Detroit City FC beats New Mexico United, 1-0, on Rodriguez penalty kick

Detroit City FC got an early break Saturday night, capitalized on it and made it stand up for a crucial 1-0 victory over New Mexico United in a United Soccer League Championship match at Hamtramck.

Maxi Rodriguez scored on a penalty kick in the 20th minute and DCFC kept its hold on fourth place in the Eastern Conference, which was threatened by a 3-1 victory for Indy Eleven over El Paso Locomotive FC.

The pivotal moment in the match came in the 19th minute, when Laurent Kissiedou broke down the left side and attempted a crossing pass, which struck the right hand of Anthony Herbert.

Rodriguez converted the penalty with a boot to the lower left corner, and the lead held for the rest of the match.

Detroit keeper Carlos Saldaña parried away New Mexico’s best chance of the first half with a diving stop of a shot by Zico Bailey in injury time.

Ben Morris nearly doubled the DCFC lead in the 64th minute when a took a breakout pass and broke in on keeper Alex Tambakis, who made an impressive save to keep the lead a goal.

Saldaña came up big again in the 68th, when he stopped a point-blank shot off the toe of Marlon Vargas.

The best chance the rest of the way came when Stephen Carroll’s shot was toe-saved by Tambakis in the 6th minute of injury time. New Mexico had one last chance to level it three minutes later with a corner kick but with DCFC players packed into the goal crease it could not get a dangerous shot off.

DCFC’s lead over Indy is two points for fourth place and the final home playoff game in the first round, with Indy holding one game in hand. The Tampa Bay Rowdies are four points ahead of Detroit (11-8-9) in third place.

New Mexico is 16-8-3, in first place in the Western Conference.

DCFC will remain at home for next weekend’s match, this one a Sunday afternoon fixture against Louisville City FC. Kickoff is at 3 p.m.