Detroit, Michigan – On Saturday morning, the Detroit City FC first team and trialists faced off in a scrimmage against local Midwest Premier League side Inter Detroit for their first tune-up in preparation for the 2024 USL Championship season, their first under newly named head coach Danny Dichio.
The two sides kicked off at Wayne State University at 11 AM, with the format of the match being three twenty-minute periods, with the focus on establishing a style of play and integrating the new players into a game-state situation with the already established core.
Le Rouge started the match with the following lineup: Nate Steinwascher (GK), Matt Lewis, Stephen Carroll, Michael Bryant, Abdoulaye Diop, Dominic Gasso, Maxi Rodriguez, Alex Villanueva, Ali Coote, Daniel Espeleta (Trialist), and Elvis Amoh.
The first real chance of the match would come in the first period, through a good phase of interplay between new signings Ali Coote and Alex Villanueva. Eventually, the ball would be crossed to forward Elvis Amoh, who headed just wide of the Inter Detroit goal.
This formula of trying to work the ball to the head of Elvis Amoh would result in the match’s first goal shortly after the first chance. A corner kick taken by Abdoulaye Diop was perfectly placed for Amoh, who lept up and scored the first goal of the preseason.
Then, in the second period of play, Micheal Bryant, being deployed as a fullback, would pick out a great ball over the top to pick out a darting run by Ali Coote, who calmly settled the ball down and poked it past the onrushing goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
Detroit City FC then elected to change most of their squad halfway through the second period. Their new-look squad then featured: Carlos Saldaña (GK), Matt Sheldon, Devon Amoo-Mensah, Brett Levis, Joseph Tawah (Trialist), James Murphy, Cody Sundquist (Trialist), Daniel Espeleta (Trialist), Yazeed Matthews, Connor Rutz, and Yann Toualy (Trialist).
The third and fourth goals of the scrimmage would come in the third period of play, with the third being set up by fullback Brett Levis who crossed the ball in from wide for trialist Daniel Espeleta to apply the first-time finish into the back of the net.
The fourth goal came with the help of a powerful run through the middle by defender Matt Sheldon. Sheldon laid the ball off to Yazeed Matthews, who did well to create space inside the area before laying it off to trialist Yann Toualy, who dribbled out of his feet and dispatched a slick finish into the bottom corner of the net to make it 4-0.
The USL Championship squad will now pack its bags and head west for the 2024 Desert Showcase in Tuscon, Arizona. Their first match in Tuscon will be against Grand Canyon University on February 10.
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on Twitter and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
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Please send all media inquiries to media@detcityfc.com.
Primary Media Contact: Jarrett Maki (Sports Information Director, jarrett.maki@detcityfc.com)
