Indy Eleven handle Detroit City, 3-0
Defensive disaster from Detroit and seven saves from Hunter Sulte see Indy through to the quarterfinal of the U.S. Open Cup
Detroit City were back on the field for the Round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday night. After a thrilling win earlier this month against defending champions Houston Dynamo, Le Rouge were looking to go one step further in the competition. They travelled to face Indy Eleven, making Wednesday night’s contest the only all-USL matchup of the round.
The first big chance of the game went to Detroit with only six minutes played. Midfielder James Murphy unleashed a long ball over the top for striker Yazeed Matthews who looked to be through on goal. Just then, Indy right back Ben Ofeimu clipped him from behind with a foul that looked like it could’ve been a red card, but only ended up being a yellow. With a free kick just outside the box, Murphy fired the ball right into the wall.
It didn’t take long after that for calamity to strike for Detroit. Looking to create an attack, Indy midfielder Ben Mines released the ball out wide to Ofeimu in space. Ofeimu then fired a hard-and-low cross into the box which appeared to be aimed at his teammate Douglas Martinez, but ended up bouncing off the foot of Detroit City captain Stephen Carroll and into the goal.
It was an awful start for Detroit, and a shocking one for a defense that has given up the joint fewest goals in the USL Championship.
But Detroit didn’t have time to hang their heads about it, and got right back to work on the attack. With plenty of space, Ben Morris took the ball and charged right past two Indy defenders and fired the ball into the chest of Hunter Sulte who made the save comfortably—his first of seven on the day. It was the most saves the Portland Timbers loanee has made in a single game since 2020.
Just a few minutes later, some excellent passing set up another chance for Detroit. Dropping back into the midfield, Matthews gave the ball to a charging Maxi Rodriguez who then quickly passed it to Morris. Morris fired a shot with pace at the bottom right corner of the goal, and asked much more of Sulte who made another save.
But Indy came right back, and it was another defensive disaster from Detroit. Midfielder Jack Blake sent in a long, lobbing pass which somehow went past the entire Detroit back line. With a teammate alongside him and no one to beat but the keeper, Martinez tapped the ball to Augustine Williams for the easy goal.
Just three minutes later, things went from bad to worse. Detroit failed to get numbers back on defense, and Indy found themselves in a 4-on-2. Mines gave the ball to Martinez on the right-hand side and looked to be in a dangerous position. Carroll, seemingly looking to make amends for his earlier mistake, came in with a sliding challenge and sent the ball out of play. On the ensuing corner, Ofeimu got a free header from very close range and sent it right past goalkeeper Carlos Saldaña.
Detroit weren’t having a horrible game by any means, in fact they dominated in some respects. They outshot Indy in the first half 10-4 (5-2 on target), and enjoyed 68% of the possession—but bizarre, out-of-character defensive mistakes put Detroit in a disastrous 3-0 hole. In just 36 minutes, Detroit had given up nearly half as many goals as they have in eight league games this year.
That didn’t mean Detroit were going to go away quietly. In stoppage time of the first half, they created two great chances for themselves. The first came when Devon Amoo-Mensah fired a shot from just outside the box which forced Sulte to make a save. Just a minute later, Abdoulaye Diop sent in a beautiful cross which found the head of Carroll and went straight off the hands of Sulte. Morris’s shot on the rebound was blocked, and that ended up being the last action of the first half. It would’ve been a great chance to get a goal back and change the complexion of the match, but Detroit walked into the locker room down 3-0.
“It took a lot of confidence from us,” said Sulte on Indy’s defensive stand before halftime. “It’s the moments of the game where teams start pushing really hard before that break or the end of the game so it’s very important to stay focused and know your role and execute as best as you can.”
Things looked dire for Detroit, but not impossible. In the last round of the U.S. Open Cup, they were down 2-0 inside halftime to Houston Dynamo. They eventually leveled the score at 3-3 and managed to advance on penalties. The attacking barrage right before the break was encouraging, and if they could string together some more chances, they could find a way to come back and win.
However, things didn’t get much better for Detroit. With the three goal advantage, Indy more or less parked the bus for the second half, hoping to see the game through. Detroit had some more good chances in the half, the first coming from Matthews. Morris sent a perfect through ball past the back line to him, and his shot tested Sulte at the near post who made yet another save. Off a corner kick just a few minutes later, halftime substitution Victor Bezerra’s struck a header with promise, but just over the bar.
Detroit amassed seven more shots in the second half, bringing their total up to 17 on the day. Even though some of them looked promising, it never truly felt like a comeback was on the cards, and Indy managed to see the game out with a 3-0 win.
With their impressive cup run at an end, Detroit will now have to switch gears and focus back on their league season, which has been off to a good start so far. With 17 points and three games in hand, they’re currently sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship. If they can sharpen their attack and keep defensive mistakes like they had Wednesday night to a minimum, this could be a successful season for them—especially now that they can give the league season their undivided attention.
Meanwhile, Indy’s impressive win has sent them to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, one of only three USL sides to do so. They’ll go up against MLS side Atlanta United in July, and they’ll be looking to go further than that.
“[I’ve] never won a trophy in my professional career so, you know, you’re one step closer to it,” said Ofeimu. “Hopefully we can get a cup, you know, that’s the dream. It’ll be great for the club and great for the fans, they deserve it.”
Detroit City will be back in USL Championship action next Wednesday when they play at Louisville City.
I starting paying attention to other events after Detroit City went 3-0 down but once they missed that golden chance to make it 3-1 going into the break I cut it off because I just knew the match was over at that point.
I'm raising the alarm to at least a 2 alarm level of concern for Detroit City. Something has not been right about this side since Pittsburgh Riverhounds surgically picked them apart. Sure they are the only side that seemed to have gotten a penalty shootout right in the USOC but they still shipped three goals on that night as well. Something is seriously amiss about their defensive structure and it needs to be remedied quick.
The real pity was how well DCFC kept the ball in midfield for much of the match only to be undone by some untimely errors.
At what point do we begin to worry about DCFC in terms of the current slide?