Detroit City FC kept it close with 10 players for most of the game, but couldn’t quite put the tying goal in the net.
DCFC lost, 2-1, to Hartford Athletic in the quarterfinals of the USL Championship Eastern Conference playoffs on Friday, Oct. 30, at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck. The loss knocks out the No. 3 seed in its fifth straight playoff appearance.
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DCFC midfielder Kobe Hernandez-Foster received a red card midway through the first half, leaving DCFC to play a man short for most of the contest. The call came with a lot of controversy, with DCFC coach Danny Dichio calling the officiating “not good enough.”
“It was a playoff game tonight that wasn’t decided by the two teams. I thought it was decided by the officiating, which was very, very poor for a playoff game,” Dichio said. “I’ll praise them when they’re good, but tonight they were terrible. All of them.”
Hartford Athletic forward Sadat Anaku scored the go-ahead goal, his second of the game, in the 74th minute. The score silenced a rowdy DCFC crowd that had rallied behind their shorthanded squad for much of the night, as Anaku, who scored four goals during the regular season, provided all the offense for Hartford.
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Before Anaku’s touches, DCFC had not surrendered a goal at home since Sept. 5; that too came from Hartford, with forward Augustine Williams scoring on a penalty kick.
DCFC captain Devon Amoo-Mensah leveled the match at 1-1 in the 45th minute off a rebound, giving the shorthanded home side life nearly 20 minutes after falling behind.
DCFC striker Cheikhou Niang missed a point-blank shot in the 86th minute a few feet in front of an open goal, one that would have tied the game at 2-2. Instead, the ball hit the crossbar and rose out of bounds, capping DCFC’s best chance to bring the game level.
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Star DCFC forward Darren Smith had a few opportunities to put his team ahead in the second half, with two threatening strikes three minutes apart. But an attempted heel-flick on goal in the 61st minute was thwarted by an athletic save from Hartford goalie Anthony Siaha, while a strike from distance after an interception in the 64th minute sailed over the crossbar.
Smith put a header on goal in the 71st minute, but the shot turned into an easy save for Siaha.
Controversy erupted after Hernandez-Foster was shown a red card in the 22nd minute, with Hernandez-Foster getting into a tussle with a Hartford reserve player near the corner flag. An assistant ref attempted to break the two up, but Hernandez-Foster tossed the ball at the player’s head, leading to the card.
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A big argument then broke out between both sides, with Amoo-Mensah pleading on behalf of his teammate and Dichio getting a yellow card after arguing with head referee Elton Garcia. But the decision stood, putting Le Rouge down a player for the rest of the game.
“There was no explanation [from the referees],” said Dichio. “I thought it was a yellow card at first, and then suddenly I’m seeing Kobe walk off the field, and he’s been ejected. So to make a decision like that early on in a playoff game, I thought it was poor officiating.”
Anaku then gave his team the lead with a goal in the 27th minute to make it 1-0.
Following the match, players from both sides got into a small shoving match after several Hartford players celebrated in front of the DCFC supporters section. Dichio called the celebration “classless.”
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“That’s why we’re a different club and organization than them,” he said.
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City FC knocked out of USL Championship playoffs with home loss
