Detroit City FC extends shutout streak with 1-0 victory over Birmingham Legion

Hamtramck — Maxi Rodriguez scored his second goal of the season and Nate Steinwascher kept a clean sheet for the second week in a row as Detroit City FC won its second consecutive match at Keyworth Stadium on Saturday.

Rodriguez knocked home a trivela (curved shot off the outside of the foot) in the 29th minute to make the difference in a 1-0 win over fifth-place Birmingham Legion and advance Le Rouge (3-7-2) to 2-0 in games in which Rodriguez scores.

"I always joke around with Maxi about when he kicks the ball like that. He actually takes a corner like that, where he takes it with his right foot and it bends away from the goal," DCFC head coach Trevor James said.

"Jokingly, he calls it the 'Italian slice.'"

The scoring sequence started when Rodriguez played a long free kick into the box that was immediately rejected in his direction. He chipped the ball over Legion winger Prosper Kassim, cut to the middle and knocked in his patented Italian slice.

"When the ball came across ... I thought he was gonna fake and let it go off the field for a throw-in," James said. "But he took it, knocked it past the guy, and then beat the speed. It was good to see. But he was sort of in a tight area once he got to the ball, so it's obviously a high-class bit of skill to be able to bend a ball like that in off the post. Great goal."

DCFC, which has struggled offensively for most of this season, took nine shots from inside the box and landed three shots on target.

"We played against a very good team who played through the thirds, which was the complete opposite to last week," James said. "So it gave us a chance to have the ball more and pass it and ... obviously to get shots."

Dating to the 53rd minute two games prior, DCFC has gone 217 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal.

DCFC had success creating off set pieces. In the 14th minute, a corner kick by Tommy McCabe was played back by Skage Simonsen to Devon Amoo-Mensah, whose header attempt missed just wide.

Amoo-Mensah was responsible for one of DCFC's biggest saves. Tyler Pasher pulled DCFC goalkeeper Steinwascher off his line during a run on goal and passed it for Enzo Martínez, who appeared to have the entire goal open in front of him before Amoo-Mensah slid across to stop a low attempt on net.

Legion (5-1-7), which ranked 10th in goals (1.4) and 11th in shots on target (3.8) entering Saturday, were completely shut down offensively despite controlling the ball for most of the game.

"(The weather) enabled us just to sit back a little bit and absorb some of the possession they had," James said. "But we tried to let 'em have it in their half, go side to side, and we had to be alert, obviously, when they tried to go forward and go through the middle, which they're very good at.

"They got in a couple times and were very close to getting chances, so I think we allowed them to have the ball and pressured when they got into the attacking third."

Academy signing Dominic Gasso, 19, got his first taste of extended action this season when he was subbed on for Abdoulaye Diop, who appeared to suffer an injury heading into the half. Gasso previously played a combined six minutes in two earlier this season and 18 minutes in two fixtures last year.

Connor Rutz missed a premium opportunity to extend DCFC's lead in the 52nd minute. Rhys Williams was played through by Simonsen and then fed the ball for Rutz in the center of the box, but it was struck hard but wide.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @nolanbianchi