by Article and Photos by Robert Sherman
Detroit City FC schelpped to Skyline High School in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon to open up the 2018 National Premier Soccer League season, but were defeated, 1-0, by current division leaders AFC Ann Arbor.
The lone goal on the day was scored in stoppage time by Ann Arbor’s Martieon Watson. Watson’s goal sunk City, who didn’t play well for a majority of the match despite a handful of scoring chances that didn’t quite fall correctly.
“This was a typical league game, we play against a team that is fired up to play against City, we have a thousand more fans than they do at their place,” head coach Ben Pirmann said. “In these league games we have to have better ball speed, and there’s no excuse for it, but we’ve put a lot of focus onto our defending, so we were not sharp on that.
“I don’t care who is on the field, or who is injured, we have to play a little harder with more desire to win. I thought we played like that in the second half. We should have scored three or four goals, but we didn’t and then we got burned on the end with a restart.
“You have to give Ann Arbor the credit for taking the three points, I feel we deserved better and that we were the better team on the field, but that stuff doesn’t matter in this league. We’re pretty much always the best team on the field in these league games.”
The first half of City’s league opener crawled by, highlighted mainly by the debut of former Colorado Rapids forward Josh Gatt for Le Rouge. Much else of what happened in the first half was played in the midfield and had little effect on the game.
The most action came in the 41st minute with a scare in the defensive third for City. AFCAA’s Michael Shaikly danced through the backline and passed the returning Fernando Pina, only to hit the outside of the post on his shot.
Gatt came very close to scoring on his Detroit debut in the 52nd minute, collecting a pass from Cyrus Saydee inside the box, which gave him a clear sight on goal, but a save by The Mighty Oak goalkeeper Mike Novotny kept the match level.
Immediately thereafter, Gatt’s match came to an end, as he was subbed off for the spark plug that is Rafa Mentzingen.
“Obviously Josh [Gatt] brings incredible pace, he’s very eager, he’s been out and he has a lot going on, by the way that was the mystery signing. It’s one of those things where he’s got to continue to fit in with the group dynamic,” Pirmann said. “He is a special athlete, and I actually thought he was the one guy who competed and worked and battled.
“We’ll just keep building him and we have him for a little bit, so we’ll take what we can get out of him.”
The insertion of Mentzingen allowed the City attack to become more fluid, as he was probably one of the strongest players on the pitch, allowing the ball to be played more directly to the big man up top.
Le Rouge created scoring chances in the 58th and 59th minute. Brandon Bartel forced another save out of Novotny. The following corner was headed by Brad Centala.
Danny Deakin had his own opportunity in the 68th minute after an awkward clearance by Novotny placed the ball right at his feet. The ensuing chip was destined for goal, but was saved at the goal line at the absolute last second by defender Joseph Okumu.
Stephen Carroll had perhaps the best chance of the game, finding the ball inside of the 18-yard box off of a cross, forcing another save out of Novotny.
Finally, Watson caught the City defense off guard in the 90th minute, taking advantage of a strong service from Jake Rosen and handing the three points to The Mighty Oak.
“You’re men, this isn’t college, this isn’t anything else and you have to play like men,” Pirmann said. “For us, it’s something we can work on against St. Pauli by playing through a good team, the weekend after that we need to be ready to take six points.
“It was disappointing for me because we knew what was at stake, we didn’t play well to start, but we responded very well and didn’t get the result where I thought we should have gotten a point out of it at least.”
Pirmann and the Boys In Rouge now turn their focus to Wednesday’s matchup against USL’s FC Cincinnati, in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. It’s a game where City has nothing to lose, and the future home of a Major League Soccer club has all the embarrassment to gain.
Remember, Detroit City FC had Louisville City SC on the ropes in the 2016 edition of the tournament, so Pirmann is no stranger to taking on strong professional clubs. That being said, he is adamant that the real focus will be on the NPSL season.
“The priority now is the league, but we’re going to go in and try to beat FC Cincinnati, there’s no doubt about that,” Pirmann said. “We’ll have to reset and regroup, and use the St. Pauli match as a way to build the team a little bit going forward.”
