September 21, 2019
NPLS Members Cup
Keyworth Stadium, Hamtramck, MI
Detroit City FC 1, New York Cosmos 1
Attendance: 6,297
DCFC Stephen Carroll (Danny Deakin) 47′
Cosmos Darwin Espinal 56′
Red Card – Cosmos Issac Acuna 71′
Record 3-1-0 10 points, 3rd Place
The New York Cosmos. Once, a legendary North American Soccer League titan, with the game’s greatest player, Pele, on its roster.
Unfortunately, I did not get to see (live) the team play against the Detroit Express. However, there was an epic friendly held between the Cosmos and Express at the Silverdome, where Trevor Francis scored not one, but two hat tricks (6 goals) against the mighty Cosmos. The final goal in the 8-2 win was Francis’ favorite.
It was something I’d always wanted to do…I ran with the ball from the centre circle, passed a couple of players, and as I came to the 18-yard box, a Cosmos player shouted shoot! It was (Franz) Beckenbauer…and I remember the look of astonishment on his face as I let one go with the right foot and it hit the roof of the net. (Trevor Francis: anatomy of a £1 million player by Rob Hughes with Trevor Francis, World’s Work Ltd, 1980)
However, that was an era ago, and now the Cosmos struggle to find a league for its brand. Having played two more games than us, they held the top spot with 13 points to our 9, making tonight’s match huge.
Cosmos supporters brought smoke, too.
After rain and lightning delayed the opening of the match, the teams came out and played a quality game. The Cosmos were dominant, but the fantastic goaltending of Nate Steinwascher kept us in it.
Scoreless at the half, it took just two minutes for Stephen Carroll to give City the lead.
Nine minutes later, Darwin Espinal equalized. And though City created some opportunities toward the end, the teams each walked away with a goal and a point.
Do Haeng Michael Kitchen 
I was at the Detroit Express v Cosmos game at the Silverdome when Trevor Francis scored 6 goals against a good Cosmos team. I had trained against the Express up in Flint at Atwood Stadium earlier that month because Atwood had astroturf and so did the Silverdome. Francis was a gentleman there and it was fun playing against him. I’ve been to a lot of soccer games over the years and that by far was most memorable, right up there with seeing Pele play with the Cosmos in NY. Francis owned the night and by the time it was over the entire Cosmos team was hacking him to try to stop him from embarrassing them, it didn’t work, he was in his element on that Silverdome astroturf.
That’s awesome! I got to a few Express games during the Francis years. He was brilliant.