Detroit, MI
Indy Eleven’s 3-goal first half knocks Detroit City FC out of U.S. Open Cup in Round of 16
A 20-minute stretch where seemingly nothing could go right was all it took to knock Detroit City FC out of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night.
DCFC gave up three goals between the 14th and 36th minute in the Open Cup Round of 16 matchup on the road against Indy Eleven, the only goals scored in the game. Detroit City had strong spells of possession and stayed on the attack, but couldn’t find a way through Indy to dig out of the early hole in the 3-0 loss in Indianapolis.
Le Rouge couldn’t recreate the magic of their thrilling comeback win over the MLS’ Houston Dynamo in the Round of 32, where they overcame an early 2-0 deficit to win in penalties. The loss ends DCFC’s deepest run in the Open Cup in club history, while their Midwest rivals in the United Soccer League advance to the quarterfinals.
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The two sides were even through the opening 10 minutes but Indy broke the deadlock with an effective counterattack. Indy quickly hoofed a free kick from midfield up to forward Douglas Martinez, who settled the ball and played it out wide to Ben Mines. Mines found right back Benjamin Ofeimu on an overlapping run, who played a first-time cross across the box back towards Martinez, who redirected the ball into DCFC captain Stephen Carroll and it ricocheted into the left corner for an own goal.
DCFC forward Ben Morris created two chances for an equalizer in the next 10 minutes, but his shots were parried by diving stops to the left from Indy goalie Hunter Sulte. His left-footed shot after a long run lacked juice and the second, a one-timer off a pass from Maxi Rodriguez, was too close to Sulte.
In the 33rd minute, Indy midfielder Jack Blake delivered a perfectly weighted ball over the top of DCFC’s back line to the foot of Martinez, who laid it off to Augustine Williams for a one-on-one with Carlos Saldana, who he beat to make it 2-0. Less than two minutes later, Indy earned a corner kick and Ofeimu made it 3-0 after he muscled through the defense at the back post to slot home a header.
DCFC threatened in the final minute of the first half after winger Devon Amoo-Mensah cut in for a shot, forcing a diving save that led to a corner. DCFC earned a second corner and opted to play it short and Abdoulaye Diop delivered a long cross to an open Carroll at the back post, but Sulte made an incredible save across his body to deny the header, and Morris’ rebound was blocked.
Head coach Danny Dichio brought on a pair of substitutions, with Victor Bezerra at forward and Alex Villanueva at left back, but a comeback couldn’t be sparked. DCFC had a flurry of chances on corners in the 58th minute, but the best chance on a Bezerra header narrowly went over the goal. Three more subs came in the 71st minute, but there was still no luck despite two more chances from Yazeed Matthews and one from Amoo-Mensah.
DCFC outshot Indy 17-6, and 7-2 in shots on goal, per ESPN, while maintaining two-thirds of the possession, but just couldn’t find the net like Indy did in the first half.
Detroit defeated Indy, 2-1, on the road in the third USL league game in comeback fashion, but this loss knocks it out of contention of winning the Open Cup and qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The USL schedule, where DCFC (5-1-2) sits third in the Eastern Conference with 17 points, resumes next Wednesday with a trip to play Louisville City FC. Le Rouge plays Indy again at home in October at the end of the season.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was wrong to determine Michigan met federal health and environmental standards for ozone pollution or smog in the Detroit area in 2023, a federal appeals court judge has ruled.
U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Helene White on Dec. 5 issued a split decision in a case about how environmental regulators measured Detroit air quality in 2022, when wildfire smoke drifted over Detroit and affected the air quality monitor readings for a few days in June.
Michigan considered those days “exceptional events” because of the wildfire smoke and didn’t include the high ozone pollution readings in its calculation to the EPA.
With those days tossed, the state was able to argue in 2023 that Michigan met federal air quality standards for ground-level ozone pollution. The seven-county Metro Detroit region had previously been out of compliance with the ozone standards.
The Sierra Club sued, arguing the wildfire smoke did not meaningfully change ozone readings and that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy failed to analyze how local pollution sources contributed to the ozone levels on those days. The environmental advocacy group also challenged the EPA’s finding that the region met federal standards for ozone pollution.
White determined the exceptional events designation was appropriate, siding against the Sierra Club in deciding the EPA and EGLE correctly analyzed the smoke’s impact on ozone readings in June 2022.
She sided against EPA in deciding the EPA was wrong to put Michigan back into attainment for ground-level ozone without Michigan adopting control measures that would cut volatile organic compounds, which contribute to ozone pollution.
EPA determined the Detroit area was out of attainment for ground-level ozone on April 13, 2022. Michigan regulators did not impose control technologies for ozone-causing pollutants by the deadline in early 2023. Instead, they asked EPA to redesignate the area as in attainment with the air quality rules.
Michigan was obligated to implement control technologies even though it had submitted a redesignation request, White said in her order. Control technologies include efforts to reduce volatile organic compounds from being released from manufacturing plants and industrial sources, according to EPA documents.
Sierra Club member and Detroit environmental justice activist Dolores Leonard cheered the outcome of the case.
“Without this victory, EPA’s decisions would have let Michigan avoid the rules needed to reduce pollution and keep the air we breathe safe,” Leonard said. “At a time when asthma rates are rising in Detroit, especially in Black communities, that’s unacceptable. With the backing of this federal court decision, our community will continue to push the state of Michigan to take much-needed action to relieve ozone pollution in this area.”
The Clean Air Act requires those pollution control measures to be implemented even after the EPA puts an area back into attainment to ensure the air quality remains healthy, said Nick Leonard, executive director of Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which argued the Sierra Club’s case.
White’s order means the EGLE will have to reapply for the attainment of the ozone standard, Leonard said.
“At the very least, I would say they have to correct the legal deficiency, which was that they didn’t enact the pollution control rules that are typically required for areas that are in non-attainment for this long,” he said.
The EPA is reviewing the decision, its press office said. The office did not respond to a question about whether it would ask Michigan to adopt volatile organic compound control measures as a result of White’s decision.
The EGLE also is reviewing the ruling, spokesman Dale George said.
“While EGLE was not a party to the case and is not able to speak in detail about the legal outcome, we were encouraged that the court supported the use of exceptional events demonstrations and acknowledged the sound science behind EGLE’s determination that the Detroit area met the health-based ozone standard,” George said.
Leonard said he was disappointed but not surprised that White ruled against the Sierra Club’s arguments that EGLE and the EPA did not correctly account for wildfire smoke’s impact on ozone readings in 2022.
That issue is going to plague communities as climate change causes northern wildfires to become more common and kick smoke into Michigan, he predicted.
“If we start to essentially cut out bad air quality days because of the claim they were partially influenced by wildfire smoke … , you create this disconnect between the regulatory systems that are meant to protect people and the actual air pollution that people are breathing,” Leonard said.
ckthompson@detroitnews.com
The deal, which is pending a physical and has not been confirmed
Detroit, MI
Detroit-area teen charged in carjacking at Applebee’s restaurant bound over to circuit court
A 15-year-old boy who is accused of carjacking a woman last month at an Applebee’s in Roseville, Michigan, is heading to circuit court after waiving his preliminary examination, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.
The teen is charged with one count of carjacking, third-degree fleeing a police officer, two counts of malicious destruction of personal property, assault with a dangerous weapon, assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, operating without a license and failure to stop after a collision.
The teen appeared for a probable cause hearing on Dec. 10 and waived his right to a preliminary examination. He will be arraigned on Jan. 5, 2026.
He remains in at the Macomb County Juvenile Center under a $250,000 cash/surety bond. If he posts bond, he is ordered to wear a GPS tether, be restricted to his mother’s house and have no contact with the victim, witnesses or Applebee’s.
Prosecutors allege that on Nov. 24, 2025, the teen forcibly took a woman’s 2016 Jeep Patriot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The teen took off in the vehicle and crashed it on Gratiot Avenue.
“The allegations and charges in this matter are serious. Carjacking is a violent offense that carries life-altering consequences for victims and offenders alike,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a statement. “To the young people of Macomb County, understand that the choices you make today will determine the path available to you tomorrow. We want every youth in this community to succeed, but that starts with stepping away from dangerous decisions before they lead to irreversible outcomes.”
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