DETROIT — Detroit City FC walks away with another three home points after defeating Charleston Battery 2-0 on Saturday afternoon. A Maxi Rodriguez converted penalty in the 87th minute would be the difference in this match, and Elvis Amoh would add on a second in stoppage time to lead Le Rouge to victory against the defending Eastern Conference Champions.
Head Coach Danny Dichio made no changes from the starting XI that secured three points from a 2-0 victory on the road at Rhode Island FC.
Possession was evenly spit throughout the first 15 minutes, as both teams struggled to find any sustained pressure. Detroit City would create the only attack of the first 15 minutes off of a turnover in the 4th minute, which led to a Victor Bezerra shot that the Charleston keeper struggled with under pressure from Maxi Rodriguez.
Fouls were a big struggle for both sides in the first half. Within the first half, Detroit racked up eight fouls, and Charleston racked up seven. Charleston received three yellow cards in the half. Nick Markanich picked up a yellow card in the 32nd minute, Diego Gutiérrez in the 40th, and Head Coach Ben Pirmann picked up a yellow in the 42nd.
Le Rouge was awarded a free kick in the 34th minute that would get crossed into the box, with the target being Devon Amoo-Mensah, but the kick went just too far and out of play.
Both teams would head to halftime tied 0-0. Charleston would have more shots in the half, but Detroit would have the only shot on target of the half.
Detroit made two changes to start the second half, bringing on Michael Bryant and Rhys Williams for Matt Sheldon and Yazeed Matthews.
Charleston’s Emilio Ycaza would pick up the team’s fourth yellow card of the night in the 52nd minute.
Amoo-Mensah would pick up Detroit’s first yellow card in the 55th minute.
Le Rouge’s third change of the night came in the 63rd minute as Elvis Amoh came on the pitch for Victor Bezerra.
Momentum started to shift toward Detroit City after a yellow card to Chris Allan in the 69th minute, awarding Le Rouge a free kick from a dangerous position. Le Rouge sent the free kick perfectly into the box to Bryant, but the Charleston keeper ended up making an incredible save.
Detroit made another substitution after the free kick in the 71st minute, bringing on Ryan Williams for Ben Morris.
Just seconds after entering the pitch, Ryan Williams picked up Detroit City’s second yellow card of the evening.
Le Rouge’s final change of the evening came in the 75th minute, as Alex Villanueva came on for Brett Levis.
In the 84th minute, Carlos Saldaña made an incredible save off a shot from close range to keep this game at 0-0 and preserve the clean sheet.
A corner kick in the 85th minute caused a shot from DCFC to go off a Charleston arm in the box, and Le Rouge was awarded a penalty kick.
Rodrigues smashed the penalty right down the middle, giving DCFC the first lead of the day in the 87th minute.
Charleston received their fifth yellow card of the evening in the 89th minute, a Mark Segbers
foul.
In the fourth minute of stoppages, Elvis Amoh juggles the ball around two defenders, before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner, giving DCFC a 2-0 lead right before the end of stoppage time.
The full-time whistle blew, and Detroit City walked away with their first victory against Charleston since the 2022 season.
The shoutout was Saldaña’s second consecutive clean sheet.
Next Saturday, DCFC welcomes Pumas UNAM from Liga MX to Keyworth Stadium for the first International Friendly since 2019. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets for all Detroit City matches can be found at www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
Detroit City FC Starting XI: Carlos Saldaña, Brett Levis (75’), Devon Amoo-Mensah, Stephen Carroll, Matt Sheldon (46’), Abdoulaye Diop, James Murphy, Maxi Rodriguez, Victor Bezerra (63’), Ben Morris (71’), Yazeed Matthews (46’)
Detroit City FC Subs: Nate Steinwascher, Alex Villanueva (75’), Rhys Williams (46’), Ryan Williams (71’), Michael Bryant (46’), Connor Rutz, Elvis Amoh (63’)
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on X and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
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Primary Media Contact: Jarrett Maki (Sports Information Director, jarrett.maki@detcityfc.com)
