(CBS DETROIT) - Detroit City FC begins the 2024 USL Championship Playoff journey this Saturday evening as the sixth-seeded Tampa Bay Rowdies come to Keyworth Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast locally on CW Detroit 50 (WKBD-TV). Supporters in Michigan can stream the match for free at CBSDetroit.com.
Le Rouge comes into this match off a 4-1 victory on the road against San Antonio FC on Saturday night. It would be Maxi Rodriguez who opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a brilliant shot from the top corner of the box. After San Antonio went down to 10 men in first-half stoppage time, Ryan Williams would double Detroit's lead with a stunning free-kick going into the half. Ben Morris would cap the game with a second-half brace as Detroit City clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference.
For Detroit City, this is the third straight season they have qualified for the USL Championship playoffs. In their first appearance in 2022 as the seven-seed in the east, they traveled to Memphis to face off against Memphis 901 FC. DCFC would fall 3-1 after two late goals conceded. 2023 saw Detroit City claim their first-ever USL Championship playoff victory, as the eighth-seeded Le Rouge defeated Players Shield winners Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0. Dominic Gasso's goal in the 78th minute would be the only goal in the match. DCFC would advance to face Louisville City FC the following weekend in the Conference Semifinal but fell 4-0 on the road.
This is the highest DCFC has finished in the USL Championship standings since joining the league in 2022. It will be the first playoff game Keyworth Stadium has hosted since the 2021 NISA Championship game, where DCFC would walk away with a 1-0 victory over Los Angeles Force, earning the title.
Tampa Bay Rowdies come into this match off a definitive 3-0 victory over Indy Eleven on Saturday evening. Goals from Manuel Arteaga and Daniel Crisostomo would put Rowdies up 2-0 in the first half. Cal Jennings's second-half goal would seal the game for Tampa Bay and clinch the six-seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Rowdies have slipped up in the run-up to the playoffs, having only claimed seven points in the final nine matches of the season.
These two sides played a home-and-home matchup this season. In July, the two sides would split the points as after going down to 10 men in the 59th minute, Detroit City rallied back as an Elvis Amoh header in the 71st minute gave DCFC a 1-0 lead, but a 94th-minute equalizer saw the two sides share the points. The teams then met in St. Petersburg in August, and DCFC would claim the three points with a 3-2 victory after Devon Amoo-Mensah got the scoring started early in the third minute, and Ben Morris would add on a brace in the second half.
Tickets for this weekend's playoff matchup are selling quickly. All remaining inventory can be found at www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on X and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
CBS News Detroit is the official broadcast partner of Detroit City FC. This story is reprinted with permission from Detroit City FC.
