Presented by MUSC Health
The Charleston Battery are set to host Detroit City FC in a midweek clash on Wed., June 7, in their next USL Championship contest. Kickoff at Patriots Point is 7:30 p.m. ET.
Charleston and Detroit meet for the first time this season after squaring off twice in Detroit’s inaugural Championship campaign last year. The Michigan club got the better of both matches and the Black and Yellow will look to avenge those results on Wednesday.
The Battery (7W-3L-3D, 24 pts) enter the midweek match aiming to rebound from their 0-4 home defeat against Indy Eleven on Friday. Charleston were unlucky in the first minute to go down in a man after Leland Archer was issued a red card for a foul inside the box, and the one-man disadvantage proved to be too much to overcome as the night wore on. Suffice it to say, the Black and Yellow will be ambitious to bounce back from that game.
Detroit (3W-7L-2D, 11 pts) arrive in the Lowcountry after not playing in a match in the past week and a half. Their last time out featured a 1-0 victory over Birmingham Legion FC, with Maxi Rodriguez scoring the match-winner in the first half. While DCFC got off to a slow start in league play, don’t let their record fool you, the club has found their footing lately and are currently on a two-game winning streak.
Deklan Wynne is one to watch for the Battery. The New Zealand international was a key piece in Detroit’s run to the playoffs last year and will have his first chance to face his former club on Wednesday. He currently has 41 duels won, 19 clearances, 11 tackles won and nine chances created to his name.
Maxi Rodriguez is a player to keep an eye on for Detroit. With two goals in league play, Rodriguez is DCFC’s leading scorer and has the second-most chances created on the team (10). Rodriguez also found the back of the net in last year’s fixture at Patriots Point.
Wednesday’s contest could be one of note for Head Coach Ben Pirmann, who is a Detroit native and previously led DCFC on the touchline from 2013 to 2018.
AJ Paterson is approaching the century mark for club appearances with the Battery. The skipper currently sits at 97 Battery matches played.
The match is the Battery’s only home Wednesday contest during the 2023 regular season.
Leland Archer will be unavailable for Wednesday’s contest while serving a one-match suspension for the red card received in the Indy match.
FROM THE TRAINING GROUND
Ben Pirmann and forward Fidel Barajas discussed the upcoming match against Detroit, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the working through the quick turnaround between games…
With three games in the week time frame, preparation is a little bit more difficult, partly physical and mental recovery, and partly preparation and some sparring. But, it’s been good, the boys are responding from a tough Indy game. I think we’re getting a little bit healthier from certain aspects. We want to make sure that we have a good response, a good approach, mentally prepare for Detroit, who are very good, and just put our best foot forward and go from there.
Coach Pirmann on the main message to the team in training this week…
We want to be a little bit more mentally focused. It’s just an accumulation of things. So, we need to make sure we’re more driven, more urgent, more intense in the training moments and in the preparation, making sure we’re dialed in. We say this every single game, it’s a 90-minute game and it comes down to four or five plays, and usually those four or five plays are in the run of play. We got to make sure we’re mentally dialed in.
Coach Pirmann on what to expect from Detroit…
Detroit are rested, they’re coming off bye week, they’re geared up and ready to go and they’re coming off two massive wins. They returned everybody on their team, except for maybe Antoine Hoppenot and Deklan Wynne, so they have everybody back from a high-level team last year. They’re very distinct in the way that they play, very tough and rigid, organized defensively and they use that to transition to attack with the two strikers. Trevor James does a very good job, they’ll be ready to go.
Barajas on the team’s mindset going into Wednesday’s game…
Not the result we wanted Friday night, I feel like we bounced back perfectly on Sunday [in training] to get back to work and we’ve been getting good responses and getting ready for Wednesday. It’s business as usual, trying to win and get three points. Being top of the table, we always have a target on our back, so we want to keep pushing and keep driving forward.
Barajas on bouncing back from Friday’s defeat…
Throughout training, we try to accomplish what we plan and I feel like getting wins and losses also helps us. That pushes us and motivates us to keep winning games, by learning from our losses, learning from our mistakes. Everyone tries to keep their head up and keep pushing. But, we’re wanting to push each other and ask more for ourselves to keep winning.
Barajas on how his first full season as a professional has been going…
It’s still kind of new to me [since joining late last year] and I feel like having this club, my teammates, the staff, they’ve all been helping me a lot. Getting these minutes at the pro level helps me. It makes me a better player by training with such a good team, it helps me to keep pushing and keep wanting to win games. It’s a totally different level. It’s fast-paced playing against grown men and I’m just getting that experience.
MATCH INFO
Charleston Battery vs. Detroit City FC
Wednesday, June 7 – 7:30 p.m. ET Kickoff
Patriots Point
HOW TO WATCH:
Only a very limited number of tickets are still available for Wednesday’s match and can be purchased via SeatGeek.com, the Battery’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
All Battery matches will also stream on ESPN+ domestically and through the league’s YouTube channel for free internationally.
