The gracious Communications Department of Soccer Holdings is and always has been filled with some absolutely lovely folks. If you have access to cover Racing Louisville, you also have access to cover Lou City. Instead of being a rotten freeloader and using my media pass to get into matches free, I decided to actually attend and write something about the match. Since my head photographer and amazing wife, Elizabeth, also has a pass, this means that we both put in a shift to cover the team today.

The Opponent

I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable on Lou City, but it definitely depends on the season. I will try get up to speed for this season. What I can tell you about Detroit City, or at least what I recall, is that everyone hates them and they embrace being the villains. I think that I recall that their fans refer to themselves as “City’, which irks Lou City fans. I definitely remember watching a match between the two and the Detroit-oriented announcers kept confusingly saying “City” when referring to Detroit. Nobody “owns” City so I should probably just drop it but a) Louisville was first and b) Louisville has never been referred to as the “worst city in America”. Even Cleveland dunks on Detroit.

Pregame

The media rules are slightly different for Lou City and Racing, so after I found a couple of media vests for Elizabeth and myself, we went to work. Lou City plays its tasty 3-4-3 and Detroit counters in a 4-3-2-1. It is a derby themed match for some reason. Churchill Charlie was there. He seemed to be enjoying himself prior to kickoff. The Churchill Downs bugler Steve Buttleman played “Call to the Post”. Pat Day was there too. (See gallery below)

1st-ish Minute

Elizabeth finds a nice spot on the grass (later discovered to be fairly wet due to the watering of the pitch). I walk toward the Estopinal End and briefly chat with Peter Brown, the President of the Lavender Legion. Lou City comes pretty close to scoring and since I am standing with the field crew, I have to remind myself not to react since I am wearing a media vest. I usually separate “media me” from “fan me” at the Racing matches, so it takes me a few minutes to adjust my behavior. Davila’s 2nd minute corner is decent, and Elizabeth probably gets 30 snaps. Davila takes another corner in the 5th minute.

7th-ish Minute

One of the Detroit players (I need to become a better note-taker) wastes just about an entire minute moving the ball forward when setting up for a free kick. It is a real “heel move” by the villains. I would have given him a yellow card for time wasting and promised to call his mother after the match.

20th Minute

Ray Serrano scores his 3rd of the season and Lou City go in front. I think we got some good pics of the celly.

29th Minute

Elizabeth gets hit in the knee by the ball. She is unfazed.

Halftime! Lou City 1- Grosse Pointe…blanked

I think I read somewhere that the stadium was going to serve Derby Pie at the “Grab and Go”. Being a media novice for Lou City I didn’t pick up a coupon to get a snack (I guess I really am a cheap skate), so I didn’t get a chance to sample it. I assume that was the same one you can get at the local grocery stores. I am not a huge fan of pies, but as pies go, a Derby Pie isn’t bad. It’s no key lime pie, but what is? Elizabeth and I switch to the Waterfront Supporters end and she pick a spot right behind the goal line about 3 yards from the corner. I tell her to watch out for incoming traffic. Here is a picture of Detroit’s best player during the first half…

Early Second Half

Right on cue a couple of players come charging right towards us. The sidestep us easily. I guess they are used to having photogs in runoff of the pitch.

74th Minute

Zach Duncan leaves the match and is replaced by Kevon Lambert (play foreboding music in your head). In his picture on the video board, Duncan is sporting a moustache that I would describe as “wispy”.

77th Minute

A frankly dull second half starts to heat up! Substitute Jansen Wilson scores a pretty simple goal as Detroit have bored themselves into a stupor. It’s a tidy finish on a virtual tap in. My head photographer completely misses the goal because she is texting about being at the match instead of watching it. I will have to review her compensation package.

84th Minute

Remember that foreboding music I told you to play in your head? Kevon Lambert’s “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo ends with him picking up a very clear red card. He was late and went in studs up. It was a no doubter. I expect fans to boo the referee, but the player he fouled, Ryan Williams, also gets booed by some fans every time he touches the ball the rest of the match. I guess you have every right to do so, but if you do this you aren’t the type of person I want to hang around with.

Full Time! Lou City 2 - Detroit Naught City

It was fun watching pitch side. Lessons learned:

Get there earlier next time and get vests and food.
Sit on the concrete and not the grass unless I want to walk around in wet pants.
While some shots are easier to get on a cell phone I might need to confiscate Elizabeth’s prior to the match.
Find shade and stay there.

Post Match

I got to catch up with Benton Newman from Vamos Morados after the match. He is a lovely fellow with terrible taste in chili. Danny Cruz was refreshingly forthcoming (unlike some coaches I deal with). He thought the second half was poor, as did I. Unlike on the Racing side, City can a) still win while not playing all that great and b) admit to it when they play below standards. Ray Serrano obviously enjoyed extending his scoring streak. Damian Las referred to himself as being “young” (completely unprompted) about one million times during his interview. Maybe his teammates give him a hard time. He did refer to them as “brothers”. All older brothers are duty bound to give their youngers ones a hard time.