Stats & Analysis

A quick rundown of recent news and notes as we gear up for the new season.

U.S. Open Cup

As announced last week, City will be playing the Michigan Bucks in the first round of this year’s USOC, on the evening of May 13^th in Pontiac.

I’ve been trying to come up with a more anticipated matchup in City’s short history, and I haven’t been able. Other contenders: Game #1, Erie (7/1/12), Sparta (Mother’s Day ’13), Home playoffs in ’13, last year at Lansing. Game #1 loses out since the mood seemed more one of curiosity than anticipation; The First Invasion of Berkley falls short because the Bucks are a far more prestigious club than FC Sparta, and the others, while important games, each only had about a week for the hype to build.

One positive for City: when May 13^th rolls around, the team will have played three full friendlies, as opposed to just one before last year’s USOC game against RWB Adria. By the way, have fun with those guys Lansing 🙂

Additions

Since I posted my spring roster breakdown, the team has added two more players, both of whom seem capable of making a real impact. Javier Ramirez’s bio (Ashford University) describes him as a speedy attacking midfielder, and he could play on the wing or maybe as a deep-lying forward/advanced mid in City’s traditional 4-4-2. He scored double-digit goals for his college team in each of his last two seasons.

Tommy Catalano joins City after four seasons as a starting midfielder for the Bucks. Here is one of his better moments:

I think he’ll fit in okay.

Subtraction

Not really a subtraction since he didn’t play in 2014, but Knox Cameron will be turning out for AFC Ann Arbor this season, the new club of which he is a part owner. There’s been a little bit of the “traitor” banter going around but I’m not buying it. He’s an Ann Arbor guy (played at UM 2001-04), he put in a bunch of good performances for City in 2012 and ’13, and now he’s moving on to finish out his career by helping to build something new. Plus, AFCAA and DCFC don’t meet, and with all the fresh attacking talent on the City roster, it’s uncertain how much playing time he could have reasonably expected at this point.

Sublime, Superfluous Sponsor Speculation

City’s first ever title kit sponsor will be announced this Tuesday, and the front office has done a good job of keeping it under wraps. The only thing known for certain at this point is that it is “a well-known Detroit-based corporation.” Some possibilities and reasoning:

• Chevrolet – partnered with the club to promote last August’s Man U – Real Madrid game at Michigan Stadium
• Flagstar – was recently announced as the official bank of DCFC
• DTE, Compuware, Shinola – fit the “well-known” category

My gut tells me that the sponsor will be smaller than one of the Big 3, but larger than a bar or restaurant. Other than that I really have no idea. Going through this list of Detroit-based companies, I do have some preferences, though.

• Cadillac – appeals to an older, richer, more pimpin’ demographic.
• Carhartt – technically in Dearborn, but could provide cold-weather gear once Sepp Blatter gets his wish and US Soccer moves to a European calendar.
• Faygo – do Juggalos like soccer?
• Iron Fist Records – because it sounds really cool.

Upcoming Friendlies

Last but not least, here is the schedule for the rapidly-approaching preseason friendlies (more info here):

Saturday, April 18^th vs. SVSU (1:00 PM @ Hurley Field)

Saturday, April 25^th vs. MSU (5:30 PM @ Hurley Field)

Saturday, May 9^th vs. Muskegon Risers SC (7:30 PM @ Cass Tech)

These are great opportunities for new fans to check out the team and get a feel for the gameday atmosphere before inevitably falling hopelessly in love and surrendering their heart, mind, body, and soul to Le Rouge.

Full schedule graphic, c/o NGS:

New information on the proposed Keyworth Stadium renovation via The Hamtramck Review:

In summary:

• The current plan proposed by DCFC ownership includes structural improvements, replacing the current artifical turf with natural grass, construction of restroom and/or concession facilities, and putting in a practice field, possibly in the open space between Keyworth and the baseball stadium to the east.

• The cost of the plan is now at $3 million, triple the initial estimate that came out in October.
• The plan is for DCFC to move in for next season.

It’s now clear that Keyworth is ownership’s plan A, and probably plan B and C. Getting an outside investor/sponsor was always going to be necessary due to the price of renovations, now with the estimate up to $3 million, it’s absolutely essential. How soon those investors get lined up may determine whether or not the goal of moving the team in for the 2016 season is realistic.

If the move to Keyworth is going to happen, it would be best to happen as soon as possible to allow for continued crowd growth. The club already stands to lose tens of thousands of dollars this year from turning people away at the gate, and the problem will only worsen if City has to continue at Cass in 2016.

In a stunning development, the NPSL has demonstrated a bit of year-to-year consistency, releasing the schedule for its Midwest Region at about the same time it did in 2014. That consistency has not been applied across the board, however, so before taking a look at who Le Rouge will play this summer, we need to examine the current form of their ever-changing division.

Following the collapse of Eau Claire (mercifully) and Quad Cities (shockingly), the three remaining teams from the former Central Conference – Madison, Minnesota Utd. Reserves, and Minnesota TwinStars – have joined the former Great Lakes Conference teams, along with expansion side FC Indiana, in a single table.

This solves last year’s “Wildcard spot is determined by points-per-game” problem, but it creates another since each team will not play every other team. With the top 4 finishers qualifying for the playoffs, someone (probably multiple someones), is bound to feel cheated at the end of the season, and they will be absolutely justified in doing so.

As an example, let’s use our very own Detroit City FC. This season, City plays defending Midwest Champion Lansing United twice. If they finish in 5^th place behind a team that doesn’t play Lansing at all, they would have a legitimate gripe that the team in 4^th place benefited from a much weaker schedule.

As a solution, I’d prefer a 12-game schedule in which all teams played each other once. You would still have arguments over who had the tougher games at home versus on the road, but it would be more balanced and slightly less controversial than the current format.

Other possibilities:

• Adding teams and splitting the Midwest into two equally-sized divisions of 7 or 8. Teams would play each team in their division twice for a 12 or 14 game schedule, with the top 2 finishers in each division qualifying for the regional playoff.

• Dropping a few teams and playing a true double round-robin season. Since you’d have to get down to 8 or 9 teams at most (for a 14 or 16 game schedule), it would be hard to fit the entire Midwest into such a small division.

• A single table with two conferences, similar to MLS/NBA/NHL. Each team plays the teams from the opposite conference once, and the teams from its conference twice. The main issue here is the limit on NPSL season length. With the current 13 team table, this format would require an 18 game schedule, which is probably be out of the realm of possibility at present.

The first one looks best to me, but if the regional playoff was scrapped it would allow for the regular season to be expanded a bit, possibly making a true DRR single table an option. No matter the format, travel costs will remain a chief concern.

Now to the fun part.

• After playing a 14 game regular season in 2014, City will be back to a 12 game regular season this year, the same length as in 2012 and 2013. The reduction is mitigated by the 3 home friendlies, the first of which – against Muskegon on Saturday, May 9th – should have the atmosphere of a league game.

• As mentioned, Lansing is on the docket twice, as are Michigan Stars. Indiana Fire and FC Indiana are not on the schedule. This could be a benefit since the Fire were strong competition in 2014, but if FC Indiana turn out to be poor, City could be missing out on 3 easy points.

• The Rust Belt Derby is preserved, and it could be determined very early on. City’s first two league games are against Cleveland and Buffalo, and those two teams face each other in Cleveland on June 27^th.

• Of the three games against Madison and the Minnesotas, only one (June 14^th at United’s Reserves) is on the road. Scouting report based solely on last season’s records – TwinStars: mediocre, Madison: above average, United: good.

• Last three road games are at Cincinnati, Fort Pitt, and Michigan Stars. I’ll take it.

On the surface, this looks like a highly competitive division. I think there are 8 or 9 teams with a good chance of finishing in the top 4, and I doubt there will be any total pushovers* a la Zanesville ’13 or Eau Claire ‘ever. The trick will be to close out games and take care of your business and not allow your fate to be decided by the wonky schedule or goal differential.

*Or maybe at least one

On a final note, City’s first friendly of 2014 took place on April 19^th against SVSU. If something similar is organized, we will be watching live football in two and a half months.

There’s still grass under that foot and a half of snow.

Happy New Year!

I haven’t posted anything in a while. There are several reasons/excuses for this.

1. I’ve been pursuing other interests, such as:

Reading

 

Gaming

and laying waste to all those foolish enough to challenge my knowledge of random and useless things.

2. Unlike in previous years, there’s been very little news coming out of the NPSL office. (I think they have an office. They must have one, right?)

3. The general laziness that is spurred on by every day being dark and cloudy and cold.

–

As we gear up for another season of City football – less than four months away, assuming there’s a preseason friendly – I thought I’d do a little housecleaning. These are some thoughts that accumulated over the past several months but never grew into posts of their own. Time to clear them out.

1. Grand Rapids should’ve gotten in.

The main reason there hasn’t been much NPSL news to discuss recently is that the league’s new executive committee has seriously clamped down on expansion this offseason. The upside to this is that ad hoc, fly-by-night outfits akin to Zanesville, Pensacola City, and FC Sparta will find it much tougher to get into the league. The downside is that the new expansion requirements, whatever they may be, seem to have swung things too far in the opposite direction.

Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan and sits in a soccer dead zone. Lansing United and Detroit City are a couple hours off to the east, and the Indiana Fire and their big brothers in Chicago lie a couple hours to the west. As of last fall, GRFC had attracted over 400 founding members and there seemed to be a good deal of local interest in the club, much more than can be said for the majority of existing NPSL franchises.

Yet, for one reason or another, their application for entry into the league was turned down. Judging by the strictness of this new committee, I wonder if even Detroit City would’ve met their requirements when the club was just getting started.

NPSL Exec. #1 – “Okay, so the next proposal we’re looking at is for Detroit City FC.”

NPSL Exec. #2 – “Original name.”

NPSL Exec. #1 – “Yeah, well let’s see what they’ve got. Hmmm, it says here that the ownership group is made up of five guys who live and work in the city, and that they want to bring soccer to a market that doesn’t have a team of its own.”

NPSL Exec. #2 – “Any sponsors?”

NPSL Exec. #1 – “So far it looks like they’ve got a restaurant, a recycling service, and a bicycle shop.”

NPSL Exec. #2 – “Any BIG sponsors, like Burger King or something?”

NPSL Exec. #1 – “No.”

NPSL Exec. #2 – “Do they have a stadium lined up?”

NPSL Exec. #1 – “No.”

NPSL Exec. #2 – “Do they have anything else? Really?”

NPSL Exec. #1 – “Well they do have a cool logo and uh-“

NPSL Exec. #2 – “NEXT!”

Detroit – Lansing – Grand Rapids would’ve been a good balance of in-state clubs, close enough to develop some local rivalries over the years, yet spread out enough to allow development without stepping on each other’s toes. Instead, we get another Indiana team that 10 people will show up for, and we’re still stuck with FC Spartamichiganstars Coattail Riders FC, who are looking to move to a venue in the City of Detroit for the upcoming season. I predict next year they will change their kits to a darker shade of red and adopt a French nickname.

Speaking of riding coattails…

2. Duggan’s Dream

After failing to have his plan for a Detroit USL Pro team in place for the 2014 deadline, Dan Duggan has an eye towards next year:

“I’m happy, however, that it has taken this long and now that we past the September window for the 2015 season, we are hopeful to bring a professional team to Downtown Detroit for the 2016 season,” said Duggan. “This way we will also have all spring and summer to work on the stadium, scout and select the players, market and advertise and work with others in Detroit and Michigan that want to come together to make and see this happen.”

He also remains as tone-deaf as ever:

“Detroit City FC has proven that young people love having a team to call their own. They helped to show that people will come to Detroit to watch a game and to the extent that our talent in Michigan does extend.”

We DO love having a team to call our own. For the 9.8×10²¹st time, we will CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THEM no matter what other club comes along.

If you still want to build us a stadium, though, that would be lovely.

Speaking of Duggan…

3. Michigan Bucks: 2014 PDL Champions

When the Bucks won their 2^nd PDL title in August, this Twitter exchange got me thinking.

Is he right? Is a club’s status gauged solely by trophies, or is there more to it than that? Is personal success measured by the amount of material wealth one has accumulated, or by the relationships one has built and the lives one has touched? Is prosperity quantifiable, or is it merely a sense of contentment that comes from within?

You probably know where I’m going with this.

Name as many of the last 10 PDL, NPSL, USL Pro, and NASL champions that you can. Now name as many PDL, NPSL, USL Pro, and NASL clubs that you can that are known for their high level of support.

If you’re like me, the first number can be counted on one hand, and the second number takes two, plus a foot.

There’s more to life than silverware. Plus, we’ve only been around for three years. We’ll get ours.

Speaking of… of other soccer stuff…

4. Promotion & Relegation

I’ve never written anything on this before, but people are talking about it so now seemed like a good time.

My position on pro/rel is the same as my position on dating Kate Upton:

• I’m for it.
• I realize the possibility is low, but also greater than zero.
• I won’t waste my time contemplating and hoping for it, much less denouncing everyone who disagrees with me.
• If, one day, it actually happened, I would welcome it.

5. NPSL Combine

Lastly, props to Zach Schewee, who will be participating in the upcoming NPSL Combine in Florida. Left-sided players are always in demand and it would be great to see him catch on with a professional side.