a few that stick.

Chattanooga and Detroit are very different cities with very different cultures, but the fact that lower-division soccer has flourished in both strongly suggests that it can happen anywhere. One thought I had while watching Saturday night’s match was, “This feels bigger than the exhibition it is. This is a glimpse of what American soccer can and should be.”

In my opinion, grassroots soccer is the best way to build a true footballing culture, one where kids play pickup at the local park or indoor facility and dream of playing for their hometown club one day. This model allows soccer to get into the nooks and crannies that the federation and first division ignore because they’re focused on chasing larger TV markets and the dollars that are included.

Detroit is a major battleground between these two opposing philosophies because everything about the city – population size, big money power-brokers, successful pro sports town – seems to fit the top-down approach perfectly. The problem is the grassroots movement has planted a flag and built a stronghold here, and might actually win.

While recent events in US soccer have been mostly negative (failure of USMNT to qualify for the World Cup, USSF’s “status quo” election, collapse of the NASL), they don’t necessarily affect those of us who are on the ground helping our clubs thrive. The only time the federation directly impacts us is when they fail to provide a league option that makes sense as a viable next step.

There’s a potential fix for that too. And even if NISA doesn’t get off the ground, the continued growth and development of independent clubs will eventually make the formation of another pro league inevitable. The only question is how long it will take.

What’s been built in Chattanooga and Detroit are the consequences of a rapidly expanding soccer culture, one that those in the power structure hadn’t foreseen, and that they probably aren’t sure what to do with. If the pair of matches between CFC and DCFC are visions of the future, we should feel excited and encouraged.

*I’m specifically addressing the past 30 years, aka the modern age of American soccer that began with the USMNT’s qualification for the 1990 World Cup.