Suddenly, Detroit City’s quest for a home playoff game looks a bit more perilous than it did a couple of weeks ago. Saturday’s narrow loss to the Sacramento Republic has the team mired in a run of five games that have produced only a single victory. Is this a late season fade?
Sacramento has always given DCFC a tough time. Le Rouge has never beaten them. In four all time meetings, DCFC has never even scored a goal against Sacramento. The Republic came out hard and fast last Saturday, determined to keep that record intact. They scored the game’s only goal after just fourteen minutes. Former Michigan Bucks defender Jared Timmer headed the ball past Carlos Herrera following a corner kick.
DCFC tried to respond but generated little. Striker Darrin Smith has yet to return from injury, leaving Danny Dichio’s team without their most dangerous forward. Ben Morris attempted to deputize up front but failed to make an impact and didn’t return for the second half. In his place, Dichio tried the club’s newest recruit: Cheikhou Nieng. The 6’6″ center forward arrived on loan from Cincinnati FC’s MLS Next team. The Senegal native has six goals in MLS Next but will be with DCFC for the remainder of the season. He’s raw, big, but also new to the team and didn’t look like he had many training sessions with the group.
Ates Diouf returned from injury and started in his usual spot on the left wing, but the Republic kept him under wraps. He never had a chance to run at the defense and force an error. For all the exciting runs he has made this season, Diouf has been lacking in end product. He has just two goals and two assists. For a player expected to be a top scoring option, that’s not enough. Other than the injured Smith, no player has more than three goals. Kobe Hernandez-Foster leads the team with four assists.
It’s a good thing that DCFC leads the league in fewest goals conceded. Dichio has reached a desperate state looking for more offense as the playoffs approach. Even Darrin Smith’s goal record isn’t ideal. He scored five of his twelve goals on an incredible night in Jacksonville and just seven in the rest of his appearances. Nieng has promise, but as a nineteen year old loanee he can’t be expected to set the league on fire.
Fortunately, the schedule for the next few weeks favors DCFC. They play at home for the next four Saturdays with only a quick midweek game at lowly Brooklyn on September 30 to break up the homestand. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are the first team to visit for the final run of regular season games at Keyworth. Last Saturday’s loss allowed the Riverhounds to leapfrog DCFC into third place. Fortunately, Charleston, Tampa Bay, and Louisville City all dropped points in a weird coincidence.
DCFC might have to start looking over their collective shoulders at the teams behind them. Hartford Athletic, who ground out a frustrating 0-0 draw at Keyworth Labor Day weekend have been on a major run of good form. In addition to that point at Keyworth, they have beaten Charleston and Tampa Bay in the league games and slipped past Louisville City in penalty kicks in the USL League Cup semifinals. They have a home game against league worst Jacksonville and a trip to Las Vegas this week, six potential points. Hartford’s run makes Saturday’s DCFC game against Pittsburgh a vital game. Hartford could pass both teams and really shake up the Eastern Conference.
Danny Dichio simply has to find a way to generate more offense. The team misses their long term absentees like wingers Rhys Williams and Rafa Metzingen, defender Michael Bryant, and forward Connor Rutz. Ben Morris’ inability to return to the form that produced ten goals two years ago, prior to his latest ACL injury has also handicapped the attack. The defending will keep DCFC in games, but they have to find a way to turn a narrow loss into a draw or a frustrating draw into a narrow win. Right now, they don’t pose that kind of threat. If they can’t find a few goals, the fade will turn into a free fall.
