Detroit City met part of their preseason goal by making the USL Championship playoffs. But, they left it late and needed help from elsewhere to secure a spot in the post-season tournament. Going into the final round of games last weekend, they needed a simple win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies to clinch. They went into the game knowing that Rhode Island had lost the night before, meaning Le Rouge could go past them in the standing and avoid playing Louisville City in the first round.
The Rowdies would have had to beat DCFC by three goals and hope that Indy XI lost to Orange County for them to make the playoffs. Given the stakes, it was no surprise that the first half turned into a cagey affair. Neither team offered much in attack. The vast majority of the play went from side to side around midfield. For spectators, it was dull. Both teams needed some urgency.
DCFC finally made the first move in the 58th minute when Isaiah LeFlore, on loan from the Philadelphia Union of MLS, took a speculative shot from the left side and watched it take a generous deflection past Bill Hamid in the Rowdies’ goal. For a defense first team like DCFC, that should have been enough to guarantee the three points and the coveted playoff spot.
However, while Danny Dichio moved his team into an ever more defensive posture, the Rowdies finally showed the urgency lacking from the first hour of the game. They pressed and forced the issue, knowing that their season would likely be ending. DCFC, even in the lead, didn’t inspire confidence. Ultimately, it cost them. As the teams entered the final ten minutes of play, the Rowdies equalized from a corner. The scramble in front of goal left Carlos Herrera with no chance to save Woobens Pacius’ rising shot from barely seven yards in front of goal.
Having removed Ates Diouf for Jordan Adebayo-Smith and brought on Stephen Carroll, Kobe Hernandez-Foster, and Abdoulaye Diop to shore up defense and midfield, Dichio had no more attacking options to use. Thus, DCFC played for a tie in a game they needed to win to be certain of making the playoffs.
The soccer gods smiled on Le Rouge on this night, though. Orange County also needed to win to clinch a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They scored just after midnight Detroit time and one minute into stoppage time to eliminate Indy XI and lift DCFC into the playoffs. Ousmane Sylla is the man who fired DCFC into the playoffs. He cut in from the left and ripped a powerful strike past Hunter Sulte lifting his home crowd and plenty of DCFC fans, too.
DCFC’s reward for qualifying is a trip to Louisville on Saturday to face the best team in the USL Championship. Louisville City finished on top of the league with 73 points. DCFC only picked up 37 points during the 30 match regular season. Louisville goes into the match having won four of their last five games. Detroit City has just one win in the last five. This is a game of teams going in opposite directions.
This is however a one-off cup match. Anything can happen. Two years ago, DCFC slipped into the Eastern Conference playoffs as the eighth place team. Thanks to a late goal from Dominic Gasso, DCFC upset the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 2023’s best team in the regular season. Last year, the team finished third, earned a home playoff game, and lost to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in penalty kicks. These single elimination games set up the favorites for upsets.
To pull off what would have to be the biggest upset of the year, DCFC will have to play a perfect defensive game and look to pick Louisville off on a counter attack. Captain Stephen Carroll has been on the bench frequently since returning from his knee injury. Can he play 90 or even 120 minutes in defense? What midfield combination would be best suited to contain Louisville’s attack? Abdoulaye Diop at his peak can cover a lot of ground. He hasn’t been there this year. Kobe Hernandez-Foster has also been coming off the bench after some excellent performances earlier this summer. Can he show that earlier form in the playoffs or will he fade out? Most importantly, can the forwards come up with enough to keep DCFC in the game and maybe nick a win? For the last month, all these questions have been answered negatively. Now, there is a clean slate. They only have to focus on Saturday night in Louisville (7:00pm, CW50).
