Story of the Club

Sunday, June 30th, 2019 – Detroit City FC 6 Toledo Villa FC 0

Late in the first half of Sunday’s match came a play which I felt was emblematic of City’s team and season as a whole.

It wasn’t Max Todd’s looping header, and it wasn’t Bakie Goodman’s pickpocketing of Aerin West, which led to Todd’s second goal.

It came off of a City corner. Toledo won the ball and was looking to push it up the field, with the aim of cutting City’s 2-0 lead in half.

Having taken the corner just moments beforehand, Danny Deakin went on a dead sprint from the southwest corner of the field to come back and break up the potential counter attack.

I’m not sure if he makes that play last season. Frankly, I’m not sure if anyone makes that play last season.

It’s blindingly obvious that there’s something different about the team this year. Perhaps the most obvious thing is the fanatical effort put forth by each and every player from the first minute until the final whistle.

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Saturday, June 22nd, 2019 – Detroit City FC 3 FC Columbus 0

Why is it so fun to disparage Ohio?

What makes it feel so… right?

Some Michiganders might point to the transfer theft of Toledo in 1836 and posit that it resulted in a deep, inter-generational resentment between residents of the two states.

Others would bring up the generally appalling ways in which Michigan football fans have been treated in Columbus; archetypal incidents range from vandalism of cars with Michigan license plates to physical assault of old ladies, and the perennially-popular flinging of beer and/or bodily fluids in the general direction of anyone wearing blue or yellow.

I think it’s simpler than that. There’s an easy explanation as to why Ohio is so eminently hateable.

That, of course, is its geographic location (i.e. its uncomfortable closeness). If Ohio was a person, it would be someone who picks the seat right next to you in an otherwise empty movie theater, or an overzealous clothing store employee who just asked you for the third time in a five minute span if you need help finding anything.

On top of that, it’s oftentimes the place you need to go through to get to another, more desirable place; a big, flat, green expanse of not-a-whole-lot.

Hindering your efforts to get out of there are the absurdly low speed limits, coupled with the eternally under-construction I-75, modern America’s equivalent of a medieval cathedral, started by one generation in the hope that it will be completed by their great-great grandchildren.

It’s not all bad, though. Ohio is the source of many important things, such as barbells, lingerie, aerospace pioneers, and Detroit City victories.

With Saturday’s result, City’s all-time regular season record in the state moves to 8-1-1, the lone loss coming way back in 2012 at Cleveland.

They did it the way they’ve done all season, with soul-crushing defense and an unselfish attack that comes at you in waves and spreads the goals among several different scorers. By now other teams must have a pretty good idea of the approach City is going to take, but, other than Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, none have been able to even tread water against them.

Judgment Weekend™ against those two teams looms on the horizon, but Toledo must be dealt with prior to that.

Mercifully, that match will take place in Hamtramck, but, once more, a little piece of Ohio stands between us and the place we’d like to be.

Friday, June 14th, 2019 – Detroit City FC 2 Michigan Stars 0
Sunday, June 16th, 2019 – Detroit City FC 5 Toledo Villa FC 0

I really struggled to come up with something to write about this week. Ideas are easy to come by in the wake of a big win or a soul-searching loss, but due to the remarkable string of success City has put together, my recent dilemma has been figuring out how to say the same things differently each week.

Then I realized, I don’t have to do that. The fact that they’re cranking out clean sheet results as if from an assembly line is a worthy talking point in and of itself.

By this point, we all know that they’re one of the best defensive clubs in all the NPSL, and that Trevor James’ tactics and player management are dialed in, and that everything is humming along splendidly. What’s notable is how similar each moment is to the one that follows.

Consistently performing at a high level is arguably the most sought-after, yet difficult thing to achieve in any sport. One mark of the truly great teams and players is their ability to replicate results over the course of a season or career.

City is currently in a sweet spot where each match seems to blend into the next because the performances are so uniform and consistent. Right down to the smallest details, rhymes and echoes of the previous weekends can be heard over and over.

Kervin Kenton is given huge tracts of land on the left wing in which to operate.

Todd, Deakin, and Goodman play Tic-Tac-Toe throughout the midfield.

Shawn Lawson scores.

The defenders look calm to the point of detachment. It’s as if they’re thinking, “I am above this. I transcend this frivolous mortal experience.”

This season has been beautiful in its monotony, its predictability, its… sameness.

May the repetition continue.

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Gallery photos by Franzi Loetzner