April 30, 2022
USL Championship League Match
Keyworth Stadium, Hamtramck, MI

Six Pack

City’s debut has been amazing. After the first match, a 1-nil loss in San Antonio, City has been shutting down the league and silencing critics. Six league matches undefeated. Two US Open Cup victories, including one against the Columbus Crew SC. Five straight wins in all matches. Sitting third place in the East Division, City has only conceded four goals. And in the second half of matches, it’s been all City, outscoring their opponents 10-1.

Earlier this week, City added to the roster. Amadou “Macky” Diop was traded from Birmingham Legion FC to City, the terms of the deal undisclosed. Macky saw action in 9 matches this season for Birmingham, totaling 300 minutes of play, scoring a goal in his last match against Loudoun United. A native of Dakar, Senegal, he played two seasons of collegiate soccer at Radford University in Virginia, scoring 13 goals in 16 appearances. During his collegiate play, he made the New York Red Bull U-23 team in the USL League 2, scoring four goals in six matches. In 2020, he signed a professional contract with Atlanta United II, where he made 32 appearances and scored 9 goals in his two seasons there. Macky is also the cousin of City midfielder Abdoulaye Diop.

Today’s opponent was the New York Red Bulls II team – the MLS team’s development squad, and the expectation was a similar result as what City did to Atlanta United II’s team three weeks ago in Kennesaw.

NEW YORK RED BULLS II
Starting XI

Anthony Marcucci – Goalkeeper
Lamine Conte – Defender
Juan Castillo – Defender
Lucas Monzon – Defender
O’Vonte Mullings – Midfielder
John Murphy – Midfielder
Sam Williams – Midfielder
Jason Pendant – Midfielder
Steven Sserwadda – Forward
Jeremy Rafanello – Forward
Jonathan Filipe – Forward

DETROIT CITY FC
Starting XI

Front Row, Left to Right
Deklan Wynne – Defender
Pato Botello Faz – Forward
Abdoulaye Diop – Midfielder
Antoine Hoppenot – Forward
Rhys Williams – Defender

Back Row, Left to Right
Maxi Rodriguez – Midfielder
Devon Amoo-Mensah – Defender
Connor Rutz – Forward
Matt Lewis – Defender
Nate Steinwascher – Goalkeeper
Stephen Carroll – Defender/Captain

The referee for today was Eric Tattersall. Tattersall has been the head referee in 39 USL Championship matches since 2018, dishing out 149 yellow cards and 2 red cards. His most recent head officiating duty was April 23, 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup match between the North Carolina Courage and Washington Spirit. He was also the head referee in two US Open Cups, the most recent on April 19, 2022 for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds’ loss to FC Cincinnati, where Tattersall dealt out five yellow cards. His assistants were Jake Brochu and Collin Little.

In the first 20 minutes, the Red Bulls played well. Their best chance occurred when Jason Pendant floated the ball into Lucas Monzon in the middle of the box, who headed it just wide of the top left corner in the 19th minute.

Then City started to break them down. In the 21st minute, Antoine Hoppenot crossed the ball in to Pato in front of the goal, but his shot was saved by Anthony Marcucci. In the 32nd minute, City flowed up field with Maxi Rodriguez guiding the ball down the right side. He sent a pass to the center of the pitch, into the run of Connor Rutz, and Rutz’s shot sailed just over the right corner of the goal.

The half ended scoreless with City holding 54% of the possession to New York’s 46%. City had three shots in which one was on target, where Red Bulls took two shots, both off target.

City came out in the second half determined to make things happen. In the 46th minute, Antoine Hoppenot, while fighting off Jason Pendant, once again found Pato on goal, but his shot hit the side netting.

The Red Bulls created a scare in the 52nd minute when a corner kick sailed into the City box. It was headed out but onto the laces of Juan Castillo who rocketed a shot that rattled the crossbar and went out of play. Then again, in the 80th minute, O’Vonte Mullings ran the ball down the center with two City players in tow. As the rouge wall began to close in on him, Mullings sent the ball to the right to Cameron Harper, a 65th minute sub for Jonathan Filipe, who laced a shot labeled for the far upper corner of goal, but Nate Steinwascher parried it away.

Having been injured during the run of play, Pato was subbed out in the 56th minute for Francis Atuahene. It was in the 82nd minute when Francis capitalized on his playing time. The Ghanaian footballer is no stranger to the state, having played his college ball at the University of Michigan. He split time with the Wolverines and the Michigan Bucks in 2017. On January 19, 2018, Francis was selected 4th overall in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas, who traded $200,000 of General Allocation Money to Montreal Impact for the SuperDraft pick. After being loaned to the USL’s Oklahoma City Energy, Francis made his debut with FC Dallas on June 8, 2019 in a 2–2 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes in which he scored the equalizing goal 42 seconds into his debut. Francis has played for Austin Bold, San Diego Loyal, and Memphis 901 FC prior to joining City this year.

The play began with Michael Bryant, who subbed in for Antoine Hoppenot in the 66th minute. Michael sent the ball to the right and into the path of Rhys Williams. Rhys raced down the channel and then passed it through the box, the ball soaring in front of the trailing defenders, and finding Francis cutting in front of Lamine Conte to touch it into the goal.

To secure the victory, Francis created more magic, receiving an outlet pass from Adboulaye Diop. He danced, side-stepped, and out-hustled New York’s 76th minute sub, Daniel De Leon, then crossed the ball in for Billy Forbes. Billy had come in for Maxi Rodriguez in the 77th minute. Red Bull defender Lucas Monzon got in front of Billy, but guided the ball past his goalkeeper, and the match ended with a City 2-nil clean sheet.

Player of the Match: Francis Atuahene.

A record of five wins, two draws and a single loss in the first eight matches, including a six-pack of consecutive victories for the club in all competitions, provided an exciting start to City’s debut season. And looking at the numbers from the league matches, Detroit City FC defines the word ‘team.’

8 matches
12 goals
8 different goal scorers (including today’s own goal)
4 goals against
4 clean sheets
14 yellow cards among 10 players
0 red cards

STATS

Detroit City FC 2, New York Red Bulls II 0
DCFC: Francis Atuahene 82′
DCFC: Lucas Monzon (Own Goal) 90′

ATTENDANCE: 6,973

BY THE NUMBERS:

Possession: DCFC 51.3%, NYRBII 48.7
Offsides: DCFC 4, NYRBII 2
Corners: DCFC 7, NYRBII 5
Passes: DCFC 345, NYRBII 334
Passing Accuracy: DCFC 65.8%, NYRBII 65.3%
Shots: DCFC 6, NYRBII 8
Shots on Target: DCFC 2, NYRBII 3
Blocked Shots: DCFC 2, NYRBII 2
Fouls: DCFC 9, NYRBII 14
Yellow Cards: DCFC 1 (Abdoulaye Diop), NYRBII 2 (John Murphy, Anthony Marcucci)
Red Cards: DCFC 0, BIR 0

KEEPER KIT RECORD (Both USL Championship and Open Cup)

Blue on a roll.

Purple Kit: 1 draw
Yellow Kit: 3 wins, 2 clean sheets
Blue Kit: 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 2 clean sheets

IN OTHER USL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES TODAY:

Loudoun United FC 1, El Paso Locomotive FC 3
Louisville City FC 2, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 0
Tampa Bay Rowdies 2, San Diego Loyal SC 3
Memphis 901 FC 1, Miami FC 2
Indy Eleven 1, Hartford Athletic 0
Rio Grande Valley FC 1, Orange County SC 2
San Antonio FC 6, Monterey Bay FC 0
Oakland Roots SC 0, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 3
Sacramento Republic FC 1, Las Vegas Lights FC 1