The fans who endured the one hour lightning delay midway through the second half weren’t rewarded with much in the way of stellar play when the teams returned to Keyworth’s rain-soaked pitch last Saturday night. They did get to see one superb save by Carlos Saldana that preserved a shutout and saluted a much-needed win for Le Rouge over the last place Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Prior to the arrival of the thunderstorm, Detroit City had a storming first half. The home team dominated the proceedings from the opening whistle, giving Rowdies goalkeeper Ethan Bandre a solid workout. After a half hour of carrying the play and probing for openings, Ates Diouf fired City ahead in spectacular fashion.
Diouf has a tendency to ignore his teammates and looks to go one-on-one frequently when there are options available. This time, he appeared to hold the ball too long again when his defender fell a step off the pace. Diouf seized the occasion to fire from well outside the penalty area. His shot, coming from DCFC’s left, rose and then dipped before hitting the inside of the far post and going in. The relief was palpable. In a show of unity the entire team, including the substitutes, celebrated together with the coaches.
Having taken the lead, Le Rouge piled on the pressure. Saldana remained a spectator much of the first half, rarely touching the ball. In order to avoid a calamitous equalizer by some unforeseen fluke, DCFC needed another goal. Nine minutes after Diouf’s stunner, Darrin Smith scored for the second game in a row. This goal had a nice buildup which included Matt Sheldon pushing forward from his right center back position and threading an inch perfect pass to Smith. The South African looked to have regained his confidence after firing the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs from a narrow angle. Again, everyone celebrated together.
The team will need this togetherness going forward. They will visit Tampa Bay later in the season but have much tougher challenges before that. San Antonio FC, winless in four games, will be the next visitor to Keyworth on Saturday night. They sit fourth in the Western Conference, which is bunched even tighter than the Eastern Conference. From second place Sacramento to twelfth place Las Vegas is a gap of only eleven points. The teams have between nine and eleven games remaining. San Antonio can aspire to second place if they get on a good run of results. The best DCFC can hope for is third in the Eastern Conference. They are only five points behind North Carolina FC in that race.
San Antonio includes former US international forward Juan Agudelo among a number of top former college and youth soccer stars in their team. Defender Rece Buckmaster was a standout at Indiana who had a brief spell in MLS. Alex Crognale played at Maryland and then for the Columbus Crew. Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez is a former Mexican youth international who has bounced around the USL Championship as well as MLS and Liga MX. Defender Alexis Souahy spent his summers during college playing for the Flint City Bucks. This is an experienced team with players who have performed at a high level.
After DCFC’s excellent effort last week, Coach Danny Dichio will be hoping there are no more injury worries. Captain Stephen Carroll still has not returned from his knee problem. Rhys Williams has joined Ben Morris among the long term absentees with a leg injury. Three starting caliber players out makes the job more challenging.
Dichio adjusted his midfield for the Tampa Bay game and the changes yielded a better overall performance. Ryan Williams dropped deep and played in front of the back three. Kobe Hernandez-Foster and Jeciel Cedeno played attacking roles. Hernandez-Foster, who has been a terrific addition, relished the freedom to push forward. He joined the press and found that he could control the ball more and combine with the forwards more effectively from an advanced position. If the same trio plays against San Antonio, they will get a much stiffer test of their physicality. Tampa Bay was lightweight and sat deep. San Antonio will look to take the game to DCFC as they are in an equally difficult battle for playoff position.
