The early season, for any side, is a feeling-out period, a chance to establish some good things, avoid some bad things – or not. Even a supporter’s general optimism is a shaft of light that will eventually hit the prism of results, and that process begins early. For Detroit City FC, any bobble today against FC Indiana, and the lone black mark of the season – the last-gasp loss at Ann Arbor – starts to look like an indicator of some deeper flaw, some lack of something crucial or surfeit of something poor.
Less than two days after a surprisingly nervy win over fledgling FC Columbus – a victory that drew the dreaded description ‘entitled’ from Le Rouge manager Ben Pirmann – City answered any questions about their focus on NPSL play, absolutely dominating the home-standing Hoosiers from start to finish en route to a 11-0 triumph.
The hosts, it should be noted, had previously played four NPSL matches, losing all four by a combined score of 20-0. Any thought that City might rotate heavily for a road match against titanic underdogs where the Northern Guard would comprise three-fifths the crowd was dispelled an hour before kickoff by the announcement of City’s starters; this was to be a no-mercy kind of day.
City’s domination on the field spanned from kickoff to final whistle, with Le Rouge increasingly controlling the run of play as they pinpointed the exhausted host’s many weaknesses, slowly allowing themselves to believe that this was the game where it all would finally click.
Danny Deakin lit the fuse, finding Stephen Carroll in the area for the defender’s first goal of the season: 0-1 in the 14th. For the first time in 2018, City was in the lead in a game it was easily dominating, and the attacking players responded with the kind of physical joy a shark feels when it smells blood in the water:
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21st: Deakin, given space by the already-sagging Indiana defense, lashes a shot that deflects into the host’s goal. 0-2
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30th: Roddy Green, always relentless but twice so today, finishing off a feed from Adan Garcia. 0-3.
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31st: Shawn Lawson, almost straight from the kickoff from the previous goal; Indiana players looking at the ground, at the sky, anywhere but each other, the realization that this was not going to get better really sinking in. 0-4.
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43rd: Deakin, his shift in the blazing sun almost over, glides into a pocket of space just above the area and crushes a shot into the side-netting. 0-5.
Halftime was actually the second break of the game, since the heat called for hydration breaks, but any thought that City was about to let the foot off the accelerator were dispelled by the obvious hunger of their substitutes. The first replacement of the game – Trevor Amann, who subbed for Deakin just before halftime – kicked off a goal-avalanche in the second half, scoring in the 58th to make the score a ridiculous 6-0; that was the merest pebble, though, compared with the crushing totality coming just after the final water break.
Five more goals in 10 minutes, delivered with all the compassion of a biker gang delivering a good stomping, including a 6-minute hat-trick for Brogan Shrimpton:
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71st: Rafa Mentzingen, in for Green in the 66th, finishes from Amann. 0-7.
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74th: Shrimpton from Garcia, who was generally excellent throughout. 0-8.
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76th: Shrimpton from Mentzingen. City are simply running riot. Indiana’s defenders have all but quit; they stand motionless after each goal, waiting, and just seconds later here come Le Rouge, right back at them. Their despair is palpable. 0-9.
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79th: Mentzingen, specifically, is running riot, this time knifing through FC Indiana’s sense of self-worth to call his own number. 0-10.
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80th: For the second time this game, the Boys in Rouge score twice in two minutes. Shrimpton’s goal completes his hat-trick, and leaves City nearly dazed by their own blood-lust: Have we done this? We have. 0-11.
The final whistle was a mercy, a balm. If they’d played forever, City would’ve won by infinity.
Detroit City (2-0-1) plays FC Indiana again Friday evening at Keyworth Stadium. Tickets are available at http://tickets.https://www.detcityfc.com.
FC INDIANA 0, DETROIT CITY FC 11
FC Indiana 0 0 – 0
Detroit City FC 5 6 – 11
Goals: DCFC – Carroll (Deakin) 14’; Deakin 21’, 43’; Green (Garcia) 30’; Lawson 31’; Amann 58’; Mentzingen (Amann) 71’, unassisted 79’; Shrimpton (Garcia) 74’, (Mentzingen) 76’, unassisted 80’
Detroit City FC (4-3-3): Pina (Jewett 66’); Bentley, Carroll, Miller (Amigo 45’), Sinclair (Busaidy 45’); Moyes (Bartel 66’), Chomakov, Garcia; Deakin (Amann 44’), Lawson (Shimpton 45’), Green (Mentzingen 66’).
