Seidel: Based on big match, Detroit ready for pro soccer

The loud, rowdy, fun-loving fans from Detroit City Football Club stood and chanted and sang and blew horns — a constant never-ending source of support — as Le Rouge played the Michigan Bucks on Wednesday night.

Clearly, Detroit won the battle in the stands in the long-awaited, first meeting of these minor league soccer teams.

But the Bucks dominated on the field in a 3-0 victory in the first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup before a standing-room-only crowd of 1,840 at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac.

For Le Rouge, this was a huge challenge. This was a young, exuberant upstart gacing an established veteran with a championship pedigree. This was David against Goliath, if David had hundreds of loud, zany followers standing for the entire game.

"This is a game that our supporters have been waiting for, basically, the entire time of our existence," Alex Wright, a Detroit City co-owner, said before the game.

But the Bucks dominated the first half.

David Goldsmith (Butler/England) scored for the Bucks less than 7 minutes into the game.

And those fans from Detroit kept chanting: "DC — toot, toot — FC!"

Then, Peri Marosevic (Michigan/Bosnia and Herzegovina) scored less than 2 minutes later for the Bucks.

And those fans from Detroit City kept chanting: "Why are we inside? Why are we inside?"

Then, Brad Ruhaak (Akron) scored at 29:57, giving the Bucks a 3-0 lead.

And fans kept standing and dancing and banging their drums. "Dee-troit City!"

"It was fantastic, a great atmosphere," said Dan Duggan, CEO and chairman of the Michigan Bucks. "We came out and did something we haven't done in two years. We won that first-round game."

The Bucks advance to play the Portland Timbers 2 of the United Soccer League on Tuesday in Pontiac.

"I used to coach some of these guys in club soccer," Bucks coach Demir Muftari said of the Le Rouge. "I root for those guys. They have a great organization, a great team, and the fans are fantastic, too."

Two clubs, similar goals

This was more than a game.

This was a loud, rowdy, sweaty collision of organizations that are in a race to start a professional soccer team in Detroit.

And after seeing the excitement at this game, and hearing all those rowdy fans from Detroit City, it is clear that professional soccer can survive in Detroit.

But the organizations have different plans on how to get there.

The owners of the Michigan Bucks want to create a new team and base it in downtown Detroit.

Duggan is in the process of trying to buy a piece of land to build a 10,000-seat soccer stadium in Detroit. He has his eye on three properties. "It could happen as soon as 2016, if we get the property," Duggan said. "We have an ownership group in place. I just need a 10,000-seat stadium built."

His goal, eventually, is an MLS team. "But it has to be in steps," he said. "Detroit is a prime soccer market. The guys from Detroit City have proven you can do it in an urban area and not rely on suburban kids. Anybody who has been to a FC game knows it's a huge fan base."

The owners of Le Rouge want to take their team to a higher level. Not create a new team.

But that also means they need a new facility. Detroit City averaged more than 2,800 fans last year at Cass Tech.

"We have outgrown Cass Tech," said Todd Kropp, one of the Detroit City owners. "We want to stay in Detroit."

And they want to keep the same team, the same brand, which has become so popular in Detroit.

"We'll see where it takes us," Kropp said. "We are confident in our brand."

The Bucks

Even though the Bucks were favored to win, they were at a disadvantage as far as experience.

Detroit City entered this match having played three exhibition games.

The Bucks had not played a game since August, when they won Premier Development League (PDL) North American championship. But the Bucks lost 10 players, who left to play professional soccer around the world.

Three Bucks flew to Michigan on Monday. One came in Tuesday.

And the entire team has had only limited practice time together.

The Bucks have players from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, Poland, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Trinidad and New Zealand.

And even if some of these players are new to the area, it became clear how big this game was. Just from the Detroit City crowd.

"We didn't want to make the game closer than we had to," Muftari said. "We've been together a short while, and we think we have a lot of room to grow."

Le Rouge

Detroit City has a different flavor.

"Our center back works for an ad agency downtown," Wright said. "Our center mid is an engineer at Chrysler. Most of our guys are working 9 to 5, probably getting off early, buzzing up to Pontiac, changing and getting onto the field and going against last year, the best team in the league."

But Le Rouge has taken Detroit by storm.

Off the field, Detroit City is taking the next step, housing players this year for the first time.

"We are housing four guys," Wright said. "It's one of our owner's sister's house that she is selling. We convinced her to not sell her house this summer so we could put four soccer players in there."

Detroit City is picking up steam in other ways. The organization has signed up Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers as the title sponsor for the 2015 season.

"The Chevy one, especially, is huge for us," Wright said. "They are really strong supporters of Detroit sports. By them adding us to their portfolio, it shows a lot of the esteem that they hold our organization in."

Still cheering

As the game ended, the crowd from Detroit City kept chanting.

Kept cheering.

The Bucks won. They were clearly the better team. But the fans from Detroit City were hard to forget. They have so much passion and energy.

And that's why professional soccer is going to make it, we hope, someday soon in Detroit.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.

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