Sports · Detroit
Detroit City FC’s playoff run ends at Keyworth as 10-man Le Rouge falls to Hartford 2-1
HAMTRAMCK — Detroit City FC’s season is over. Sixth-seeded Hartford Athletic beat the third-seeded Le Rouge 2-1 Friday night at Keyworth Stadium in the USL Championship Eastern Conference quarterfinals, after Detroit played most of the night a man down.
Hartford forward Sadat Anaku scored both goals, according to the league’s match report. It was Hartford’s first postseason win in club history, and the Athletic stretched their unbeaten run against Detroit to seven games.
An early red card
Detroit started brightly, with Darren Smith forcing an early save. But in the 19th minute, midfielder Kobe Hernández-Foster was sent off after an altercation with Hartford substitute Adrian Diz Pe during a dead ball. Hernández-Foster led the team with five assists in the regular season.
Anaku made it 1-0 in the 33rd minute, stealing a pass in midfield and finishing off the inside of the right post. Detroit answered just before halftime, when Aedan Stanley’s cross from the left deflected to Devon Amoo-Mensah, whose first-time shot found the net off a defender.
Ten-man Detroit kept pushing. Hartford goalkeeper Antony Siaha turned a Smith flick wide just past the hour. With 15 minutes left, Anaku redirected Emmanuel Samadia’s bouncing cross at the back post for the winner.
One last chance
Detroit got a free kick 22 yards out with about a minute to go. Siaha saved Maxi Rodriguez’s low shot, and Cheikhou Niang’s rebound from inside the six-yard box hit the crossbar and went over.
Detroit finished with 20 shots, eight on target, to Hartford’s seven, the league said. Hartford became the first USL Championship team to score more than once at Keyworth this season.
Coach Danny Dichio was critical of the officiating after the game, the Detroit Free Press reported, saying the match was “decided by the officiating, which was very, very poor.”
It was Detroit’s fifth straight playoff appearance, and the league noted it was the second time the club has bowed out early at home. DCFC goalkeeper Carlos Herrera won the league’s Golden Glove award this week. Hartford moves on to the conference semifinals at Louisville City. Our preview of the matchup has more on the season.
Sources:
USL Championship, “Sadat Anaku’s Double Lifts Hartford Athletic Past Detroit City,” Oct. 31, 2026 (scoring summary, red card, shots, stats), https://www.uslchampionship.com/news_article/show/1369415
Detroit Free Press via Yahoo Sports, Oct. 30, 2026 (Dichio quote), https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dcfc-knocked-usl-playoffs-2-025444789.html
Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detroit_City_FC_v._San_Antonio_FC_2023_11_(Keyworth_Stadium).jpg
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