Hartford Athletic Back in Action With Another Match Against Detroit City
The Latics look to bounce back from a penalty shootout loss to Le Rouge as the resume USL Championship play at Keyworth Stadium
Hartford Athletic return to action on Saturday night against familiar faces, as they take on Detroit City for the third time this season and the second consecutive game, as the Latics faced Le Rouge in a USL Jägermeister Cup game a mere two weeks ago. Brendan Burke’s men will be aiming for a better outcome than that game, which saw them concede in second-half stoppage time for the third time in a month, and then lose on penalties.
After that game, Burke criticized his team’s performances as lacking in professionalism, and ahead of the rematch, he re-emphasized that point.
“We have to finish games and get three points,” he said. “You know, you can't be on sixteen expected points after twelve games and have nine. That's just not good enough from a professionalism standpoint and these guys know that.”
Finishing games has certainly been a problem for Hartford this season, who has dropped four points in the league due to goals conceded in second-half stoppage time, in addition to losing out on two further points in the Jägermeister Cup against Detroit two weeks ago. While there have been some positive signs for the Latics in the last month or so of the season — a sudden ability to create opportunities and score goals chief among them — they continue to be the authors of their own demise through defensive sloppiness, with Burke highlighting a need to “execute” in the coming weeks.
In seeking that better execution, Hartford may have benefited from a week off to collect themselves and refocus on the stretch of games ahead of them.
“Honestly, the break is so good for us,” captain Jordan Scarlett said. “Just get some time off to go sit with family and friends just to clear your mind. I feel like if you focus too much on the game it could kind of get down on you.”
Burke concurred, saying that he thinks his team has come back from their break “refreshed” and ready for the big games in the month ahead.
While Hartford had a week off, Detroit traveled to Oakland where it was beaten 2-nil in a game that featured seven total shots. The Roots in fact, had only one shot on target in the entire game, their second goal coming by way of a Marcelo Polisi own goal. The total xG of 0.41 was the lowest combined by two teams in the USL Championship in the 2025 season, and Roots’ xG of .07 was also the lowest by a winning team.
Le Rouge now get to return to the friendlier confines of their home stadium, which is one of the most difficult places to play in the entire league. Burke highlighted the unique challenge of Keyworth Stadium.
”[W]e're going into a really poor environment in Detroit,” he said. “That's not a secret around the league. It's like cement and it's tight and it's loud. They have really good fan base, so it's a difficult place to go and get anything.”
Hartford needs to find a way to thrive in that atmosphere, as it currently sits at the bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference (albeit with games in hand over every other team), and now needs to mimic last season’s summertime turnaround to have any chance of making the playoffs. The fans know this, the manager knows this, and the players know this.
“We got to go for it,” Scarlett said. “We need urgency at this point in the season right now.”