Story of the Club

Stats & Analysis - Story of the Club

The Lives We’ve Chosen

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Friday, May 13th, 2016 – Detroit City FC 2 Michigan Stars 2

Sunday, May 15th, 2016 – Detroit City FC 4 Dayton Dynamo 2

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Photo by Dion Degennaro

It’s one week into the season and I’m exhausted. About half of it is physical fatigue, and the other half is an unquantifiable mental fogginess, probably accumulated through weeks of the just-when-you-think-it’s-over-someone-brings-it-back-up MLS to Detroit discussion. (I guess I’m the guilty one this time, aren’t I?). Four years and change into the City Experience, we’ve developed a bit of a binge-purge rhythm: we starve for the nine-month offseason then stuff our faces as much as possible from late April to the end of July.

I’ve never experienced such a hectic whirlwind of a run-up to and beginning of a season, and I’m sure many are feeling something similar. Six matches in the first twelve days is a brutal, demanding run, after all. From Detroit City’s owners to the coaches, players, staff, on down to the supporters, it seems as if we’re all scrambling around trying to do as much as we can, as best we can, in the tiniest window possible.

After Brett Nason scored the winning penalty kick against the Bucks, he had to hurry home to finish his accounting homework. Dozens of supporters will be making the same-day round trip to Louisville this Wednesday, and many will only be able to grab a couple hours of sleep before heading to work on Thursday morning. Above all, Keyworth Stadium’s fresh concrete and new paint are still drying as we speak, only days away from the home opener.

Of those deeply involved with the club, particularly the five guys running it, I’d wager that most have had at least one “Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into?” moment. Whether you’re trying to rehab a long-neglected stadium, training to play in it, or rushing to finish the tifo that will usher in its new era, it’s a ton of work. Working and working and working at something can become a grind. It’s tiring, often frustrating, and it may sometimes even feel like a chore. In the end, though, we continue doing what we do because this is something we believe in, something we have true passion for. Outsiders and naysayers may poke and prod but they’ll never truly understand the way we feel. And, really, it doesn’t matter. They haven’t hindered us so far and they surely aren’t doing so now.

I’m tired, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy. In fact, I’m having a blast. I can’t wait for what’s next because I know it will be incredible.

Photo by Jon DeBoer
Photo by Jon DeBoer

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Quick takes from the weekend:

The Good:

(1) Danny Deakin It took him a couple matches to settle in, but against Dayton he ignited a City attack that had, up to that point, been less than spectacular. His first goal with Le Rouge was a thing of beauty*…

… and he assisted on the three subsequent goals, two of which were scored by…

(2) Alec Lasinski Lasinski caught my eye in the friendly against Muskegon when he came on as a second-half sub and recorded a goal and assist in about a half hour of play. Since he’s just coming off his freshman season in college, I figured he’d find it tough to find much playing time, but he featured prominently in both weekend matches and appears to have carved out a spot in the rotation.

(3) Road Results It hurt to give up a 2-0 lead against the Stars and only come away with a point, but given the circumstances (less than 48 hours removed from an emotional 120-minute battle, several key players unavailable, going up against what should be a much-improved opponent), a draw wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Given the length of the season, that result set Sunday up as a kinda, sorta must-win and City took care of business.

*Video by Michael Kitchen

The Bad:

(1) Defensive set pieces City came away unscathed after a barrage of corners against the Bucks, but failed to match that performance as both Stars goals and one Dynamo goal came off of corner kicks. I wonder what Coach Pirmann will be emphasizing this week during practice…

(2) Second half performance Two matches: 4 goals allowed, 0 scored in second halves. I wonder what else Coach Pirmann will be emphasizing this week during practice…

(3) Depth issues As feared, Evan Louro had to leave the team following Friday night’s match. More under the radar, Billy Stevens reportedly shattered his foot in the same game. With Alex Isaevski still on the mend, that leaves City with only five or six true defenders on the roster. Throw in a couple of inexperienced keepers and we have a situation that looks pretty iffy.

The lolwut?:

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The reasons many City supporters are less than enamored with MLS are well-documented, but for me, another one is the sheer ridiculousness that exists at the D-4 level is incredibly entertaining and amusing and it would suck to lose that.

Yes, the Stars hired a garage band – The Dirty Elizabeths – presumably to try and drown out the noise of the Northern Guard. No, it did not work. They did play “What’s Up”, though, so that was pretty fun.

Up Next:

USOC Round 2 at Louisville City FC I know absolutely nothing about LCFC, so I’ll direct you to Robert Sherman’s excellent preview and analysis HERE.

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Stats & Analysis - Story of the Club

On the Shoulders of Giants

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Wednesday, May 11th, 2016 – Detroit City FC 0 Michigan Bucks 0 (4-3 DCFC on penalties AET)

Photo by Konrad Maziarz
Photo by Konrad Maziarz

One thing that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom is our practice of knowledge accumulation. Older technology forms the basis of new inventions and discoveries build upon each other, causing fields of study to become more and more specialized and intricate over time. This phenomenon exists at the individual level as well, in that we learn from our past experiences and make use of that information in the future.

Last year we were naïve… Myself, my staff, my players, we were out to lunch. This year we were focused.Ben Pirmann*

While many of Detroit City’s players are young up-and-comers looking to further their development by playing over the summer, what gets lost in the shuffle is that their head coach is in a similar situation. Even though Ben Pirmann is in his fourth year in charge of City, he’s still only 30 years old, essentially a novice when it comes to the coaching profession.

His approach to the Open Cup match last year was, to use his words, naïve. His team played too stretched, too open, and looked uncomfortable playing on the spacious indoor field. After a good early chance from Will Mellors-Blair, the Bucks asserted themselves and the game was over before halftime. The loss was deflating but full of lessons, many of which formed the foundation of Wednesday’s gameplan.

It was clear to any casual observer how badly he wanted this one.

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In order to get it, he changed, he evolved, he adapted like the Borg.

After years of running a basic 4-4-2, which probably had as much to do with the narrow field at Cass Tech as his own personal preferences, Pirmann has rolled out more of a 4-2-3-1 in the early part of 2016. Apart from the subtle changes in formation, what was most striking in this game was the positional discipline and commitment to a defense-first strategy. Rarely did any City player stray too far from his spot on the field, and while this led to a somewhat frustrating offensive performance, it proved effective at stifling the Bucks’ attack. Aside from two or three real chances, the Bucks had a very difficult time generating anything else, in stark contrast to last year when their three goals easily could’ve been five or six.

In the end, the plan worked. Helped by some spectacular goalkeeping from Evan Louro and the (mostly) ice-cold penalty takes, City closed the on-field gap between the two clubs. In just one year, they went from a team that looked like it didn’t belong in the same building with the Bucks to one that played them dead even over the course of an entire match.

Pirmann now has a signature win – easily the biggest in club history – and his fingerprints are becoming ever more noticeable when it comes to the makeup of City’s roster and its playing style. The hope now is that the development of his skills as a coach will translate into further success, particularly in the playoffs. Of course, to get there, the team must first go through the 12-match regular season.

City’s level of talent is superior to that of any team they’ll face in a competitive match for the rest of the season, so if Wednesday was indicative of how they’ll play moving forward, a deep playoff run seems a very reasonable expectation. No longer part of a fledgling club, Pirmann and his players have ample experiences from which to draw upon. The heights they reach will be greatly determined by their willingness to learn from the lessons of the past.

*Source

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Elsewhere: excellent articles from For the Love of Fútbol and Last Word on Sports.

Opposite field PK shootout video taken by John Brown II:

Afterglow:

Photo by Jon DeBoer
Photo by Jon DeBoer

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Story of the Club

The Boys in Rouge and Gold

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There is a storm before us
None know what it will hold
But you and I will weather it
With love of Rouge and Gold

The time has gone so quickly
The years just fell away
Of all our cherished memories
Nothing matters but today

In rain or sunny weather
In heat or in the cold
We’ll never stop supporting those
Who wear the Rouge and Gold

There’s nothing more for us to do
There’s nothing more to say
The only thing that’s left
Is for our club to win the day

I’ll follow them across the world
Until I’m sick and old
And when I’m dead I’ll follow still
The Boys in Rouge and Gold

 

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Season Previews - Story of the Club

Season Preview 2016: Reclamation

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Come let’s fall in love again, let’s turn all the dirt in this world to shiny gold.Rumi

Time is a powerful force. It withers bodies that were once strong, reduces mountains to pebbles, and transforms history into myth. One thing it can’t do, though, is kill an idea that has taken root in the human mind. The idea doesn’t have to be something as grand as liberty or equality; it can be as simple as a few people sharing a vision of how they’d like to shape their small corner of the world.

In one of those corners known as Hamtramck stands a stadium whose eighty years have not been kind to it. Like much of the city that surrounds it, it’s been tossed aside and neglected, in dire need of money, love, and attention. As the saying goes, however, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and so the old ground is now being tended to by those who’ve looked past the crumbling concrete and warped wood and seen the beauty underneath.

If Detroit City Football Club has an underlying theme to its existence, it is community building and enrichment. This is the reason so many people have formed such a deep attachment to the club in just a few short years. More than just the simple, straightforward consumption of a sporting entertainment product, supporting the club allows you to contribute to its overall growth, as well as take a direct hand in many of its local efforts.

The latest of these, the renovation of Keyworth Stadium, is the most ambitious. This isn’t because of the amount of construction work required, the bulk of which will be finished in a few weeks, completing just a three-month schedule; it’s due to the fact that the work was funded entirely by private individuals, many of whom invested just a few hundred dollars. Whenever I write about the community spirit between DCFC and its supporters, it often feels a little vague and nebulous, as if it’s just a warm fuzzy feeling rather than something tangible. It’s definitely there, though, and nearly three quarters of a million dollars invested into a lower level soccer club that only started up in 2012 is hard proof of its existence.

A significant, if less drastic, rebuild is taking place on the field, necessitated by the departures of a number of players, most notably club mainstays Josh Rogers, Will Mellors-Blair, and Bret Mollon. Despite competing at a level in which rosters can fluctuate wildly from year to year, City has been able to maintain a steady core of players from the get-go, and, on paper, it appears that the team has been re-stocked with a substantial amount of talent.

Question marks remain, though, especially following a season which, viewed from the distance of nine months, seems a bit underwhelming. That may seem harsh, and that’s how it feels to write it, but in spite of all the amazing moments – Seb Harris’ late winner against Cleveland, 10>11 and the firetrucks in Cincinnati, WMB’s dagger through Lansing’s heart – the results in the Open Cup and in the Midwest playoffs bookended the year with disappointment.

As with its new home, City is going through a time of transition. Luckily, the annual divisional reshuffling has matched them up with what looks to be a fairly manageable group of opponents. With a bevy of new attacking options, Danny Deakin foremost among them, this year should not lack for excitement and entertainment. There will also be frustrations along the way, but in the end, this may be the club’s best shot at a Midwest title since 2013.

Regardless of results, 2016 has already been a resounding success for the club and the movement that it’s inspired. Time tried its hardest to make people forget about Detroit, but its people wouldn’t let it die. Soon a little old stadium will be filled with a greater number of people and a higher level of noise than it’s ever seen before. Fixing her up won’t save Hamtramck or magically solve all of its problems, but by wiping some of the dirt away, we’ve made one piece of our city shine a little brighter.

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Photo by Konrad Maziarz

Story of the Club

My Addiction

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I’d never gotten into drugs before – one of my most vivid childhood memories was of a school assembly in first grade in which some guy used the “scare the absolute shit out of you” tactic to discourage all of us wee little would-be junkies from ever trying anything not officially sanctioned by our parents, our teachers, the United States Federal Government, or the Roman Catholic Church.* While recounting the tale of a grisly emergency room experience (I guess he was a paramedic or something) involving an unresponsive teen, he gave his money quote, one that I still remember verbatim:

“And they got him into the operating room, they cut him open, and they found a bunch of DRUGS inside!”

Approximately ten years later, in the same auditorium, a militant feminist speaker informed me and 250 of my fellow male high-schoolers that half of us would commit rape at one point in our lives. This has nothing to do with anything, it was just something that popped into my head while reminiscing my school years that made me laugh.**

Back to the matter at hand. That one shocking E.R. tale and the way its young subject was portrayed as a veritable drug piñata did its job, inspiring me to stay on the straight and narrow all throughout grade school and high school. Well, actually, it probably had more to do with good parenting and a fulfilling family life, but why let that get in the way of a good story?

It wasn’t until a few years into college that I found something that truly tickled my fancy. I never really sought it out, it just kind of plopped itself down into my life. I was aware of its existence, but for some reason I’d never given it a second thought.

I only really dabbled at first, learning indirectly from others who were involved and watching from afar, but once the opportunity to participate presented itself, there was just no way I could pass it up.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I wasn’t sure I was feeling anything at first, but by the end of the first night, I knew that I’d be back for more.

2012 was the year I got hooked. That summer, whenever I got the chance, I’d drive downtown for my next fix. I usually went alone, but each time I noticed more and more people were coming to my spot. The secret was getting out.

At the end of that first magical summer, our supply dried up. The next ten months were absolute hell. You’d get a rumor here, a tease there, but never anything of real substance. Copycats and imitators popped up left and right, but we all knew that nothing would be able to duplicate that feeling we got from our substance of choice. One group even changed their brand name like ten times trying to push their junk on us. Bunch of posers.

The next few years followed a similar pattern: a couple months of ecstasy followed by nine or ten of shakes, jonesing, and generally feeling like a chubby kid for whom Halloween would never come. Before long, I was going wherever the action happened to be that day – Berkley, Livonia, Lansing, Pontiac, hell – even Ohio! Seriously, this stuff is that strong; it can literally make a grown man in complete control of his mental faculties willingly go to freaking Ohio to get it.

Recently, there have been some rumblings that the guys who make the stuff will be expanding their operation. It may be a few years before it actually happens, but if it does, there is a greater than zero chance that I will, in the spirit of a true junkie, spend at least part of that day running around with no pants on.

As for now, this is where I’m at. I’m completely and hopelessly addicted, and I have no intention of stopping. I won’t stop, I literally CAN’T stop. This is my drug and I’m never giving it up.

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Photo by Dion Degennaro

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*That’s not just for dramatic effect; I actually went to Catholic school.

**Long story short, she was jeered and booed off stage, much to the chagrin of the faculty members present. Later in the day, in a moment of candor, one said member commented, “You guys were terrible and shouldn’t have acted like that, but she did kind of ask for it.”

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