At long last, Detroit City FC hosted its first match at Keyworth Stadium, drawing with AFC Ann Arbor, 1-1, on Friday night in front of 7,410 supporters.
Alec Lasinski (Loyola Chicago) continued his goal-scoring ways with a brilliant show of skill on the last play of the first half. He brought down a pass from Ali Al-Gashamy (Gardner-Webb), Lasinski flipped it over the last defender and chipped the keeper to score the first Le Rouge goal at Keyworth.
From the start, both teams brought the intensity. The cards were plentiful, three for Ann Arbor and three for Detroit, including a straight red to Brett Nason (Michigan) in the 47th minute. His rough challenge in the box gave Dario Suarez a penalty shot that he buried to tie the game up.
Andre Morris (Michigan) and Seb Harris (Oakland) both turned in sterling defensive performances at the center back positions, keeping up with AFCAA’s potent attack all night long.
Head coach Ben Pirmann was proud of his team’s performance.
“We played 45 minutes down a man and absolutely took it to them,” he said. “We can’t be putting ourselves in that situation. We have to make sure we have no mental mistakes.”
Next up, Le Rouge hit the road for their first-ever meeting with newly formed Kalamazoo FC Sunday evening. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at Mayor’s Riverfront Park.
City’s next home match is an international friendly on Saturday, May 28 against FC United of Manchester. Tickets can be purchased here.
– Mitch Gatzke / DCFC Staff Writer
