The 2014–15 Detroit Waza season was the seventh

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of the

Detroit Waza The Waza FC (also known as Detroit Waza) is an American professional arena soccer team based in Metro Detroit competing as a charter member of the Major League Indoor Soccer (MLIS). The team's nickname, "Waza", is both a Japanese word that mean ...

professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

club, also known as Detroit Waza Flo Pro FC. The Waza, an Eastern Division team in the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

, played their home games at the Melvindale Civic Center in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

suburb of

Melvindale, Michigan Melvindale is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city population was 12,851. History Melvindale began as the unincorporated settlement of Oakwood Heights in the northwestern part of Ecorse Township in ...

. The team was led by team owner Mario Scicluna, head coach Costea Decu, and assistant coach Mirco Gubellini. The team struggled to a 4-16 record, placing fourth in the five-team Eastern Division, and did not qualify for post-season play.

Season summary

Detroit opened the season with a home win over the Harrisburg Heat, dropped games to the Rochester Lancers and

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with t ...

, then defeated Harrisburg on the road. After two more losses, the Waza beat the

Syracuse Silver Knights Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Misso ...

then started an eight-game losing streak, broken only by a third victory over Harrisburg. They closed the season with a roster diminished by trades at the deadline and lost their last four games. With their 4–16 record, Detroit placed fourth in the Eastern Division (ahead of only Harrisburg) and did not qualify for the playoffs.

History

The Waza were a charter member of the

Professional Arena Soccer League A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

and the only PASL team to operate continuously from the league's 2008 debut through its 2014 rebranding. The franchise struggled in its first three seasons, posting 7–9, 6–10, and 8–8 records. In 2011–12, the team went 13–3 and won the Eastern Division but lost the

Ron Newman Cup The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

Finals. In 2012–13, the Waza improved to 14–2 and again won the Eastern Division only to lose again in the Finals. 2013–14 saw a slip to 10–5, second place in the Eastern Division, and an early exit from the playoffs. The Waza organization has a long history of community involvement and operates more than 100 youth soccer teams in the Detroit area. The team won the

2012–13 United States Open Cup for Arena Soccer The 2012–13 US Open Arena Soccer Championship is the fifth edition of an open knockout style tournament for arena/indoor soccer. In this edition, teams from the Professional Arena Soccer League, Premier Arena Soccer League, and other independen ...

Off-field moves

In May 2014, the Professional Arena Soccer League added six teams from the failed third incarnation of the Major Indoor Soccer League and reorganized as the

. The 2014–15 MASL season will be 20 games long, 4 more than the 16 regular season games of recent PASL seasons. With the league expansion and reorganization, the Waza's Eastern division rivals for 2014–15 are the

, Harrisburg Heat, Rochester Lancers, and

. In September 2014, Costea Decu was announced as the team's new head coach. Decu had previously served as co-head coach in the 2012–13 season and, as a player, is a founding member of the Detroit Waza. On October 8, the team announced that retired Italian professional player Mirco Gubellini had signed on as the Waza's assistant coach for the 2014–15 season. The December 6 game against the

also features a food drive for the Gleaners Community Food Bank in support of the

Downriver Downriver is the unofficial name for a collection of 18 cities and townships in Wayne County, Michigan, south of Detroit, along the western shore of the Detroit River. The place is sometimes referred to as South Detroit. Etymology The name ...

communities of

Wayne County, Michigan Wayne County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States Census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the 19th-most populous county in the United States. The county seat is Detroit. The coun ...

. Fans will receive a discount on admission tickets to the game in exchange for non-perishable food items or cans of food.

Roster moves

The Waza held open tryouts to recruit new players and evaluate returning hopefuls on September 19–20 at High Velocity Sports in

Canton Township, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

. On October 10, the Waza announced that team captain Miki Djersilo and veteran forward Worteh Sampson re-signed with the team. On October 20, the team re-signed forwards Nik Djokic and Victor Otieno plus midfielder Michael Grba. In late October, the team signed veteran goalkeeper Vito Lonigro and rookie Matteo Zani who most recently played for AS Roma Futsal of Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

league. In advance of the February 1 league trade deadline, Detroit traded team owner and player Dominic Scicluna to the

Las Vegas Legends The Las Vegas Legends are a semi-professional soccer team based in Paradise, Nevada. They play in the National Premier Soccer League, a fourth-tier league in the American soccer pyramid. History The club was founded in 2012 as an indoor socce ...

. Scicluna will also serve as an assistant coach with Las Vegas.

Schedule

Regular season

♠ Game played with multi-point scoring (most goals worth 2 points and select goals worth 3 points).

Awards and honors

In September 2014, Dominic Scicluna was named an inductee into the Michigan Soccer Association Hall of Fame. Detroit's Daniel Mattos earned honorable mention for the league's all-rookie team for 2014-15.

References

External links

Detroit Waza official websiteDetroit Waza
at

WDIV-TV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio faciliti ...

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Detroit Waza 2014 Detroit Waza 2014