Detroit City FC, Michigan Bucks playing for first time

The Pontiac-based Michigan Bucks and Cass Corridor-based Detroit City FC soccer teams will meet for the first time Wednesday in the first leg of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup — an all-comers, truly open soccer tournament that's kicking off its 102nd year of existence.

Whether the meeting at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac between the established Bucks and newcomer Detroit City is historic is another matter.

"It's hard to say. You hope so," Bucks owner Dan Duggan said. "We've been around for 20 years. They've been around for four years. I'd like to think they're going to be around for 20 years and this could be annual thing. That would be really cool. I know the fans would like it, and I know the players like it."

The Bucks are an amateur team on the fourth rung of the soccer hierarchy in the United States. Detroit City is one rung below them.

Duggan expects his 1,650-seat home stadium to host a standing-room-only crowd.

"I think it's a match that most of our fans have been waiting for quite a while, maybe since we founded the team," said Detroit City co-owner Alex Wright.

The question is, which team is favored? The established team at home playing its first game since August, when it won the Premier Development League North American championship? Or the new kids with three exhibition games under their belts?

Both owners are playing the underdog card.

"I guess technically if you can say winning once, tying once and losing once in exhibition games is unsurmountable experience, then yeah," Wright said with a laugh. "Unfortunately, the Bucks are the kind of team that I'm not sure how much practice they need to be good. They're talented and they're super good at being talented.

"I wouldn't say we have a very strong advantage, if we even have an advantage at all."

Duggan won't have his full roster together for another two weeks, and the Bucks don't start league play until June 6. They will have three key players from last year's championship team: midfielder Tom Owens, who scored the winning goal in the title game, defender Zach Carroll from Michigan State and midfielder Nick Wysong from Western Michigan.

But Duggan still gives the nod to Detroit City, which returns stalwart defender Josh Rogers and newcomer forward Javier Bautista, who scored twice last weekend.

"If there's an advantage," Duggan said, "they've played a few games together, I would say that they would have an advantage because playing together is really important at this level."

Duggan did concede at least that his team has a winning tradition in the U.S. Open Cup, where the Bucks beat two MLS teams: the New England Revolution in 2000 and the Chicago Fire in 2012.

"We've had some good runs. ... We've got a great history in the U.S. Open Cup," Duggan said.

The winner of tonight's game will host Portland Timbers 2, of the third-tier United Soccer League, on Tuesday.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@cmonarrez.