by Saturday, May 7th, 2016 – Detroit City FC 5, Muskegon 1
A few thoughts from Saturday’s final preseason friendly…
Starting Lineup looked like this:
Keeping the ball – The thing that stood out most was the excellent passing and possession that City displayed throughout the game but especially in the first half. The interplay between Tommy Catalano, Danny Deakin, Dave Edwardson, and Zach Schewee was crisp and efficient, and, besides Cyrus Saydee’s PK, each of the goals came at the end of good build-up & multiple pass sequences. The finishes from Schewee and Tyler Moorman were the best of the day.
Defense – Ask again later. I made a conscious effort to watch the back line and goalkeepers as closely as possible, but I didn’t learn much since Muskegon barely generated any offense. The only real chances they had came off of a couple balls that took big bounces over the centerbacks. Their goal was a well-placed strike from Daniel Luzindya that Evan Louro didn’t appear to have much of a chance on.
Speaking of Louro, when I wrote my first draft of the goalkeepers piece for my season preview, he was included, but I deleted his section after he announced he wouldn’t be able to play this summer. The short version: UM’s starting GK, youth national teamer, NY Red Bulls Academy product, probable future pro. The story I’ve heard is that he’ll play for at least the Open Cup Game this week, the two games on the weekend, and the second round Open Cup game if City beats the Bucks. Cody Lang isn’t expected to arrive until midseason, so the several weeks in between Louro’s departure and Lang’s arrival could get interesting.
A couple notable absences – Jeff Adkins and Tyler Channell weren’t present on Saturday. This is because they were graduating from Butler and SVSU, respectively.
New kid – Aside from the two standouts – Schewee and Catalano – there was another player that caught my eye: the recently added Alec Lasinski. He was Michigan Mr. Soccer in 2013 and is coming off of his freshman season at Loyola-Chicago. He had a goal and an assist in a little over a half hour of play and looks to be a promising prospect for the future.
Ahead to the Bucks – This is easier said than done, but to beat the Bucks, City needs play the same type of game they did on Saturday – maintaining possession to minimize the opposing team’s offensive chances while executing quick, simple passes to make the defenders chase and pull them out of position. Obviously the Bucks are a far superior opponent to Muskegon, but it’s clear that this is the style of play that Ben Pirmann prefers. Regardless of Wednesday’s outcome, we’ll learn much much more about the team than we did on Saturday.
Moment of Zen:
