The Detroit City FC men’s team experienced a heartbreaking conclusion to their season last Saturday night, losing to the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The match ended with a score of 1-1, but Detroit fell 3-1 in the penalty shootout. As typical of DCFC, the game showcased a strong defense, but the team’s offense was inconsistent, alternating between sporadic and ineffective. Unfortunately, this inability to score was evident again during the shootout, which ultimately ended Detroit’s season. Forward Ben Morris was the only City player able to score against Tampa’s goalkeeper, Jordan Farr, in a format that typically favors the shooter. Not to mention, Le Rouge keeper Nate Steinwascher put his team in an incredible position to actually come out in the shootout after stonewalling the first two Tampa shooters only for City to completely piss away the opportunity.
However, despite the way Detroit City FC lost Saturday night, the season was still a success as the Club was able to hit on a goal heading into 2024 with that being hosting a home playoff match. Not to mention sporting director Trevor James and first-year head coach Danny Dichio did an excellent job turning the page on a pretty lackluster season in 2023.
Still, though, this season left a lot to be desired, especially for a squad that entered the playoffs with tons of momentum only to be stymied by their inability to generate any meaningful offensive pressure that resulted in points on the board.
Which in essence leaves Detroit City FC at a crossroads as they begin to navigate the offseason and perhaps the biggest question being where they go offensively?
In the immediate wake of Saturday’s loss, rumors began to fly regarding the futures of some pretty big-name players for City who have been key pieces for the Club since making the jump USL Championship after the 2021 NISA season. One of those players is a guy who not only has endeared himself to the fans but carved out an unspecific but very specific role on the team (if that even makes sense) given his versatility. The other, is a player who has become the heartbeat in a way when it comes to the offense and perhaps the best player to ever wear the City crest.
To conclude the season, Detroit finished 11th in the USL Championship, averaging 1.3 goals per match. This was a significant improvement over their previous record of 0.9 goals per match in 2013, which placed them at the bottom of the league. Their current scoring average also matched what they achieved in their first season in USL in 2022. However, beyond goal-scoring, City struggled in other major attacking categories this past season. They ranked 16th in shots on target (3.9 per match), 12th in accurate passes per match (329.3), and 21st in accurate crosses per match (3.4).
Detroit City hasn’t won a championship since their NISA days and have made it out of the first round of the playoffs just once since joining the USL Championship which came last season thanks to a prayer from Dominic Gasso. Unfortunately, this only set up Detroit to be clowned the following weekend in Louisville. None of this is necessarily bad though given Detroit’s situation the past three years when it came to being a team making a massive jump when it came to quality of League with a mid-table payroll at best.
However, if this team is going to take another step forward the Club and supporters alike may have to come to terms with some very hard truths as they sit at those crossroads this offseason.
This brings us back to potential player departures and some of the bigger names that could leave City.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here and ask the question of whether we’ve gone as far as we can with certain players on this team from an offensive standpoint. Especially given those aforementioned stats where it’s hard to make any good, meaningful argument that the team got any better since 2022 from an offensive standpoint. This past season, the emergence of Ben Morris up front essentially compensated for the loss of Antoine Hoppenot who left for Hartford in 2023. Beyond that, there were some interchangeable pieces and pieces that have been around now for quite some time ultimately leaving City with another early exit in the playoffs due to those offensive inefficiencies.
If we roll into next season with the same anchors offensively does anyone actually see this team all of a sudden overcoming those same problems that have plagued them since jumping to USL? We have a pretty good sample size to say there probably isn’t any overcoming it and to enter 2025 without any meaningful change offensively is simply ignoring the biggest issue with this team.
Detroit isn’t playing the likes of Chicago House, the Maryland Bobcats, or LA Force anymore who either didn’t have the funds and/or the competence to compete with City. DCFC is now competing with the likes of Lou City and the Charleston Battery in the East who not only will go out and spend money on a roster but are also more than willing to make vast changes if there’s an opportunity to make their team better. And since City isn’t going to be able to go dollar for dollar against the bigger spenders in the League, they at least have to be willing to make adjustments to the formula if that formula is unable to get them any closer to a title.
Supporters and fans get attached to players, I get it. Saying goodbye to longtime favorites on this team is hard, however, Saturday’s loss wasn’t some outlier for City that you can just chalk up to a bad night. Tampa Bay got their early goal, stacked the box, and played for the penalty shootout after they accidentally own goaled themselves in the second half. It’s something we’ve seen all season and for the past three years when Detroit fell behind which in turn left very little room for error on the defensive side of things.
Change up front needs to happen which may need to come at the expense of some fan and supporter favorites.