Detroit City Football Club concludes the 2025 USL Championship regular season this weekend with a critical Eastern Conference matchup against Tampa Bay Rowdies. The kickoff from Al Lang Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+ and broadcast locally on CW Detroit 50 (WKBD-TV), with an additional live radio stream available on SiriusXM FC Channel 157. For Michigan residents, the match is free to stream on CBSDetroit.com.
Detroit City enters this final match off a 1-1 draw at Charleston Battery on Saturday evening. It was an unusually quiet first half from both sides. Charleston would break the deadlock in the 65th minute with a strike from MD Myers. It would be a minute later that would see Ryan Williams on the attack, feeding the ball to Jay Chapman in the attacking third, and with a pass to Ates Diouf on the edge of the box, he would launch the shot into the back of the net, leveling the match and seeing the points shared.
The draw would not be enough to clinch a playoff spot, so only a win will definitively decide Detroit City’s playoff fate this weekend. The simplest way for Detroit to lock in at least one more game for the 2025 season would be to win against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. A draw would see DCFC hoping Indy Eleven doesn’t pick up three points in its match at Orange County on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay is one of the two remaining teams still alive for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Sitting in 10th place on 33 points, the Rowdies’ only hope is for a win on Saturday and a loss from Indy Eleven.
Rowdies enter this final USL Championship match off a 3-2 victory over Hartford Athletic on Saturday. It would be Rowdies’ two top goalscorers, Manuel Arteaga and Woobens Pacius, who opened the scoring in the first half with goals in the fifth and twenty-fifth minutes, respectively. Hartford would get one back in first-half stoppage time, but Alex Méndez would put the Rowdies two goals ahead once again in the 56th minute. Although Hartford would score again in stoppage time, it couldn’t find an equalizer, allowing Tampa Bay to claim all three points.
The all-time series currently stands at 3-2-3, with both sides having three wins to their name. Detroit leveled the series back in August with a 2-0 victory at Keyworth Stadium. Ates Diouf opened the scoring 30 minutes into the match, and Darren Smith would add another just eight minutes later.
The last time Detroit visited the Tampa Bay area was in August 2024, when Detroit City walked away with a 3-2 victory. Devon Amoo-Mensah got the scoring started in the third minute with a stunning strike. Tampa would level the game before the end of the first half, but it would be a Ben Morris second-half brace that would lead Detroit to claim all three points.
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CBS News Detroit is the official broadcast partner of Detroit City FC. This story is reprinted with permission from Detroit City FC.