Detroit City FC hosts AFC Ann Arbor in a battle for first place in the NPSL Great Lakes Division this Friday night at Keyworth Stadium.
Le Rouge (8-2-1, W-T-L) lost its first meeting with Ann Arbor, 2-0, on May 21 in AA.
Since that loss, though, City has won eight straight matches and will look to push that number to nine, move into first place against and level the season-series with Ann Arbor on Friday.
Ann Arbor (9-1-1) is coming off a 1-0 victory over third-place Lansing United (6-4-0, 18 points) on Saturday. AA sits in first place in the Great Lakes Division with 28 points, two ahead of Detroit.
With the top two teams in the division advancing to the NPSL region playoffs, Le Rouge will need at least one win and two draws from their last three matches in order to guarantee a spot. City’s final two matches are at Lansing on Sunday at 2 PM and vs. Lansing at home on Friday, July 14 at 7:30 PM.
Head coach Ben Pirmann spoke about City’s eight-match win streak after last Friday’s 3-1 home victory over Michigan Stars FC.
“These guys felt the pressure early on,” Pirmann said. “And we had to just say look, ‘If you trust the process, wins will happen.’ And if you count playing two pro clubs with the Crew and Glentoran, I think that’s maybe ten total [wins] in a row.
We’ve played better defensively. We cleaned up errors, cleaned up just stupid little mistakes. We’ve had better training, better cohesion. That’s been the biggest thing overall: Just every single drill, every single practice, every single game. One step at a time. At the end of the day they still have to show up and work their tails off.”
Le Rouge is also proud to welcome the U.S. Air Force to Keyworth on Friday, as well as host a special swear-in ceremony during halftime.
Get tickets for Friday’s match here and show your support for Detroit’s soccer team.
