Detroit City FC vs. Hartford Athletic
(CBS DETROIT) - Detroit City FC completes a two-game home stand this Saturday, facing off against Eastern Conference foe Hartford Athletic. The kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast locally on Detroit50 (WKBD-TV). Supporters located in Michigan can stream the match for free at CBSDetroit.com.
Le Rouge comes into this matchup off of a 1-0 home loss to FC Tulsa on Saturday evening. A header off of a corner would give Tulsa the lead in only the fourteenth minute. Despite Detroit being up a man after a Tulsa red card in the 66th minute, DCFC could not find an equalizer, dropping all three points to Tulsa.
Despite the loss, Detroit City still maintains its 4th spot in the Eastern Conference standings, as fifth-place Indy Eleven and sixth-place Birmingham Legion also lost over the weekend. Detroit still sits on 37 points, while Indy and Birmingham sit on 35 points.
With the loss on Saturday, Detroit City continues to struggle at home, having not picked up a home victory in six matches. The last victory came on June 15, a 2-0 win over Charleston Battery. Since that match against Charleston, Detroit has only scored three goals at home in the past seven matches: a Rhys Williams goal against Birmingham Legion in a 2-1 loss, an Elvis Amoh goal in a 1-1 draw against Tampa Bay Rowdies, and a Ben Morris goal in a 1-1 draw against Rhode Island FC.
Hartford Athletic enters this match as the only team to have claimed six points in its previous two matches. Hartford comes into this matchup off a 2-1 home victory over top-of-the-table Louisville City FC. A red card to Louisville in the 29th minute changed the game's dynamic for both sides. Despite going into the halftime break down 1-0, Hartford turned things around in the second half as Mamadou Dieng collected a brace, leading to Hartford's shocking victory.
Despite the recent wins, Hartford still sits in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, but they are much more within striking distance of the playoffs than they were five matches ago when DCFC last saw them. Hartford now sits just six points out of the final playoff spot and only nine points behind Le Rouge in fourth place.
In that most recent matchup, Hartford was walking away with a 1-0 home victory over Le Rouge just four weeks ago. Deshane Beckford scored the only goal of the game in the 23rd minute.
At halftime of Saturday's match, the club will honor the 2024 USL W League Central Conference Champion DCFC team by naming the 2024 Black Arrow MVP.
Detroit City travels to El Paso next week to face El Paso Locomotive FC but returns to Keyworth Stadium on September 14 to face New Mexico United. Tickets for all Detroit City matches can be found at www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on X and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
CBS News Detroit is the official broadcast partner of Detroit City FC. This story is reprinted with permission from Detroit City FC.